Mongtan is a hugely famous place, but reservations are notoriously hard to get, and these days I don’t have anyone to line up schedules with for a place like this, so I hadn’t even been thinking about going. Lately I have no idea what my schedule will look like a month out… Anyway, thanks to Blue Ribbon I got a good opportunity and was able to visit.

The place

I’ve wandered around this area a lot, but this was my first time actually going inside…

Interior

Very retro. People really are good at interiors these days…

Cooking

Hard at work…

Red Ribbon

This was during Red Ribbon Week, and there was an event, so that’s how I was able to visit.

Cola

Hard to see in the photo, but…

Side dishes

Neat and tidy. It’s a pretty popular place, so you can tell they put some care into it.

Special menu

For a barbecue place, this is pretty good.

Grill

Topped with rice cakes and garlic…

Sprite

Besides cola, they have Sprite too. Same parent company, after all.

Udae galbi

First off, it looks fantastic.

Grilled nicely

It’s nice that they slice and grill it for you. At this level of barbecue restaurant, that kind of service is a given, I suppose.

All grilled

Udae galbi is ultimately a sweet marinated galbi, a flavor no Korean could dislike… They also separate the meat clinging to the bone and grill it, and that’s another delicacy.

Truffle steamed egg

Classic barbecue-joint steamed egg. Perfect with soju, I’d say…

Straw-fire hangjeongsal (pork jowl)

It looks a bit different.

Grilled nicely

Delicious pork jowl. After udae galbi and then pork jowl, I was pretty stuffed.

Fried rice

If you search for Mongtan fried rice it should come up; I think they sold it in supermarkets or something… Eating this fried rice together with the meat from the udae galbi bones was nutty and satisfyingly chewy.

Mongtan tteokgalbi

They served us tteokgalbi on the house since it’s a new menu item, and while the tteokgalbi itself is tasty, the bone marrow in the bone on top was the real delicacy. There’s a real pleasure in sucking it out, and I think this menu item is bound to be a hit.

Grilled up nicely like this…

I ate until I was about to burst. Reservations are hard and finding someone to go with is hard, but if you do get there it’s a very satisfying place. I was so grateful to be invited to the gathering and get to eat at a restaurant I’d never otherwise have had a reason to visit in my life.

The coffee shop next door

Had a cup to cleanse the palate, but it was just an ordinary coffee shop.

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