Myeongdong's 24-Hour Grilled Pork BonesWhat to Order for Two

This place is open 24 hours, and what it serves is ppyeo sutbul gui: pork spine bones marinated in a red chilli paste and finished over charcoal.

How spicy, honestly — first

This is the question most visitors actually want answered, so it goes first. There is a real chilli kick, but this is not a hot dish by Korean standards. For reference: I eat spicy food comfortably, and nothing here registered as "hot".

A useful benchmark — if you have eaten gamjatang (the pork bone soup) or jjimdak and been fine, you will be fine here. If chilli is genuinely a problem for you, this one is not for you; the marinade is on every piece and cannot be set aside.

What it looks like

A white disposable bowl is packed with grilled pork spine ribs on the bone. The red seasoning is brushed on thick over the surface, charcoal-grilled with blackened patches here and there, and a clove of garlic is grilled alongside. The white bone cross-sections show, and a dark marinade pools at the bottom of the bowl. This is how it looks packed to go.

Menu words

• Gamjatang is a hot, spicy stew made by simmering pork spine for a long time. This place also serves the same spine grilled over charcoal
• Charcoal-grilled spine ribs are seasoned pork spine cooked over charcoal and eaten by tearing the meat off with your hands

What to order: two people, small size

Two of us ordered the small and finished comfortably full. Not "barely enough" — genuinely enough.

Bone dishes look like there is less meat than there is, so first-timers tend to over-order. Resist that. Two people ordering the medium will almost certainly leave food behind.

• 2 people — small size is right
• Adding drinks or a side dish makes the small feel generous
• If in doubt, start small and add more; Korean restaurants take extra orders without fuss

The charcoal is the point

The bones are finished over charcoal, and the smoke sits underneath everything rather than shouting over it. It cuts the heaviness that bone dishes usually carry. That restraint is what separates this from the same dish braised or pan-cooked.

Getting there — the name is confusing, the address is not

Look this place up and you will find two different names:

• Google Maps — Shindonggung Gamjatang Ppyeo Sutbul Gui, Euljiro branch
• Korean review sites — Shindonggung Gamjatang, Myeongdong branch

Same address, same phone number, same restaurant. Korean businesses often register slightly different names on different platforms, and this trips up visitors constantly.

The address is 43 Myeongdong 9-gil, Jung-gu. It sits between Myeongdong and Euljiro-ipgu stations, so it is a short walk from either. It's a narrow street in the middle of Myeongdong, though, so don't expect to park — take the subway. The 24-hour schedule can also shift on Korean public holidays, so if you're going in the middle of the night, a quick phone check is worth it.

The same broad Myeongdong area also has Maknae Hoejip and its weekday-lunch-only sashimi set, so a day-and-night itinerary around this neighbourhood is easy to build.

Takeout works

We took an order back with us and the charcoal aroma and marinade held up fine. Useful if your hotel is nearby, or if you would rather eat in your room than sit in a restaurant at 1am.

Combined with the 24-hour opening, late-night takeout is genuinely one of this place's strengths.

Who will enjoy this

Honestly: this is exactly what you expect grilled pork bones to taste like. It is not going to surprise you.

What it does is deliver that expectation properly. So:

• ✅ You already like Korean bone dishes — gamjatang, jjim — and want the grilled version
• ✅ You need real food in central Seoul at an hour when nothing else is open
• ✅ You want something distinctly Korean that is not barbecue or fried chicken
• ❌ You are looking for a dish that reinvents something — set expectations lower