Charcoal Grill Korean BBQ – Pork Only – In Jeju City

On my last night in Jeju City I found myself wandering around in search of a perfect last meal. In the area where I was staying at there were a bunch of side streets packed with different restaurants. With a plethora of interesting, tantalizing options available it was a hard choice.

I’d had a fair share of Korean BBQ up to this point of the trip. But can you really eat enough Korean BBQ while in South Korea? This particular restaurant only served pork cuts over a charcoal grill. Unfortunately I have no idea what the name of the restaurant is. Google translates it to Buanjip. I’m not sure if that’s another way of saying BBQ or pork BBQ but I couldn’t find the actual translation.

A spot specializing in only pork BBQ sounded like a good place to finish off my travels in Jeju.

The menu was pretty short and concise with minimal items on it. Google Translate was still having difficulties properly translating the majority of it. Due to this, I’m not 100% sure WHAT I ordered. I figured I couldn’t really go too wrong here though.

Something unique about this BBQ, besides it being all pork based, were the charcoal grills. I’d heard about charcoal grill KBBQ places in South Korea but hadn’t tried them up to this point. I was definitely curious to see how it would impact the flavor. And if there was any noticeable difference in taste versus the usual gas grill.

First, all the many dishes of banchan came out. Followed by a hearty plate of pork cuts. Since I couldn’t read the menu, I had no idea what cut of pork these were.

It was definitely different seeing the server come out with a plate of white hot coals and put them in the grill pit.

I expected the cook times on these pieces of pork to take a little bit more time than on charcoal opposed to a gas grill.

Although it does take longer to grill, it’s worth the wait. The charcoal adds a nice smoky taste with a wonderful smoky, crunchy outer layer. The charcoal allows the fat to render more slowly than it would on a gas grill which creates a real melt-in-your-mouth type of sensation. Combined with that pure smoky flavor, it makes each piece a tasty delight with just a dip in some salt.

In addition to the salt, there’s also a wide variety of other dips, sauces, and usual banchan fare to pack into the leafy greens with the meat. Finding that perfect combination was a lot of fun with all the banchan and dips /sauces providing an assortment of wide ranging flavors and textures.

This was defintely an enjoyable experience with the charcoal bbq combined with an all pork menu. Just getting a different tweak on the Korean bbq flavor I’m so accustomed to was fun, especially for my last night in Jeju.