Apgujeong Korean BBQ with kimchi noodle soup: Yeontan Gongjang

The open-air grilling season has finally arrived. As soon as the weather cools down, I'm not the only one who wants to grill meat outside, right?

This time I finally visited Yeontan Gongjang (연탄공장), a place I'd wanted to try every time I came to Apgujeong Rodeo.

Among the pork rib restaurants in Apgujeong Rodeo, this one has a retro vibe and outdoor seating, making it perfect for a date with meat and drinks. The pork ribs here are delicious, but personally, the kimchi noodle soup was the real kick.

Early Friday evening at the Yeontan Gongjang outdoor tables

Going on a Friday early evening, I was able to sit right down at the outdoor tables at Yeontan Gongjang. That was thanks to getting there a bit early. But once it passed 6pm, office workers finishing up their day started trickling in, and the atmosphere definitely got busier and busier.

Yeontan Gongjang menu and prices

The meat menu at Yeontan Gongjang included pork rib for ₩21,000, beef short rib meat for ₩29,000, pork belly for ₩19,000, pork neck for ₩19,000, pork jowl for ₩28,000, and more. The meal menu was also quite varied, from kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew) to kimchi sujebi (dumpling soup), wanggal noodles, and kimchi mari guksu (kimchi noodle soup).

After ordering and waiting a bit, they put actual charcoal briquettes into the brazier in the middle of the table. Just seeing the charcoal come out was already fun, haha.

Drinks, alcohol, and glasses are all self-serve.

They give everyone their own cabbage salad, which is nice.

Pork ribs 21,000 won: why pre-searing made grilling easy

The pork rib at Yeontan Gongjang is ₩21,000 and comes pre-seared. Pork ribs are actually a tricky dish to grill yourself because of the sauce — look away for a second and it burns, but try not to burn it and the inside stays underdone. Here, though, it's pre-seared once already, so all you do at the table is grill it a bit more over the charcoal. This was so convenient.

A big rib with the sauce already soaked in comes out, and the moment it hits the charcoal, the smell is insane. The sweet sauce smell starts mingling with the charcoal aroma.

Since the meat was already pre-seared, all I had to do was brown the outside a little more. As it cooked over the charcoal, the edges got slightly charred, and that part was genuinely delicious.

The sauce was sweet and salty, soaked in all the way to the inside of the meat, and combined with the subtle smoky flavor from the charcoal, it definitely had more depth than regular seasoned ribs.

The sweetness was also toned down a bit by the smoky flavor, so I didn't get tired of it even after eating a lot. The meat was tender rather than chewy too.

Grilling garlic on the charcoal alongside the ribs

Partway through, I started grilling garlic alongside the meat too. This was another good move. Raw garlic is sharp, but grilled over charcoal, the spiciness fades and it gets nutty and sweet. Put a nicely browned garlic clove on top of a piece of pork rib, and you get the sweet-salty ribs, the charcoal smokiness, and the garlic's nuttiness all at once. After that I just kept grilling garlic, haha.

Kimchi noodle soup 9,000 won: a palate reset between bites of pork

The kimchi noodle soup (kimchi mari guksu) at Yeontan Gongjang is ₩9,000. Personally, I'd say this is a must-order whenever you come here.

The moment it arrived, my first thought was, wait, why is this bowl so huge? It might not come across in photos, but the bowl isn't just wide, it's really deep too. The portion is quite generous.

The red broth is piled high with noodles, kimchi, cucumber, seaweed flakes, and sesame seeds. It's the kind of flavor that completely clears out the grease and sweetness lingering in your mouth from the meat.

The tangy, refreshing kimchi broth made the noodles slide right down, and the crunchy texture of the kimchi and cucumber went really well with the meat. Specifically, one bite of pork rib followed by one bite of kimchi noodle soup and you can go right back to the meat. Infinite reset possible. The pork rib was of course delicious, but honestly, what stuck with me the most that day was the kimchi noodle soup. This kimchi noodle soup is the kick here.

Kimchi sujebi 9,000 won: hot and spicy after the cold noodles

Kimchi sujebi (dumpling soup) is also ₩9,000. Honestly, by this point I was already pretty full. After eating pork rib and then the kimchi noodle soup, I should have stopped, but why does the sujebi keep going in? The hot kimchi broth is packed with sujebi dumplings, and the broth is spicy yet clean-tasting, so it worked well as a drinking snack too.

The sujebi dumplings soak up the broth, so they're chewy yet moist, and with kimchi and onion mixed in, I kept scooping up more broth. Going from the cold kimchi noodle soup to the hot kimchi sujebi, the side dish pairing was excellent too. One tangy and refreshing, the other hot and spicy. Even full, I kept eating till the end. Eating it outdoors made it taste even better.

What is the open-air atmosphere like at Yeontan Gongjang?

What I liked most about Yeontan Gongjang wasn't just the food, but that the atmosphere was just as solid. Sitting in the wide-open outdoor seating with the charcoal grill going and meat cooking, you just want to have one more shot of soju.

The combination of the retro alley vibe, the charcoal fire, and the open-air seating here was definitely fun. Seems like a good spot to shift into a more relaxed mood in the evening after a date in Apgujeong Rodeo, and have some ribs with a drink.

Final verdict on Yeontan Gongjang

This was a place I'd been curious about for a while, and I finally went, and it was quite satisfying. The pre-seared pork rib that was easy to grill, the subtle smoky flavor rising off the charcoal, the retro open-air atmosphere — all of it worked. And the one thing I really recommend ordering alongside it is the kimchi noodle soup. Take a bite between mouthfuls of meat and it completely resets your palate so you can start again, haha. The kimchi sujebi was hot and spicy too, making it great as a drinking snack or a finishing dish.

Rather than somewhere too clean and quiet, Apgujeong Rodeo also has this kind of lively, retro open-air spot — the kind of place that comes to mind on a day you want pork ribs with a drink in a bit of a bustling atmosphere. They say anything grilled on charcoal tastes good, but here it feels like you're grilling up the atmosphere along with the meat. Recommend the outdoor seating when the weather's nice.