Kids-friendly Korean BBQ with pork skin and kimchi noodles in Dong-gu

I thought I'd been to every good restaurant in Dong-gu, Daejeon, but turns out there was still a hidden gem left..! I was so satisfied with this meal that I have to introduce it: Jeonbotdae Sutbul Ogyeop (전봇대 숯불 오겹), a Dong-gu pork belly restaurant.

Hours and location of Jeonbotdae Sutbul Ogyeop

• Hours 11:00 - 22:00
• Break time 14:30 - 17:00
• Last order 21:00
• Closed on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays of each month
• Address: 36-2 Saeul-ro 81beon-gil, Dong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea, 1st floor
• Parking: street parking available in the alley

The restaurant sits right in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Even though it's not in a restaurant district, word seems to have already spread among locals — we visited on a Saturday evening and the place was already packed. Most were families, and a lot of groups had kids with them. They have baby chairs ready too, so you can come with young kids without worry.

The menu and our order — pork neck + fresh pork belly, one geun

Here's the menu at Jeonbotdae Sutbul Ogyeop, this Dong-gu pork belly favorite :) Besides the meat dishes they also sell kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup), duruchigi (spicy stir-fried pork), grilled chicken and more, but our mission was pork belly, so as a party of four including a child, we started with a geun (600g) of pork neck and fresh pork belly.

They said if you take part in the review event, you get free self-serve ramyeon or fried rice. If you want to join in, check the review guide instructions⭐️

Basic side dishes and the complimentary steamed egg

These are the basic side dishes that come standard: scallion salad, lettuce wraps, pickled radish, and grillable kimchi. And uniquely, they also gave us seaweed, pickled peppers, and pollack roe mayo sauce (I'll explain this insane combo below!). I don't usually eat much scallion salad, but this one was so sweet and tangy I think I refilled it three times haha😂

I thought that was everything, but then they brought out kimchi pancake and steamed egg on the house too. The steamed egg was made so smoothly and well that I debated ordering another one. Should have ordered more.. 🥹 My grandma's steamed egg is number one in my book, and my older sister and I both agreed this was strikingly similar to hers..👏🏻

One geun of meat and pork skin to grill yourself

The pork neck and pork belly we ordered, one geun, arrived. You could tell just from the color that it was good meat. I asked what the thing sitting on top was — I thought it might be fat for greasing the grill — but it turned out to be grillable pork skin. I almost tossed out this precious pork skin without realizing what it was..

They heated up the grill and put the meat on for us. The cuts are huge and thick. Once the meat's on, they bring you myeolchijeot (fermented anchovy sauce) — pork belly and pork neck with myeolchijeot is simply the best combo, no words needed.

A separate pot for grilling kimchi — great if you're with kids

They put the kimchi they'd given us earlier on the grill too, and cut up the pork neck once it was nicely cooked with the mushrooms. When eating with kids, I usually can't grill meat alongside kimchi because I worry about the red pepper flakes getting on it, or I wait until they've eaten a good amount first — so having a separate pot just for grilling the kimchi was really nice.

The first bite, and the myeolchijeot

I always eat the first bite plain, no sauce😋 Since the meat is so thick, it had great chew, wasn't tough at all, and was full of juice. It also went really well with the pickled side dish they gave us.

Then we tried it with the lightly simmered myeolchijeot. As expected it was delicious, and if you like, they'll simmer it further with a bit more water and extra chili and garlic for even more flavor 👍🏻

How to eat the seaweed + pollack roe mayo + pickled pepper combo

And the seaweed, pickled peppers, and pollack roe mayo they gave us earlier as a basic side had instructions for how to eat them deliciously, written right on the table.

• Grill the seaweed over charcoal
• Put the meat on top (careful, it's hot)
• Add the pollack roe mayo
• Top with our mother's 30-year tradition pickled peppers

I tried making it exactly as instructed ~ I thought it'd be an odd combination, but it was truly harmonious. How did they even come up with this?! I thought it might be too rich, but the pickled peppers cut through that, and the umami of the pollack roe mayo paired perfectly with the pork belly's fat. Definitely try this one.

Pork neck and pork skin, plus an extra order of pork belly

After eating our fill of pork belly, next up on the grill were the pork neck and pork skin 👏🏻 The pork skin looks unfamiliar, but of course it's going to taste good!

The pork neck had just the right amount of fat mixed in and was tender, and the pork skin was incredibly chewy and savory. I don't think they sell the pork skin as a standalone item, but I'd honestly be so grateful if they did — I want to eat more of the good stuff..

We were already plenty full, but it was so good we ordered more pork belly anyway.

We happily polished off the extra pork belly too😋 The four of us, including our kid, ate almost a full kilo between us.

Finishing with cold kimchi noodles

To finish and refresh our palates, we had cool kimchi noodles. Since the kimchi itself was so good, I figured the kimchi noodles would obviously be delicious too — and I was right. If you're craving a hearty meal with quality meat, I recommend Jeonbotdae Sutbul Ogyeop, this Dong-gu, Daejeon pork belly favorite. We ate so well, we'll be back!