Pork belly restaurant in Seohae: a smoke-free lunch at Sammi-jip

I love eating out for Sunday lunch, so I went to a great pork belly spot in Cheongna, Incheon. Sammi-jip (삼미집) is a Cheongna restaurant that serves all the meat fully grilled, so the smell of meat does not cling to you.

Sammi-jip parking and lunch specials

Sammi-jip specializes in kimchi pork belly grilled on a sotttukkeong, a cast-iron pot lid. The inside and outside were so clean that it looked like a newly opened Cheongna pork belly place. But when I looked at Naver reviews before visiting, there were tons. So it was not newly opened after all.

First, you can park right in front of the restaurant. We arrived practically at weekend-opening-run time, so parking at Sammi-jip was honestly the easiest thing ever. From weekend peak hours onward, though, unavoidable double parking can happen.

It is also great for a Cheongna lunch special. They were selling sotttukkeong kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew), sotttukkeong budae jjigae (army-base stew), and sotttukkeong duruchigi (spicy stir-fried pork) as lunch specials.

A bright, comfortable interior that does not feel like a meat restaurant

I almost doubted this was a meat restaurant. It was really bright, comfortable, and spacious—almost café-like. The wood-and-white interior was light, with plants adding a fresh touch. That is why I briefly mistook it for a newly opened hot spot. If you are looking for a clean Cheongna pork belly restaurant with no meat smell, Sammi-jip is just right.

Side dishes grilled with the meat

When we ordered the meat, they set out the side dishes: ssam vegetables for wrapping, dongchimi (water kimchi), and a house sauce for dipping the pork belly.

After setting these out, they said they would grill them together with the meat.

The dongchimi was nicely fermented and refreshing. It was not just sweet dongchimi; it had a gentle sweetness and a cool, fizzy tang.

Kimchi pork belly served fully grilled

The sotttukkeong pork belly appeared. This was not merely par-grilled pork belly—they grilled it all the way through. It was ready to eat immediately.

They grilled nicely ripened, delicious napa cabbage kimchi too.

They also added and grilled bean sprouts, minari (water celery), seasoned scallions, king oyster mushrooms, and onions.

Kimchi pork belly: ₩17,000 × 2 servings. This was a generous Cheongna meat restaurant. The pork belly itself was good, but there were so many things to grill alongside it that it made for a filling meal.

I like grilling and eating a variety of side dishes as much as I like meat, so this Cheongna spot was exactly my kind of place.

Rather than feeling like pork belly grilled with exceptional technique, it felt like they used fresh pork belly. The meat was fresh with absolutely no off smell. The ratio of lean meat to fat was perfect too. When one side overwhelms the other, I think the flavor suffers, but this was the delicious balance.

A combination with a house sauce that is not salty

You absolutely have to dip it in the house sauce. This sauce is seriously delicious. It is not salty, so you can dunk away. The pork belly was tender, not tough. I especially loved the rich flavor from the fatty part.

The charm of Sammi-jip, this Cheongna pork belly restaurant, is wrapping the meat with the grilled vegetables. I put every grilled thing into a perilla-leaf wrap. The perilla aroma and all those richly grilled ingredients tasted so good. My husband made himself huge wraps too. Why does the perilla leaf look so small, you ask? Well, we love taking giant bites, so we got a little greedy, haha.

Pork belly over well-cooked bean sprouts and kimchi was heavenly too. The kimchi was delicious kimchi to begin with. Grilling it made it insanely good!!

Pork belly and minari are the best pairing. The fragrant herb makes it feel cleaner and fresher.

Hardly any smell on clothes, even at lunch

Also, while having lunch at this Cheongna favorite, I felt so fresh. Since they grill all the meat in the kitchen, there was not much meat smell around us and my clothes did not smell like meat either. Of all the pork belly places I have visited, this Cheongna restaurant left the least meat smell. And have a mushroom too~

Also, it is much tastier if you add undercooked onion to this house sauce. It feels like the onion dipping sauce served with jeon (Korean savory pancakes). The crisp onions, savory sauce, and pork belly were a great match. It tastes so good that you keep dipping.

Lunch with mul-naengmyeon on the side

Mul-naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles in broth), ₩8,000. We wanted something cool, so we ordered one mul-naengmyeon too.

The vinegar prince from the land of mustard poured on loads of mustard and vinegar. We both have exactly the same taste for sharp, tangy flavors.

It was cool and tasty mul-naengmyeon. Honestly, it was a familiarly delicious flavor. But somehow I could taste a fruity sweetness. (Was that right? I do not know the answer.) At ₩17,000 per serving, I had thought it was expensive. But I loved all the things grilled alongside the meat, and the environment for eating meat was so comfortable. You can bring more side dishes from the self-service corner. Before eating, I thought I would load up on bean sprouts, seasoned scallions, and so on, then grill more—but the portions were more generous than expected, so I did not even make it to the self-service bar.

Sammi-jip is a Cheongna pork belly restaurant that serves quality pork belly fully grilled. The staff and owner were all kind, and being able to eat meat in a comfortable space—as well as having it as a Cheongna lunch restaurant—is a real plus.