Korean BBQ in Yangjae, Seoul: two-burner grill at Cheontong Seocho

A while back I went out to Seocho with some friends and we ended up at this Korean BBQ place. My friends and I all love a good BBQ spot, and everyone left this one totally satisfied. This is Cheontong Seocho Yangjaesimineusup Station Branch (천통 서초 양재시민의숲역점)!

Where to park at Cheontong Seocho near Yangjaesimineusup Station

You can park right next to Cheontong Seocho Yangjaesimineusup Station Branch, but before you park, go inside and tell staff you're parking there — they'll raise the parking bar for you, so drivers should keep that in mind! But there aren't that many spots, so it's probably better to come by public transport 🙃

Break time, the room, and why Cheontong Seocho works for group dinners

Cheontong Seocho Yangjaesimineusup Station Branch has a break time from 3 to 5pm, and we happened to visit right at 5pm, just as it ended. Maybe because of that, there was nobody else there and we ate really comfortably haha.

The place is genuinely huge!! It seems great for group dinners, and also perfect for year-end gatherings or family get-togethers.

What is the large two-burner grill at Cheontong Seocho?

Unlike a typical BBQ place, the tables here have two burners. The reason for that comes up soon...🫢

Ta-da!!! In comes this massive grill plate — turns out you need two burners because you have to heat both the kimchi-grilling section and the meat-grilling section separately. When I asked how this giant grill was made, I think they said the owner made it himself.

Cheontong Set A with extra nabitsal, plus free stew and steamed egg

We ordered the Cheontong Set A menu, and since it seemed like it might not be enough for four people, we added nabitsal too!! One of the things I thought was a real strength of Cheontong Seocho Yangjaesimineusup Station Branch was that stew and steamed egg both come included as standard. I've rarely seen a BBQ place serve both stew and steamed egg by default — here it just comes with the meal, so you only need to order extra meat or rice if you want more. Loved that!!

Our Cheontong Set A arrived, and we were told the meat would go on once the grill heated up, so we sat there patiently waiting haha.

Salt and ssamjang (spicy dipping paste) were served separately in small portions so everyone could scoop their own into their little dish ~~

Grilling kimchi, cheese, minari, octopus and corn cheese

While staff grilled the meat, kimchi and cheese were cooking away on the left side, so we stirred that around occasionally too. All the other side dishes on the grill were delicious too! There was minari, pasta, octopus, and corn cheese — and since they were spread on both sides of the grill, even sitting in pairs it wasn't awkward to reach everything 😍

Once the meat was cooked enough, they added mushrooms, onions and garlic all around, cutting everything into bite-sized pieces, so we filled up on stew, steamed egg and drinks while eating haha.

It felt like it was half meat, half garlic honestly haha, but garlic grilled in pork belly fat is just so good...

Once the meat was cooked, staff plated it for us so all we had to do was eat, and having the kimchi grilling right next to it meant we could wrap it up together right away — it was so good haha.

Nabitsal, hangjeongsal or gochujang pork belly: which tasted best?

They kept the meat coming without a break, and in the middle they grilled nabitsal (thin pork jowl slices), which cooks fast since it's so thin. We hadn't come starving, so by this point we were already a little full, but I thought nabitsal was the tastiest, and my friends seemed to agree haha. I think it's because it's a special cut with a really nice chewy, crunchy texture 🙂

After that, they grilled hangjeongsal (pork jowl) and gochujang-marinated pork belly, and that was the end of our meat ><. I don't think I'd seen hangjeongsal served as a whole uncut piece like this before — the texture really does change depending on how it's sliced. The gochujang pork belly at the end had a bit of sauce on it, so it was great eaten with rice!

Side dishes from the self-serve bar

If you need more side dishes, you can grab them from the self-serve bar — just take a reasonable amount for what you'll actually eat ♥️

So that's my visit to Cheontong Seocho Yangjaesimineusup Station Branch, a Korean BBQ spot in Yangjae-dong that we stopped at after a café in Seocho! If you love meat, it's worth a visit at least once, and I hear a lot of mukbang YouTubers have come here too, so if you're curious, definitely check it out!!