The Best Way to Eat Kimchi?

Over the weekend, a hyung of mine invited me to join him at a place called 무쇠김치삼겹 (Cast Iron Kimchi Pork Belly).

They have branches popping up all over Seoul and a new branch happened to open up in his neighborhood. I can never say no to samgyupsal so I joined to see what all the fuss was about.

As the name implies, their specialty is their pork belly served with kimchi, cooked over a traditional Korean cast iron lid.

It's always a good sign when there's only a few signature items on the menu

Their signature item is of course 무쇠김치삼겹 (11,500 per person). When we tried to order for the two of us, the server noted that there was a minimum order of 3 for that dish. Hyung and I are both relatively big eaters so we figured it wasn't an issue for the two of us but do note that there is a minimum.

Once we ordered, a server promptly came over with the food and got to cooking for us. Here, they do all the cooking for you so you can just chill and enjoy the show.

The food is cooked on top of a traditional Korean pot lid called a 무쇠 (hence the name of the restaurant). Though usually used to cover those giant pots of doenjang/gochujang, it's also used for cooking quite frequently in the countryside.

You'll see Koreans cook two different ways with the lid, either flipped upside down, as is the case here, or upright with the center on top.

If you want to skimp on the fat, upright-lid cooking is the way to go but if you want flavor country, you gotta flip it over.

The concave shape of the cast iron lid is perfect for gathering all the pork fat to the center. Not a single drop of fat is wasted.

Kimchi, tofu, and garlic fried in a golden pond of "collagen"

Once the kimchi and garlic start turning gold, you're good to go. I'd highly highly recommend that you make a "ssam" with a piece of pork belly, cooked kimchi, cooked garlic, and a bit of fresh minced garlic that they provide as a side. The combination of fresh garlic with the cooked garlic and kimchi is out of this world. The pork belly is almost unnecessary, the garlic/kimchi combo is that good.

Once you finish off the meat and kimchi, you can order some 볶음밥 (fried rice) to soak up any remaining grease but to be honest, it wasn't that great and I'd just stick to the meat/kimchi/garlic.

Finish off the remaining grease with fried rice.

There's a million places you can get samgyeopsal in Korea but a lot of those places actually discourage cooking kimchi on their pans for various reasons. What I love about this place is that the cooked kimchi is the star and you can definitely taste the quality. No cheap knock-off kimchi here.

After trying it out, I can see why this place is so popular and popping up all over Seoul recently. If you see one near your neighborhood, you should definitely check it out.

Final Verdict for 무쇠김치삼겹:

Overall: 9/10

Taste: 9/10 (볶음밥 cost it the otherwise perfect score)

Price: 8/10

Atmosphere: 9/10

Service: 10/10