The barbecue revolutionary of Myeongdong—Iron Man himself!

Text & Photos byLittle Paine

This place, called “囚???” or “脆?” (also known as Iron Man BBQ, or sometimes translated as Latte Man), has been on my radar for ages. A quick look at Naver with just a bit of Korean knowledge reveals it’s highly recommended in Korean blogs. But right before I got there, I heard Travel King had featured this spot too (haha)! So I went along with the flow, though I don’t know which branch they were talking about. I personally went to “Factory No. 1”—it feels like the original one and it’s super close to Myeongdong. From Euljiro 1-ga Station, just walk through the underground passage toward Euljiro 3-ga Station without having to face wind or rain!

I’d just made plans to meet up with May from the Little Tiger Foodie Group, who’s studying Korean at a language institute. You know foodies only go where the food’s good—and luckily, this place was seriously delicious, totally satisfying our taste buds. The servers were all young and handsome (haha), and super friendly. Even though we were foreigners and a bit confused, he kept explaining things. We found out that if you order a combo meal (with meat and salad), it’s actually more expensive than ordering meat separately and getting a side of salad and pasta. Turns out, if you come on a weekday afternoon (11am–5pm, not sure the exact end time) and order two portions of meat, you get a free salad and pasta worth ₩12,000—that’s an unbeatable deal!

The shop front is actually super low-key.

You might walk right past it if you don’t remember the name.

Thankfully, the store has a sign—ha ha—the iron oven is the main feature. Look out for the leftmost sign!

Walking in, I was a bit shocked—it didn’t really look like a restaurant.

It actually looked like an iron factory!!!

But that’s just the outside. Inside, it’s perfectly normal.

Each table has its own iron box!

Let’s check out the menu first~~~ If you’re not sure what to order, there are photos to help you out!

First off, if you’re not sure what to get, combo meals are perfect for you!

For à la carte, you can order a portion of meat, which is pretty good—one portion usually comes with two skewers. Korean beef is pricier, but I’d recommend going to a specialty store for that. Pork belly isn’t expensive—₩8,900 per portion. Duck meat is ₩9,800 for a portion of two skewers.

The salad is something I personally highly recommend—you must have it with the meat!

If you’re dining alone at lunchtime, there are set meals, but then you won’t get to use the oven, which is a bit of a shame.

They serve small sides and sauces first, but I didn’t try any of the four because I found the meat with salad to be delicious enough on its own!

Ta-da, we ordered one portion of pork belly and one portion of duck meat—that’s four skewers—and added a skewer of grilled veggies for ₩4,000.

The top part is designed for placing cooked meat.

The iron handle on the side doesn’t actually get very hot!

By the way, this free salad and pasta worth ₩12,000 is absolutely mind-blowing~~~

It’s really~~ super~~ huge, and there’s pasta underneath—not just veggies, though there are quite a few greens, haha.

It’s so tasty, both May and I loved it. It pairs perfectly with the meat. It has a bit of an Italian vinaigrette style—refreshing yet flavorful, with a nice mix of sour, salty, and sweet. The pasta is also chewy and delicious. Getting this for free is just shocking~~ (you only get it when you order two portions of meat).

Meanwhile, the oven kept puffing out smoke, filling the air with mouthwatering aromas~

I sneakily opened the iron box, inside which were glowing charcoal briquettes, with the meat skewers slowly rotating and grilling nearby.

This is the duck meat—looks absolutely delicious!! Juicy fat kept dripping down~~

Once it’s cooked, the staff will serve it for you—you don’t have to do anything yourself.

They’ll cut the meat and veggies into bite-sized pieces. The whole plate of grilled meat, meant for two people, paired with the complimentary pasta and salad—wow, May and I were over the moon (because it’s such a great deal)!

I really have to give huge praise to this pork belly. It’s not just plain white pork belly—it’s been smoked, giving off an aroma somewhat like cured meat. It’s incredibly delicious and not greasy at all. Absolutely amazing!! I personally highly recommend it～

Next is the duck. The duck is thick and has a great texture. It’s pretty tasty too, but it doesn’t have as distinct a smoky aroma as the pork belly.

The vegetables are grilled nice and sweet as well.

The pork belly paired with vinaigrette pasta and lettuce is so good～～

After finishing this salad and pasta dish, I found that the dried cranberries at the bottom are also really tasty, and the garlic slices are super good too. They’re not raw garlic slices—these have been processed, kind of like they’ve been fried or roasted. The texture was a bit crispy originally, but after soaking in the sauce, they became soft and chewy. So good!! Took a special photo of them.

We ate it all up～～～ So satisfying.

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