Pork day! Meatballs and Black Jeju Pig Pork

Today was a washout weather-wise, so we ate and drank (plus visited a disappointing museum). We started the day with our convenience store purchases using the kitchen and dining room upstairs; donuts and drip coffee for me, microwave rice soup (죽) for Romana. This was a winter trip in two parts; a solo three days, then four days with Romana.

Day 5 of 7 winter days on Jeju

I thought it would be nice to get some umbrellas and walk in the rain to the museum of Lee Jungseob (이중섭), the artist whose art is dotted around the streets in this neighbourhood. However, to be frank, the museum was a little disappointing; we were expecting more of his actual artwork on display but this was mainly just letters and other documents from around he and his family’s time in Jeju and elsewhere. After leaving, it was too cold and windy to be that enjoyable outside so we went with plan B; find somewhere warm and cosy and eat!

We walked to 70 Meatballs (칠십리고기완자) for some lunch of meatballs and salad. I’d been here before about a year ago and was happy to see it was still open; the meatball dishes were great quality and the spot is really cosy, especially on a cold, wet, dreary day like today. Romana loved the food too. We stayed for quite a long time watching the rain and deciding where to go next.

We thought it’d be fun to find a coffee shop by the stormy sea and chill out there, so we drove off to a recommended place nearby: Atelier AN (아뜰리에안). It was right on the sea front, looking onto some small, uninhabited islands (called seom / 섬 in Korean). Very pleasant. We read our travel guides and thought about tomorrow while getting hungrier and hungrier. Yesterday was fish so I wanted to continue with the meat theme so we looked for a good black pig pork restaurant.

Romana found one close by. 제주곰집 (Jeju Gomjip, or Jeju Bear House) is a large, country style Korean grill restaurant with a large staff and parking lot. It wasn’t packed yet so we got lucky with the seats and parking; I imagine this place would be packed in other seasons and without the pandemic. The meat was thick and juicy and one of the helpers cooked the first round for us, making sure we were watching his technique> He had a unique method, well regimented to allow thorough, but not over, cooking; I like my pork moist and crispy! I think the restaurant doesn’t want its customers burning and ruining the meat…make for bad Instagram posts! And fortunately after the first round, we cooked the rest ourselves.