Corkage-free Korean BBQ near Sunae Station, Seongnam: Jeju Monteurak

Location: Jeju Monteurak near Sunae Station

I was hunting for a BBQ place near Sunae Station and ended up here. It's on the first floor of the Gratea building.

Walk in and there's a big Monteurak logo on the wall, with volcanic-rock-style tile and palm leaves leaning hard into the Jeju concept. From the sign alone I thought it might just be another chain BBQ joint, but the inside was tidier than I expected.

• Address: 23 Hwangsaeul-ro 258beon-gil, Gratea 101-ho, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

A dol hareubang (stone grandfather statue) greeted me, haha.

The menu — thick-cut Jeju black pork and sides

This is a Jeju black pork BBQ place. They don't slice it thin — it comes out in thick blocks, and the manager cuts and grills it so it ends up cubed. I love this thickness. The chew is completely different.

The sides they bring out are solid. King oyster mushrooms and shiitake go on the grill together, and cabbage gets grilled too. The roasted cabbage was surprisingly good — the sweetness that comes up cuts through the richness of the meat.

Pickled myeong-i namul (wild garlic leaves) also comes out, and the meal wraps up with makguksu. It's the style where you toss it with plenty of powder and sesame seeds.

It's seasoned a bit more than your usual perilla oil makguksu, so it's tangy and sweet!!

Grilled baek-kimchi (white kimchi)... this beats lettuce, hands down!

Soft, tender mushrooms!!! And now for the star of the show — the meat!!!!!!

This pork neck has serious juiciness.

What about corkage? Free corkage with no bottle limit

Corkage free. The single most important word on this blog — and when a BBQ place offers this, there's no need to think twice.

• Corkage: Available
• Fee: Free
• Bottle limit: None

Once you've been to places that charge ₩10,000 per bottle, you realize how convenient a simple 'corkage free' policy really is.

Pairing black pork with wine

What I brought was Mollydooker The Maitre D' Cabernet Sauvignon, from McLaren Vale, Australia. The waiter holding a plate on the label is this cuvée's mascot.

And this wasn't just any bottle. It's one I got signed in person the day the Mollydooker owner family visited Red Tongue's Pangyo branch. The signature in white pen is still there on the neck of the bottle. I even completed a left-handed mission to bring home this ₩90,000 bottle for ₩37,800.

It paired incredibly well with the black pork. Since they cut and grill it thick, there's quite a bit of fat, and this Cabernet leaned into taming that. Best choice of the day.

Review — breath-freshness self-bar and the review draw

The dessert self-bar is fun. They've sorted Polo mints, xylitol gum, and mouthwash by breath-freshness level. Level 2 is candy, level 3 is gum, level 4 is mouthwash. There's even a breathalyzer and a result guide chart next to it. Seeing this kind of detail at a BBQ place makes me laugh.

Write a Naver review and you get one capsule draw. 1st prize is ₩50,000 in Monteurak points, and 4th prize is Udo peanut jjondeugi (chewy candy). I spun the capsule machine once and got the jjondeugi. It's nothing big, but this kind of thing sticks in your memory.