Ansan pork rib restaurant with free soft tofu stew: Suamgol Jjokgalbi

This weekend's dinner pick was jjokgalbi. There are so many good restaurants on the Hanyang University Station food street lately that I keep going back, and turns out there's a jjokgalbi spot too! Guess I was just the last one to find out... the place was packed. Why didn't I know about this sooner?

Well, better late than never~ This time I visited Suamgol Jjokgalbi Maeul Ansan Hanyang University Station Branch.

Where is Suamgol Jjokgalbi Maeul in Ansan, and when is it open?

Suamgol Jjokgalbi Maeul Ansan Hanyang University Station Branch is at 370 Gwangdeok 1-ro, Corosplaza units 119 and 120, Sangnok-gu, Ansan (Idong 716-8). Hours are Tuesday to Sunday 16:00–24:00, closed Mondays.

• Address: 370 Gwangdeok 1-ro, Corosplaza units 119, 120, Sangnok-gu, Ansan (Idong 716-8), South Korea
• Parking: Public parking near the store and underground parking in the building
• Hours: Tue–Sun 16:00–24:00
• Closed: Mondays

There are outdoor tables too, so it'd be nice to eat there with a cool breeze. Now that the weather's warming up, it's the perfect time of day for outdoor tables once the sun goes down. Lots of people were eating outside — those seats filled up fast!

At the counter there are hair ties, cotton swabs, toothpicks and dental floss. I love it when a restaurant has hair ties on hand — I always forget to bring my own.

Menu and prices at Suamgol Jjokgalbi Maeul

On the grill menu, salt jjokgalbi is ₩17,000, and spicy, garlic and BBQ jjokgalbi are each ₩18,000. The rice/noodle dishes run ₩4,000–7,000.

• Grilled dishes — Salt jjokgalbi ₩17,000 / Spicy jjokgalbi ₩18,000 / Garlic jjokgalbi ₩18,000 / BBQ jjokgalbi ₩18,000 / Honeycomb tripe ₩9,000
• Meals — Kimchi hand-torn sujebi ₩7,000 / Retro lunchbox ₩6,000 / Doenjang sulbap ₩6,000 / Tuna mayo rice ball ₩5,000 / Spicy ramyeon ₩4,000
• There's also non-alcoholic beer on the drinks menu

If you leave a Naver review, you get 100g of honeycomb tripe or steamed egg.

Having wet wipes at every table is such a nice touch.

Is the restaurant already full at 5pm? Inside Suamgol Jjokgalbi Maeul

Suamgol Jjokgalbi Maeul opens at 4pm, and by the time I arrived a bit after 5, plenty of tables were already taken — by around 6 it was nearly full. The hall is big and spacious with lots of tables, but my side was all full so I snapped a photo of an empty spot instead. No secret that even this filled up soon after I took the photo. This place is hot.

Side dishes and the free refillable soft tofu stew

The basic side dishes are pickled onion, macaroni salad, stir-fried fish cake, green onion kimchi and garlic scapes. That green onion kimchi is seriously good.

Extra side dishes are self-serve, and there are disposable gloves at the self-serve corner.

Suamgol Jjokgalbi Maeul gives you sundubu jjigae (soft tofu stew) for free. A drink while you wait for the meat to come out~ There's plenty of tofu in it, and they refill it too. The broth is spicy and sharp — perfect as a drinking companion.

I also ordered the doenjang sulbap (soybean paste rice). Savory and delicious.

Topping it with green onion kimchi makes it even better. It's got rice mixed in, so it's quite filling.

Salt jjokgalbi vs spicy jjokgalbi: how do they taste?

For the jjokgalbi, I ordered one portion each of salt and spicy. Rice cake comes on the side too.

The jjokgalbi comes pre-grilled, so you just finish it off on the grill plate. Since the pre-grilling takes a bit of time, I'd recommend ordering more in advance if you plan to.

Let's try a well-grilled piece. The bone and meat are separated, so it's easy to eat.

It's tasty on its own, but pairing it with green onion kimchi doubles the flavor. You can ask staff for cheongyang chili peppers and garlic. If you like it spicy, definitely eat the cheongyang chili with it — spicy and delicious. The salt jjokgalbi is savory and salty, a clean salty combo.

The spicy jjokgalbi was spicier than I expected. I thought it wouldn't be too hot, but the heat kept creeping up as I kept eating.

And if you add cheongyang chili on top of that? Double the spice haha. But it's so good you keep eating it with the chili anyway. This must be the path to spicy-addiction... (?) The jjokgalbi is so good.. what I love most is there's plenty of lean meat, and picking meat off the bone is fun too. The meat is great, but the sundubu jjigae that comes with it is amazing too. I should try the tripe next time.

On your way out after the meal, you each get an ice cream. A place that even takes care of dessert~ such a thoughtful restaurant.