Baby-friendly Seongsu army stew with parking and sofa seats: Songtan

Why I went looking for an army stew restaurant with parking near Seongsu Station

Songtan Jindaegwang Budae Jjigae Seongsu Branch is a place I found while searching for an army stew restaurant near Seongsu Station with parking for lunch. Ever since I had a baby, I hadn't been able to come to Seongsu-dong much because of parking, so since this place had parking, I finally paid a visit after a long while.

Back when I was pregnant, my husband and I used to come to Seongsu-dong all the time. Back then I'd come here often for coffee, meals, drinks, you name it. But now that I have a baby, parking is the first thing on my mind whenever I want to move around with her. I've turned into someone who can't go anywhere without a parking lot, ugh.

Still, going far felt like too much of a hassle, and today I suddenly wanted army stew, so I searched for a Seongsu Station lunch spot with parking and found this army stew restaurant in Seongsu-dong. Total luck! Honestly I didn't even remember there being an army stew place at this spot.

Parking and location at Songtan Jindaegwang Budae Jjigae Seongsu Branch

Songtan Jindaegwang Budae Jjigae Seongsu Branch has quite a bit of ground-level parking right next to the main road, and the restaurant itself takes up a spacious spot on the 2nd floor of the building. It's right in front of Seongsu Station Exit 1, so it's incredibly close to the station.

When I actually arrived, I immediately spotted the spacious army stew place on the 2nd floor. That mattered quite a lot to me, since I'd been avoiding Seongsu-dong because of parking. Having ground parking was also really convenient!

Can you comfortably eat army stew near Seongsu Station with a baby?

Songtan Jindaegwang Budae Jjigae Seongsu Branch has sofa and bench seating, so I could lay my sleeping baby down. This time my sister-in-law joined us for the meal too, and since she held the baby, my husband and I got to eat lunch in peace for the first time in ages.

I never realized how grateful you can be, while raising a baby, when someone offers to hold her for a bit during a meal out haha. At first when the baby was sleeping I laid her down, but with the humidity and the music playing, she woke up haha. Still, lately she's been fine even when she wakes up, so we got to eat well.

The staff kindly warned us to be careful since the stew might splatter while boiling. Such thoughtfulness from the staff. I guess you really do need to be careful with soupy dishes when you're with a baby.

We also added ramen noodles and ate until we were completely full.

How much sausage comes with the ham platter added to army stew for three?

At Songtan Jindaegwang Budae Jjigae Seongsu Branch, adding the ham/sausage platter to the army stew for three came with an amount of sausage that was almost embarrassing. Spam, smoky sausage, regular sausage — so many kinds piled in, it was basically a sausage party.

Then the army stew (budae jjigae) arrived. Since three of us were eating today, we added extra sausage and piled it in! The amount of sausage alone was overwhelming, almost embarrassingly so 🥹❤️ And it wasn't just one kind — several different types were packed in together.

Usually when a group of sausage lovers goes to an army stew place, one or two people end up quietly eating just the leftover broth while everyone eyes each other nervously. Here, you wouldn't need to worry about that at all haha. No matter how many people come, there was enough sausage that you'd never feel it was running short.

Broth flavor and rice refills

The broth at Songtan Jindaegwang Budae Jjigae Seongsu Branch was so good it had the side effect of making me keep eating rice haha. The rice seemed to be refillable too.

I've been running every evening lately, sort of on a diet. But today... I just set my diet resolve aside in front of the army stew and ate plenty of rice and plenty of sausage haha. The rice just kept going down so easily. What matters is an unbreakable spirit, they say. I'll just start running again tomorrow haha.

What's the 2nd-floor hall like — good for gatherings or company dinners?

The 2nd-floor hall at Songtan Jindaegwang Budae Jjigae Seongsu Branch was more spacious than I expected, so it seemed like it would work fine for a company dinner or a group gathering. There was even a mother-of-pearl cabinet photo zone haha.

The vibe had a Korean retro vintage feel. Eating hot army stew in a place with such old-school charm made me feel like beer, soju, or makgeolli would go down easily too haha. Wow, it's been forever since I've had a drink in a place like this...

An army stew restaurant to remember for Seongsu-dong trips with a baby

These days, because of the baby, I always look for restaurants with easy parking first, and Songtan Jindaegwang Budae Jjigae Seongsu Branch has parking in Seongsu-dong plus a spacious hall for comfortable eating, so it's worth remembering for anyone else heading to Seongsu-dong with a baby like me. And takeout is available too.

I finally got to properly enjoy army stew in Seongsu-dong after a long while. I had no idea there was such a stomach-bustingly generous army stew place right by Seongsu Station 🍚 Rice is strength, today too!!