Most travel guides would have you know that black pork is a must-try in Jeju, and many would be lured to the famous Black Pork Street which is lined with specialty KBBQ. Black pork supposedly has an unusual flavour and a chewy consistency that is not found in your usual pork.

However, I also heard reviews about how black pork is overrated. Some have also mentioned that the restaurants on Black Pork Street are not quite as amazing as you would imagine. Hence, I put off trying this dish – until 2024!

We were looking for KBBQ in Seogwipo and found this highly-rated restaurant called Bondon on Naver Maps.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the shop front (again) but here’s a TripAdvsior photo for reference:

The menus and signboards are written entirely in Korean. Fortunately, the boss and the staff actually converse very well in English! They were very helpful and helped us to understand some of the items on the menu. They also took the time to fully explain each and every plate that they served.

We weren’t very hungry so we didn’t order a lot, just 1 cut of black pork and 1 cut of white pork (normal pork?). We also ordered a portion of naengmyeon, soybean stew, and some beer.

It is common for Korean BBQ restaurants to serve A LOT of vegetables and side ingredients to complement your meat. The staff will also usually help with the grilling as they’re more experienced in perfecting your meat. I find it quite impressive that Bondon grilled the kimchi and burdock root for us as well though!

We didn’t find the naengmyeon and stew particularly impressive, but probably because we were paying all our attention to the meat!!

Experienced KBBQ lovers may know that the fat & oil (higher than that of beef & chicken) can burn pork easily. The staff at Bondon not only made sure our pork was crisp, but even managed to put on a whole flaming performance on our grill (not kidding)!

We found that the black pork was indeed much more flavourful, especially when paired with the brown sauce offered.

My personal favourite way of eating is to dip the pork slices in the sauce, wrap them up in a piece of lettuce, and stuff the wrap with kimchi and garlic.

The flavours literally burst in your mouth once when you chew on the wrap!

Both my travel companion & I are not huge fans of pork but this pork KBBQ really blew our minds. I used to think I was more of a beef person – now I know I just haven’t had good black pork in Jeju.

Price-range wise, I believe one portion of 180g cost about KRW 18-20k. It’s actually still a little cheaper than what other black pork restaurants charge, based on what I’ve checked around Jeju.

There weren’t many tourists in Bondon when we visited, save for another Singaporean family. There were many locals though, and they seemed to be frequent diners!

It was also the reason why I found it impressive that the staff could converse so fluently in English, especially as it’s not very common in Jeju. The boss was very friendly and happy to make conversation, which really nicely wrapped up our time at Bondon.

My one & only gripe about Bondon is that the toilets are located outside the restaurant. It’s perfectly fine in the warmer months, but I was FREEZING while waiting for my turn in what was possibly sub-zero weather. Just take note if you’re particular about the washroom situation at food establishments!

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DIRECTIONS:

Address: 9 Jungdong-ro 48beon-gil, Seogwipo, Jeju Island South Korea

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