Korean Samgyeopsal Restaurant in Seoul: Matjjangdeul Wang Sogeum Gui

Near Gireum Station in Seoul, just one stop from Sungshin Women's University Station on Subway Line 4, there is a branch of 맛찬들 왕소금구이 (Matjjangdeul Wang Sogeum Gui). The restaurant is located on the first-floor commercial area of a large apartment complex near the station.

While writing this post, I looked up the restaurant again and noticed that the franchise seems to have gone through a fairly extensive renewal, including its signs and overall branding. I visited another branch near Jamsil many years ago, and what I remember most from that time was that the staff actually checked the temperature of the grill before cooking the pork. They waited until the grill reached a certain temperature before putting the meat on it, which felt quite unusual at the time. At this branch, the process seemed a little less strict than what I remembered.

Does Korean Samgyeopsal Have Meat Grades?

There is something I have often wondered about while eating samgyeopsal in Korea. With Korean beef, especially Hanwoo, customers frequently see grades such as 1++, 1+, 1, and 2 displayed at butcher shops and restaurants. Pork, on the other hand, is rarely presented to ordinary customers with the same kind of visible grading information.

Korea does have a pork grading system, but diners usually do not see the grade emphasized as clearly as they do with beef. I have heard both from butcher shops and restaurants that some premium samgyeopsal restaurants select higher-quality pork based on carcass quality, fat distribution, thickness, and other characteristics. Matjjangdeul Wang Sogeum Gui is one of the restaurants that emphasizes the quality and thickness of its pork.

The pork belly here was thick, juicy, and pleasantly rich without being excessively greasy. The pieces were also cut quite large, which is common at many premium-style samgyeopsal restaurants in Korea.

This doenjang jjigae was provided as part of a review promotion. It was not an especially unusual version of the dish, but it was warm, savory, and enjoyable with grilled pork.

These days, restaurant review promotions are very common in Korea. Some restaurants ask customers to write a Naver review in exchange for a complimentary dish, drink, or side menu. It is an interesting part of modern Korean restaurant culture, although opinions differ on whether this kind of promotion makes online reviews more or less useful.

One Reason I Like Matjjangdeul Wang Sogeum Gui

One reason I personally enjoy Matjjangdeul Wang Sogeum Gui is the variety of side dishes served with the pork. Korean samgyeopsal restaurants usually offer garlic, ssamjang, kimchi, salt, lettuce, and pickled vegetables, but this restaurant also serves myeongran-jeot, salted and seasoned pollock roe.

I have visited many samgyeopsal restaurants, but it is still relatively unusual for me to see myeongran-jeot served as a standard accompaniment to pork belly.

Fatty samgyeopsal already tastes good with salt or a little wasabi, but adding salty myeongran-jeot gives the meat another layer of flavor. The rich pork fat and the salty roe work surprisingly well together.

There were also several kinds of pickled vegetables on the table. Some of them can be placed directly on the grill and eaten warm with the pork, which I personally enjoy more than some of the side dishes that became popular at Korean barbecue restaurants in the past.

As mentioned earlier, the samgyeopsal itself was rich and flavorful. When grilled pickled vegetables are placed on top, their sour and salty flavor cuts through the fattiness of the pork.

This is one of the enjoyable parts of eating Korean barbecue. You can eat the same piece of pork in several different ways: with salt, with wasabi, with garlic, with pickled vegetables, wrapped in lettuce, or together with fermented seafood.

One thing about many Korean samgyeopsal franchises is that the meat is often served in very thick, large pieces. It looks generous on the grill, but when you are slowly eating one piece at a time while drinking, it can be surprisingly easy to order several servings.

In the past, I remember one serving of meat at Korean barbecue restaurants being closer to around 200 to 250 grams in many places. These days, portions of roughly 150 to 180 grams are common. Since meat also loses moisture and weight while cooking, eating two servings alone is not particularly difficult for someone with a good appetite.

With one serving of samgyeopsal now costing around 18,000 won at many restaurants, eating several portions can become fairly expensive.

Meljeot, Baek-Kimchi, and Other Korean Pork Belly Side Dishes

The restaurant also serves meljeot, a fermented anchovy sauce that became widely associated with Jeju-style pork restaurants. It is usually placed directly on the grill so that it can warm up and reduce slightly. You then dip a piece of grilled pork into the salty, strongly flavored sauce.

The small fermented shrimp from saeujeot, or salted shrimp, can also be eaten with pork. Fermented seafood may seem unusual to someone trying Korean barbecue for the first time, but salty fermented flavors pair very naturally with rich pork.

Koreans commonly grill kimchi next to samgyeopsal, but grilled baek-kimchi, or white kimchi, is also very good. White kimchi is not red or heavily spicy, so after grilling it becomes slightly sweet, sour, and soft while still keeping a refreshing flavor.

I especially liked eating the pork with myeongran-jeot. The combination may look unusual if you are used to eating pork only with salt or barbecue sauce, but the salty roe goes very well with the fatty meat.

One of the attractions of Korean samgyeopsal is that the pork itself is only part of the meal. The numerous small dishes around the grill allow you to change the flavor of almost every bite.

As for garlic, I still prefer it raw. Many Koreans grill garlic with pork, but I like the sharp flavor of fresh garlic dipped in ssamjang and eaten together with a piece of samgyeopsal.

The doenjang jjigae from the review promotion was actually a chadol doenjang jjigae, made with thin slices of beef brisket. Even though it was provided as a complimentary dish, there was a surprisingly generous amount of beef inside.

Doenjang jjigae is one of the most common dishes to eat toward the end of a Korean barbecue meal. Its hot, salty, fermented soybean broth works especially well after eating a lot of fatty pork.

Another interesting side dish was seasoned dried radish. I do not see this very often at samgyeopsal restaurants, but it worked well because of its chewy texture and spicy, sweet, and salty seasoning.

Is Matjjangdeul Wang Sogeum Gui Worth Trying?

Matjjangdeul Wang Sogeum Gui is a franchise, so there are several branches in Seoul and other parts of Korea. As with most franchises, the experience can vary somewhat depending on the branch, but I think it is worth trying if you want to experience samgyeopsal with more accompaniments than the usual salt, garlic, lettuce, and kimchi.

Samgyeopsal itself may taste broadly similar wherever you eat it, but the side dishes can completely change the experience. Here, I particularly liked grilling the pickled vegetables and combining the pork with myeongran-jeot, meljeot, baek-kimchi, and other fermented or pickled flavors.

While writing this post, I also learned that the franchise originally started in Daegu, which I found interesting because it has since expanded to Seoul and other regions. If you happen to see a Matjjangdeul Wang Sogeum Gui while traveling in Korea and want to try a Korean-style grilled pork belly meal with a wide variety of side dishes, it is an easy restaurant to consider.