Korean BBQ with kids: 500g flower marbled ribeye at Geum Songaji

With the weekend here, I figured the kids would love some beef, so I looked around and ended up at Geum Songaji, a Korean beef restaurant in Jinhae.

A spacious dining room and blinded rooms — good for group dinners too

The inside was spacious and comfortable enough for a family visit, but it also looked like a solid spot for a group dinner or company outing. There were also room-style spaces with blinds in between, so you could raise or lower them depending on how many people showed up — no worries even with a big group at Geum Songaji.

What's in Geum Songaji's self-serve corner

A self-serve corner stocked with all kinds of food

Pickled onion and radish, pickled wood ear mushrooms, and pickled mountain garlic — all good to eat alongside the meat. I've seen plenty of pickles at Korean BBQ places before, but this was my first time seeing pickled wood ear mushrooms, and tucking one into a wrap was tasty.

There was cabbage salad, garlic, ssamjang (dipping sauce), sesame oil, and kiwi dressing set out. I personally like beef dipped in sesame oil sauce, so having sesame oil right there at the self-serve bar made things easy.

My kids really love mushrooms. We usually eat them alongside meat at home, but sometimes I just grill king oyster mushrooms plain as a side dish, so seeing them piled up like a mountain here — no resisting that. There were two kinds of wrapping greens, lettuce and dangwi (Korean angelica leaves). Dangwi has a distinctive smell that some people can't stand, but I've eaten it since I was little (honestly there's not much I won't eat), so I was happy to see it and piled it straight onto my plate.

Napa cabbage kimchi, white kimchi, stir-fried seaweed stems, and bracken fern were also set out as side dishes, good to eat with soup before the meat came.

Bone broth soup, doenjang jjigae, and cup noodles

There were two soups: doenjang jjigae and bone broth soup. The kids love bone broth, so we went with that, but the doenjang jjigae looked rich and delicious too. Never having tried the doenjang jjigae, I'll have to come back just for that ^_^

The buffet corner also had cup noodles, available for ₩1,000 each. Beef can get a little heavy after a while, so when that happens, a bowl of noodles resets your appetite and you're back in for unlimited rounds.

Geum Songaji's menu, prices, and how ordering works

Geum Songaji menu and pricing

At Geum Songaji, you order first at the entrance before being seated. I went with flower marbled ribeye, a cut I don't get to eat often. Since it was just me and the two kids, we started with 500g.

The menu had six cuts: skirt, flat iron, chuck tender, top blade, short rib finger meat, and the flower marbled ribeye I ordered.

A table filled from the self-serve corner

A table filled up from the self-serve corner

Since we only took what we actually wanted to eat from the self-serve corner, there was almost nothing left over.

Among everything, the kids loved the plain white rice and bone broth soup most. The bone broth is simmered in-house for a long time and is also sold separately for ₩10,000 a bottle, so I bought one to take home.

Grilling 500g of flower marbled ribeye over charcoal

The main dish: flower marbled ribeye (500g)

Ribeye with fat evenly distributed through the lean meat. It's called 'flower marbled ribeye' because the pattern of fat and meat looks like a flower.

Geum Songaji sets you up with charcoal. Since you can never be sure when it might burn on charcoal, we grilled it one piece at a time.

While the meat was grilling away nicely, the kids polished off a bowl of rice with bone broth, but once my son spotted the ribeye cooking, he started fussing to eat it right away. My beef-loving son, through and through.

I usually like mine medium-rare with a bit of pink left, while my son likes his well-done, so I cooked his a little longer.

How was it as a family outing with kids?

With so many side dishes to go with the meat, we could eat happily all the way through at Geum Songaji. With so much variety in the self-serve corner, it's a great spot for a family meal with young kids, and with its spacious tables, it also works well for a group dinner.

You can turn the meal into a full meal with the bone broth soup or doenjang jjigae from the self-serve corner alongside the meat, so Geum Songaji works whether you're there for a meal or drinks with anju (food to go with drinks).

They were also running a receipt review promotion, which got you drinks or beverages. There's a waiting area at the entrance too, useful if there's a line or if you just want to sit for a bit after eating.