Cheongju restaurant for boneless mackerel pot rice: Sorori

A Seongan-gil lunch between sessions at the Chungbuk Natural Science Education Center

Today was the day my son finally got to go to the Chungbuk Science Education Center, a place he'd been wanting to visit for ages haha! We booked the math experience hall for the morning, and after that our next stop was the science experience hall — but we had about an hour and a half free before then, and since everyone else was heading out for lunch, we headed to Seongan-gil too haha.

Since we were going out anyway, I searched for somewhere good and found Sorori Cheongju Main Branch.

Where is Sorori Cheongju Main Branch, and where do you park?

Sorori Cheongju Main Branch is located at 37 Jungang-ro, 1st floor, Sangdang-gu, Cheongju, Chungbuk. For parking, use the underground lot at the Urban Regeneration Hub Center (parking ticket provided). After parking, come up the stairs and it's right on the 1st floor of the building directly opposite!!!

Sorori is a tidy Korean restaurant that was the first in Cheongju to serve kamameshi-style pot rice (가마메시) and buckwheat gimbap. With carefully cooked pot rice and savory buckwheat gimbap, it's apparently the No. 1-ranked pot rice and buckwheat gimbap restaurant in Cheongju on Naver Place, offering a special, warming meal. It was also selected in the 2024 Kakao Map Trend Ranking, and it even has a baby chair, baby tableware and a diaper changing table!

What the name Sorori means, and the Chungbuk rice it uses

Sorori takes its name from Sorori (小魯里) in Oksan-myeon, associated with the Oksan Sorori rice grains — the world's first discovered rice grains — so the restaurant is branded around rice as its main character! Sorori apparently insists on using only Chungbuk-region rice.

As a restaurant representing Chungbuk, they use only Oksan Sorori rice, other Chungbuk-region rice (Jincheon rice from Chungbuk), and Chungbuk ingredients. Jincheon rice is stored at ultra-low temperatures at the milling factory, so the flavor doesn't change and it tastes like freshly harvested rice all year round ~! They've introduced a rice taste testing machine for strict quality control so only good rice ships out, which is why this Seongan-gil Korean restaurant is already so famous — you can trust what you eat here!

Sorori's Seongan-gil branch is such a hot spot that it was packed with customers, so I quickly snapped some interior shots the moment a few people stepped out > <

What is on the menu at Sorori Cheongju?

Sorori Cheongju Main Branch uses clean filtered water and kelp-based broth for its pot rice, and the sesame oil and perilla oil used aren't the kind you buy at the mart — they're traditionally pressed oils from a contracted local mill.

• Pot rice: galbi pot rice, abalone pot rice, crab meat pot rice, Korean beef tripe pot rice, mackerel pot rice, cockle pot rice, pollack roe pot rice and other seasonal ingredients
• Buckwheat gimbap: buckwheat noodles boiled fresh every morning and marinated in a special tsuyu sauce, with sweet egg and house-cured salmon
• Shrimp buckwheat gimbap: popular item, limited to 10 orders a day
• Drinks: bokbunja (raspberry wine) highball, Suntory highball, Suntory draft beer, Asahi draft canned beer, Baekhwa Subok (rice wine) in a cup

Side dishes and the self-serve refill bar at Sorori

After some happy deliberation, we finished ordering and the basic side dishes at Sorori Seongan-gil got set out first. I liked that they came with a personal water bottle, which I personally prefer! > <

There's a refill bar with anchovy broth (which my son especially loved), buckwheat tea, white rice, and side dishes, so it's easy to enjoy without worrying about running out~

The spoons and chopsticks come individually wrapped for hygiene too~ And they had Milkis, a nostalgic favorite, on the drinks menu, so of course I ordered that haha.

While we waited, our ordered dishes finally arrived~~ Had to take the obligatory photo before digging in~~

Boneless mackerel pot rice, 13,000 won — my child's pick

My son's pick was the boneless mackerel pot rice, ₩13,000~~

There was more boneless mackerel packed in than I expected, and freshly cooked rice is truly the best...ෆ

How to eat pot rice at Sorori, step by step

The way to eat it: once your pot rice arrives, mix it well, transfer it to a rice bowl, and add soy sauce, butter, and furikake to taste~! It's even better wrapped in the seaweed that comes on the side ෆ

Above all, Sorori Seongan-gil is such a great place to visit with a kid haha. My son was going full mukbang mode ^^

Salmon buckwheat gimbap, 13,000 won

Sorori's salmon buckwheat gimbap, made with plump raw salmon cured in-house, is ₩13,000.

Sorori's salmon buckwheat gimbap uses only fresh salmon, and thanks to their own curing method, you can taste even more umami without any fishy taste..!!

Is Sorori Cheongju worth it with kids and adults together?

Honestly, from adults to kids, everyone seems to enjoy this place without exception — Sorori Seongan-gil is a Cheongju pot rice restaurant I'd recommend for a date-course Korean meal too, good good ෆ