Dongtan grill house with table kiosk ordering: Yangpuni kimchi jjim

Hi, it's Ddingddingi!

While looking for a good kimchi jjim spot in Dongtan, I visited Yangpuni Kimchi Jjigae, and this time I tried the samgyeopsal kimchi jjim set, which combines pork belly and kimchi, along with an egg roll. Eating spicy, well-fermented kimchi with tender pork belly and rice felt just like the kimchi jjim my family makes at home — comforting and easy to keep eating.

Inside Yangpuni Kimchi Jjigae & Samgyeopsal, and where to park

Yangpuni Kimchi Jjigae & Samgyeopsal is a Korean restaurant in Bansong-dong, Dongtan, and it has its own dedicated parking lot out front, which makes driving there easy! The signage makes the menu clear right from the entrance.

Inside, there are several tables, each equipped with its own ventilation system. Since the restaurant sells both kimchi jjim/kimchi jjigae and samgyeopsal, it's set up so that customers grilling meat while dining can eat comfortably too.

How the table kiosk ordering works

There's a kiosk at the table where you can order, which was convenient because you can look through the menu slowly before deciding. The lineup ranges from simple solo meals to dishes meant for groups, so it seemed like it would work well for both lunch and dinner.

Check the menu in the video~

What comes in the pork belly kimchi jjim set

This time I ordered the samgyeopsal kimchi jjim set. I was debating just getting the kimchi jjim alone, but I went with the set that comes with an egg roll too. Kimchi jjim and egg roll go so well together that the moment I saw it on the menu, I figured ordering them together was the way to go. After a short wait, the kimchi jjim arrived in a large metal bowl, and it looked appetizing the instant it hit the table. Pieces of pork belly were tucked between the kimchi, with tofu and scallions on top too — it looked good enough to just scoop over rice as is.

Pork belly and kimchi together: a true rice thief

Kimchi jjim really does taste best eaten with meat rather than kimchi alone. Picking up the well-fermented kimchi with chopsticks, it fell apart softly, and topping it with a piece of pork belly let the kimchi balance out the richness of the fatty meat. The kimchi didn't feel like it was doing its own thing — it blended naturally with the meat, which made it great with rice.

Especially when I put kimchi on the rice first, then added a piece of pork belly on top and ate it together, the seasoning was just right, and the savoriness of the meat and the tanginess of the kimchi hit at the same time. With a dish like this, I kept thinking I'd just have one bowl of rice, but I ended up reaching for my spoon again and again.

The thick egg roll pairs better than expected

And then there was the egg roll that came with the set. Since the kimchi jjim has a spicy, intense flavor, eating egg roll in between softened things up. Rather than being thinly rolled in many layers, this egg roll was made thick, so even one slice felt substantial. It was good with ketchup, and also good on its own for its plain, mild egg flavor.

Personally, I liked alternating a bite of kimchi jjim with a bite of egg roll. When the kimchi jjim's seasoning started to feel intense, the egg roll would step in and reset my palate, so I kept going back and forth between the two.

Mixing rice with gim-garu seaweed flakes

The gim-garu (seasoned seaweed flakes) that came as a side dish also worked really well with the kimchi jjim. Adding a bit of the kimchi jjim broth, kimchi, and meat onto rice along with the gim-garu made it taste almost like a simple bibimbap. Especially once the kimchi jjim seasoning soaked into the rice and the nutty aroma of the seaweed joined in, no extra seasoning was needed.

Looking at the photos afterward, the combination of kimchi, meat, and gim-garu on rice looked really appetizing. This kind of dish feels less like something flashy and more like familiar Korean home cooking you keep craving.

Side dishes that go well with the kimchi jjim

If you eat only kimchi jjim the whole time, you might start craving a different flavor partway through, but having the basic side dishes made the meal a bit more comfortable. The gim-garu in particular was great over rice and paired well with the kimchi jjim seasoning too. Since the main dish itself is fairly seasoned, the side dishes worked well being on the plainer side. You could also use the self-serve bar for anything you needed more of, which was convenient.

When you're craving kimchi jjim in Dongtan

This time I tried the samgyeopsal kimchi jjim set at Yangpuni Kimchi Jjigae. When people think of kimchi jjim, they usually picture kimchi braised until it's soft and falling apart, but here, eating it with pork belly brought out a nice balance between the meat's savoriness and the kimchi's tanginess.

Above all, the combination of pork belly + kimchi + egg roll + rice is so familiar that it's unlikely to divide opinions. It works well if you want a hearty lunch, and just as well in the evening as an anju (drinking snack) with a meal. In fact, the restaurant sells not just kimchi jjigae but also samgyeopsal kimchi jjim, duruchigi, and samgyeopsal — meal and meat menus side by side.

Verdict after eating at Yangpuni

Personally, the most important thing I look for when eating kimchi jjim is how well the kimchi and meat go together, and this time it worked well with rice too. Pick up kimchi with chopsticks, put it on rice, add a piece of pork belly, then a bit of gim-garu, and each bite is pretty filling. Eating egg roll in between resets the spicy flavor of the kimchi jjim too.

Even while taking photos, what I ended up eating the most of was the combination of kimchi jjim over rice. What stuck with me wasn't a dish dressed up to look special, but the fact that you can comfortably eat a spread of familiar dishes — kimchi jjim, pork belly, egg roll — all together. If you're looking for kimchi jjigae or a samgyeopsal kimchi jjim set in Dongtan, it's a place worth comparing menus and visiting!