Mapo SogeumguiKnown for Pork Skin, Eaten with Neck Meat

They are not branches of each other. They are separate, unrelated businesses. Worth explaining why, before anything else.

"Mapo" is a type of food, not a brand

Salt-grilled pork and pork skin began in Mapo. After the Korean War, the meat shops of Mapo's Texas Alley sold cuts of pork grilled with salt, and a whole pork-rib district grew up around them. Ever since, the word "Mapo" has worked as a label for the food itself. It is why Mapo Galbi and Choi Daepo are the most common pork-rib restaurant names nationwide.

So read "Mapo Sogeumgui" on a sign as a kind of food, not a brand. This particular shop is not a chain — it has been independently run since 1995.

The confusion is real. There is another Mapo Sogeumgui within Mapo itself — 32 Wausan-ro 32-gil, a separate old shop running since 1996. There are more out towards Seokgye and Amsa. Which is why the address matters — the place in this post is 27 Yanghwa-ro, Hapjeong.

What it looks like

Layers of grilled kkeopdegi are stacked on a round stainless plate. The skin is browned past golden to a deep brown, with grains of salt glinting on the surface and charred patches here and there. Some pieces curl up, showing thick cross-sections. Behind the plate sit pickled onion, red kimchi, and a bowl of shredded scallion and green chili.

Menu words

• Sogeum-gui is meat grilled with only salt, without a marinade
• Kkeopdegi is grilled pork skin, chewy and rich
• Chobeol means pre-grilling the meat once before it reaches your table

The pairing: skin and pork neck

Kkeopdegi is pork skin — the rind off the belly, separated out and grilled on its own. Grilled, the outside turns chewy while the fat underneath melts. Texture is the whole point of the dish, so if you enjoy something with real chew to it, this suits you. In Korea pork skin is drinking food — nobody eats it as a side dish with rice; you order it with a bottle of soju and grill it slowly.

Pork skin on its own gets tiring — too much fat, too little variation in texture. So at this place you order pork neck alongside it. That is the signature combination. The neck is remarkably tender — it gives way easily under the teeth. Alternating chewy skin with soft neck keeps either from wearing you out.

Why it arrives part-cooked

As in the photo, the meat has already been grilled once over charcoal before it reaches your table. For a traveller this is convenient.

• You do not need to know how to grill. Put it on the grill, warm the surface, done
• You eat sooner. Places that start from raw meat cost you twenty minutes
• Nothing burns. Burnt meat is the single most common mishap for visitors at a Korean grill house

Not quite what I remember

Honestly: it did not taste quite the way I remember it. This is an old place, running since 1995, and flavour at long-standing restaurants shifts a little over the years. That is not a complaint.

The skin-and-neck combination is still genuinely good. That is the reason to come here, and the reason still holds.

Getting there and hours

It is a two-minute walk from Exit 8 of Hapjeong Station — access like that is rare. The problem is elsewhere: neither the shop nor its sign stands out. There is no bright signage, so it is entirely possible to walk straight past the door. Navigate by the address — 27 Yanghwa-ro, Mapo-gu.

It opens at 4:30 PM, with no lunch service — this is dinner-only. Closed Sundays; Saturdays start at 4:00 PM. Last order is 9:00 PM and the door closes at ten. There is no car park.

If you want something sweet afterward, Fritz Coffee Dohwa, a cafe in a converted house, sits in the same broad Mapo area for dessert.

Notes for visitors

• Kkeopdegi is pork skin. It may sound unfamiliar, but eating skin is universal — Britain has pork scratchings, Latin America chicharrón, China 猪皮. The Korean way is over charcoal, like this
• Order pork neck (moksal) with it. Skin alone gets tiring
• This is pork. Not suitable if you avoid it
• It is a place for soju, not a rice meal. Think drinking food
• Do not expect an English menu. It is an old neighbourhood place — just say "kkeopdegi-hago sogeumgui juseyo"

Come here if

• ✅ You want to try pork skin — this is the place known for it
• ✅ You like food with real chew to it
• ✅ You want somewhere to grill slowly over a drink
• ✅ You have plans around Hongdae or Hapjeong
• ✅ Grilling your own meat feels daunting — it comes part-cooked
• ✅ You want the atmosphere of an old neighbourhood grill house
• ⚠️ Opens 4:30 PM. No lunch
• ⚠️ Closed Sundays, and the sign is easy to miss — go by address
• ⚠️ Pork skin is fatty. Not for you if you want something light
• ⚠️ It is not a quiet room