Samsong Station BBQ restaurant for a school-night dinner: Neopttakjip

A school-night BBQ dinner in Samsong after my son's hagwon

On a weekday evening, I went to pick up my son right when his hagwon (private academy) class ended, and started wondering what to eat for dinner. He said he was starving after class, so I thought, let's go to a Samsong barbecue place we haven't been to in a while — and we ended up at Neopttakjip Samsong Branch, a spot my son said had really good meat.

Eating out with just my son on a weekday evening happens more often than you'd think, and since it's just the two of us, picking the right menu matters. This time we decided on meat, since he likes it, and after searching for a good Samsong pork belly restaurant, we ended up at Neopttakjip.

Where to park at Neopttakjip Samsong Branch

Neopttakjip does have parking right in front of the restaurant, but I was a little worried about parking there, so I just parked at the Samsong Station public parking lot instead. It's paid, of course, but only around ₩1,500 an hour or so? Since my car is a low-emission vehicle, I got half off.

After going in and getting a seat, we looked over the menu — they have a lunch special menu too.

Mixed grill 600g: is it enough for two?

Neopttakjip doesn't just serve pork belly — they sell a variety of pork cuts. There are familiar ones like pork belly, and also specialty cuts, so after mulling it over for a bit, we ordered the mixed grill 600g.

I thought 600g would be a reasonable amount for the two of us, but once the meat actually arrived, it looked like a lot more than I expected.

What I liked about the mixed grill was that it wasn't just one cut — we got to try several kinds together. I like familiar cuts like pork belly and pork neck, but I'm also into specialty cuts, so my son and I decided to grill them one by one.

Labeled pork cuts and how to grill each one

Once the meat went on the grill, since we'd come straight from hagwon on a weekday evening, my son was clearly starving and kept saying he hoped it would cook fast. Waiting for meat to grill really does feel like the longest part once you start, haha. They labeled which cut was which, which was nice — I could tell exactly what cut I was eating.

They also showed us how to eat Neopttakjip's meat the tasty way, though honestly the meat is so good here that it tastes great no matter how you eat it. My son prefers dipping the meat straight into salt rather than wrapping it in lettuce, so he mostly just dug into the meat itself. I tried grilling each of the other cuts one by one, and the texture was slightly different from cut to cut, which made picking and choosing fun. Pork belly has that familiar taste that's easy to eat, while the specialty cuts had a chewier, more textured bite, and eating them in between kept things from getting monotonous, which surprised me.

Self-serve side dishes and what comes with the mixed set

There were plenty of side dishes to eat alongside the meat, so we picked at them together. Eating meat nonstop can get greasy, but pairing it with garlic and side dishes cut through that nicely!

At the self-serve corner, you can grab as many vegetables and side dishes as you want.

And since it's a mixed set, rice cake, sausage, vegetables, and mushrooms all came out with it too, which my son secretly seemed to love.

Who Neopttakjip Samsong Branch suits for trying several pork cuts

On weekdays, hagwon schedules sometimes make it awkward to eat dinner at home, so meeting him right after class and grabbing dinner together like this turned out to be pretty good. It wasn't a special dining-out occasion this time, just a regular dinner with my son, but eating good meat again after a while put me in a great mood.

There's no shortage of options if you want pork belly around Samsong, but if you'd rather try several kinds of pork instead of just one cut, Neopttakjip Samsong Branch is a good pick. It's apparently such a well-known spot that a lot of celebrities have visited too.

We dropped in on a whim for dinner after hagwon, just the two of us, and ended up eating a lot more heartily than I expected. Next time I'm stuck wondering what to eat after hagwon, I'll probably stop by again with my son for more meat. If you're looking for pork belly in Samsong, this one's worth keeping in mind.