Gabrisal bossam small size for two near Sangdaewon, Seongnam

Location and hours of Bossam Ae Kalguksu Seongnam Sangdaewon Branch

• Location: 56 Geumsang-ro, 1st floor, Jungwon-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:00–22:00

Let me post about tonight's dinner right away. I went to Bossam Ae Kalguksu Seongnam Sangdaewon Branch. It would've been about 40 minutes by bus, but driving got me there in under 15 minutes, so I drove and parked at the Sangdaewon 3-dong public parking lot, from which it was a 5-minute walk to the restaurant. Out front stood a signboard listing the menu and prices.

Inside the restaurant and the menu board — solo seats too

Inside, the place was really clean and tidy. It was still oddly warm during the day, so I sat in the middle of the restaurant where it felt cooler. Since they also sell an affordable solo bossam set menu, there were seats by the window set up for comfortable solo dining.

On the wall was a large menu board for this Sangdaewon-dong restaurant.

Ordering by tablet: kalguksu or makguksu

Ordering was done via a tablet on the table. I ordered the gabrisal bossam small size for two at ₩37,000. When ordering, you can choose between a free kalguksu or makguksu, so I picked kalguksu. The restaurant was also running a receipt review event that gave out a free drink for participating.

The basic side dishes were green onion kimchi, napa cabbage kimchi, peppers, raw garlic, ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), and salted shrimp, along with kalguksu noodles topped with julienned carrot, zucchini, green onion and chili.

There were two self bars in the restaurant, so I could freely grab extra side dishes.

With the seafood-based kalguksu broth going, I started cooking so I could eat it alongside the bossam.

The main event: gabrisal bossam — how much is the small size?

The main dish I ordered at this Sangdaewon-dong restaurant, gabrisal bossam, arrived. It came with long, neatly sliced gabrisal (pork shoulder) bossam, plus radish kimchi, napa cabbage wraps, and napa cabbage kimchi.

Gabrisal bossam is always delicious no matter when I have it. It's been a while since I last had a proper boiled pork bossam like this.

With a glass of cola to set the mood, I started digging into the chewy, delicious gabrisal.

The well-boiled gabrisal bossam, eaten first with just salted shrimp, let me taste the pork's own flavor more clearly. After that I tried it with radish kimchi, and it was also great with both napa cabbage kimchi and salted shrimp together.

I grabbed rice from the self bar and ate it with the bossam, and it worked well as a side dish for rice too. The small size was just the right amount of bossam meat for two people to share. The gabrisal bossam was exactly to my taste whether with radish kimchi or bossam kimchi — genuinely delicious.

From free kalguksu to an egg porridge finish

I added the broth and vegetables, let it come to a boil, then put in the kalguksu noodles right away.

I scooped out the kalguksu noodles once they were cooked just right. The broth was clean-tasting with a slightly spicy kick. Cue the noodle-slurping with the basic kimchi side dish.

After ordering an extra egg for ₩1,000, I brought over rice, dried seaweed flakes, and sesame oil from the self bar, added them in, and cooked up a porridge. The great thing about Bossam Ae Kalguksu is that after finishing the kalguksu, you can make your own porridge — and this visit reminded me of that once again.

It was another satisfying, well-fed day at this affordable Sangdaewon-dong restaurant, Bossam Ae Kalguksu. Also worth noting: if you order gabrisal bossam for takeout, it comes at an even more discounted, budget-friendly price.