Danyang Korean restaurant for pork ssambap: Danyang Heukmaneul Ssambap

One place you simply cannot leave out on a Danyang trip is Danyang Gugyeong Market, right? We wanted to browse the market and have a delicious meal on this trip too, so while looking for a good restaurant near Danyang Gugyeong Market, we visited Danyang Heukmaneul Ssambap. My husband and I have always really loved ssambap (rice served with leafy wraps), so we have sought out ssambap restaurants and eaten it often ever since we were dating. Danyang is famous for garlic, and we found that you can have ssambap made with black garlic here. From the side dishes and wraps to the stew, Danyang Heukmaneul Ssambap offered such a satisfying full spread that we even ordered extra rice.

Close to Danyang Gugyeong Market: where should you park?

Danyang Heukmaneul Ssambap is located by Danyang Gugyeong Market, making it easy to browse the market right after your meal or stop in for food while exploring it. If you are driving, the Danyang Gugyeong Market Public Parking Lot or the free riverside parking lot are convenient options. The market parking lot is about a one-minute walk from the restaurant, while the free riverside lot is about five minutes away! We used the free riverside parking lot, and it was nice and close.

The restaurant also had a high chair ready. Since we travel with our baby, we always check whether a restaurant has a high chair, so I loved that we could eat relatively comfortably with our baby.

There are quite a few tables, and since it is already well known as a good spot near Danyang Gugyeong Market, customers kept coming in while we were eating!

The ssambap menu and ordering for two

• Squid ssambap ₩17,000
• Pork ssambap ₩17,000
• Boiled pork ssambap ₩19,000

There are three kinds of ssambap on the menu: squid, pork, and boiled pork, and orders start from two servings! We ordered two servings of pork. Aprons are available too.

As we were busy feeding our baby, the basic side dishes and wrap vegetables were set out first.

A full spread, from black garlic rice to pork, wraps, and stew

Rather than just the main dish arriving on its own, the ssambap came as a full spread with black garlic rice, doenjang-jjigae (fermented soybean paste stew), and more, so it was much more generous than I expected. I worried the black garlic rice might have a strong garlic smell, but not at all. Even our baby ate it well, and it had a lovely nutty flavor!

What we especially liked was the variety of basic side dishes. At restaurants in travel destinations, the main dish can be good while the accompanying sides are sometimes disappointing, but there were lots of side dishes here that we kept reaching for.

Then came the jeyuk (spicy stir-fried pork), the main dish to wrap up with the greens. The brown sauce drizzled over the top is black garlic sauce. There was plenty of both meat and vegetables, so it was truly delicious even on its own.

Honestly, my husband and I love ssambap so much that our standards are a little high. Since we have frequently sought out ssambap restaurants ever since we were dating, we prefer places where the rice, wraps, side dishes, and sauces all work together, rather than somewhere with only tasty meat. At Danyang Heukmaneul Ssambap, it was fun to mix and match every item on the table.

Two sauces and refillable wrap vegetables

What was particularly unusual was that there were two sauces! Even with the same wrap, the flavor changed depending on which sauce we added, so we kept alternating between them. With the main dish, rice, and sauce on many different kinds of wraps, we just kept eating.

There were not just one or two kinds of wraps, but several, and you could get refills if you ran out. We even finished the first plate of wraps and got one refill ourselves.

I also liked having warm soup throughout the meal because the stew came with it as standard. The basic side dishes were delicious across the board too, so after finishing the rice that first came out, we ended up ordering more. When we travel, we usually avoid overeating at one meal because we want to try all sorts of things, but that day, it was so good that we ordered extra rice even though we were full.

Danyang Korean food that is great with a baby and parents

We had visited Danyang a few years ago too, but we passed by without knowing Danyang Heukmaneul Ssambap was there. After eating here this time, I thought, if only we had known then, we could have brought our parents here. Since it is a Korean meal with wrap vegetables, side dishes, and stew all included, I think it would suit a family-trip meal with parents as well. If you are looking among Danyang Gugyeong Market restaurants for somewhere you can enter with a baby, Korean food that is good to have with parents, or a menu that uses Danyang's garlic specialty, visit Danyang Heukmaneul Ssambap. You will not regret it!