[Jeju] Boiled Pork Dinner at CheonJitGol 천짓골식당 @ Seogwipo

One of the must try traditional dishes in Jeju will be the dombe meat which means steamed and sliced pork served on chopping board. Tracy found one near our accommodation, so we dropped by for Day 3 dinner. It was a Saturday evening on our day of visit and we should've realised that restaurants in town areas should be busier than normal days. Hahaa, so we went and placed our name on their waitlist (there isn't any list per se but the staff did see us and knew we would like to dine there) and will call when there's a freed up table. So, we waited outside along with a few other chaps.

shop front

We were called in after waiting for 20 minutes. We noticed that the guests there usually comes in larger groups of 4 or more. Age range, I'd guess it's thirties and above.

interior

The menu was rather simple. Choose whether you'd like Jeju black pork or the normal one and the starting weight is 600gms. Add-on meat would be at 300gm each. So of course we got ourselves the black pork set to start and additional normal pork. 900gm to feed 4 pax, hence that's about 225gm for one pax.

The shop looked like it was run by a family. The young staff seemed to be the son, while the dad was busy delivering side-dishes to the tables and finally, the lady who performed the table-side service seemed to be the lady boss.

side dishes and lettuce

main course - Jeju Black Pork

lady boss slicing up the meat and teaching us how to eat it properly

The lady boss will enquire if we are first timers and if yes, she'll teach the table on how to create flavours using the sides given and which sequence works best. She'll slice up some pieces (one each per pax for the group), then shares which item goes with the meat (for example, a slice of marinated onion) and eat it. And she'll ask that you eat combi to ensure that you are enjoying the meat as it was meant to be. Hahaa, it was slightly stressful as her pace was pretty fast but glad she spent time to share with diners on how to enjoy the boiled pork.

sauce

The boiled meat itself was tender and tasted good even if it was just with a touch of salt. Our second round of meat came after the first was completed. Normal pork tasted good too although there was a slight difference in texture with a less premium feel. The fats in the normal pork felt a tad chunkier. But I enjoyed it all the same. Can't say no to meat!

normal pork (300gm)

The atmosphere in the restaurant is not unlike an izakaya, where guests enjoys small bites with their drinks, shares anecdotes with their friends and also shares some friendly banters with the staff. You'll see most tables enjoying their beer/soju/makgeolli. We had makgeolli because the carbonated rice wine with its slight sweetness, is the perfect foil for the boiled pork.

Overall, we spent ₩92,000 for the meal, which was roughly around SGD24 per pax (inclusive of makgeolli and some soda).

CheonJitGol 천짓골식당

Address: 294-10 Cheonji-dong, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do, South Korea

Contact: +82647630399

Business Hour: 

Closed Sunday

Sat - Fri: 5pm to 10pm

[Jeju] Jeju Black Pig BBQ Dinner at Jeju dot @ Seogwipo

 Jeju dot specializes in Jeju black pig Korean BBQ. We drove to the place from our hotel and it was a good 40 minutes ride. When we reached the end of our navigation, the place looked like a private residential area except there were plenty of cars parked in its compound.

Jeju dot carpark

The place was full when we reached at 6.43pm. Informed the staff that we would like to dine there without reservation and she indicated that we could leave our name and contact in the waiting list. Oh boy, but I do not have any local phone number though, so ended up just indicating the surname and number of pax. Hehe.

Went back outside to admire the sunset and watched other people's kids playing at the huge compound while we wait for the staff to call us.

evening in Jeju

And 10 minutes later, we got a table.

table all set

menu and kitchen

Oooh, the menu is all in hangul and so, it was time for Google Translate. The manager came to our table and asked us in Korean, for our order. I asked for his recommendation and then, he took out his mobile phone and typed something on it and showed it to us. Ahh, he is using Papago to say that he recommends the pork neck and pork belly. Each order is minimally 200gm and so for the 4 of us, to start with those. We agreed.

He also said that the meat will be pre-cooked before served to our table.

Jeju Hallasan 17 Soju

pork neck

will be ready in a jiffy

Ahhh, so the grill on our table was just to brown the meat slightly and then we could enjoy it. The manager just tossed the cut-up meat a little bit on the table grill and then informed us to start eating. And so we did!

The pork neck looked like little chunk of firm fat but it's not fatty. The texture was firm and tasted good.

pork neck

dip it slightly in salt

The meat was gone in no time and the next cut was served. Ok, the pork belly was certainly more greasy and the meat still has that skin layer on it. This version is chewy.

pork belly

yums

let's drink some beer~

Yes, we made somaek and enjoyed it with the meats. Hmm, we finished up both the pork neck and pork belly and might just as well order the last cut of the 3 available. Added 200gm of pork ribs to our order.

pork ribs

The sauce on the grill was intriguing and very flavourful, so I asked the manager what it was. He said it is anchovies sauce. It was that good and I found myself using this dip more than the other sauces.

so flavourful

We finished the dinner rather quickly in just one hour. Overall, my favourite cut is the pork neck for its unique texture. It is ok if you do not speak Korean as the manager at this place is adept at using translation app to communicate with customers.

Staff were courteous and I felt welcomed. We spent ₩134,000 for dinner.

Jeju dot 제주돗

Address: 34 Josu 2-gil, Hangyeong-myeon, Cheju, Jeju-do, South Korea

Contact: +82 64-772-0505

Business Hours:

Closed: Tue

Wed to Mon: 4pm to 10pm