Bongcheon Korean restaurant solo octopus dinner: Sangdo Neulbori

Lately I've been eating nothing but pasta salads and the like, so today I really wanted some hot Korean home cooking. I went looking for a decent barley rice restaurant near Bongcheon and Sillim stations and found this place — a Bongcheon Station spot serving octopus, barley bibimbap (self-serve at the salad bar), and neatly arranged side dishes. Even at 8pm on a weeknight, grandpas and middle-aged uncles kept streaming in haha.

Where is Sangdo Neulbori Bongcheon Station Branch, and what are its hours?

Sangdo Neulbori Bongcheon Station Branch is close to Exit 5 of Bongcheon Station, and this area seems to have a ton of good restaurants — not the Instagram-famous kind, but real neighborhood spots haha.

Hours run from 11:30am to 9:30pm, with last order at 9pm. No break time.

I came in late at 8pm, and although I couldn't get photos of it, there were quite a few customers already, and more uncles and grandpas kept coming in after me. A place full of older men is basically the sign of a real neighborhood favorite.

Menu and prices at Sangdo Neulbori

What I liked most right away was the pricing — barley rice and cockle bibimbap are both ₩10,000, and my recommendation is the duck bulgogi octopus stir-fry on the hot plate!! Order that and you also get access to the bibimbap bar, which felt like great value.

Self-serve bibimbap salad bar: 1,000 won extra with barley rice

The bibimbap ingredients were set up separately at a self-serve bar, available for an extra ₩1,000 with barley rice. Mixing it all together definitely made it taste even better. There was also delicious sesame oil next to it that I went back for seconds on.

The salad bar also had its own savory roasted rice tea (sungnyung) — I think that, combined with the self-serve barley bibimbap ingredients, is exactly why so many uncles and grandpas come here haha.

Side dishes, steamed egg and seaweed soup

The basic side dishes were so good — nabak kimchi (watery radish kimchi), seasoned bean sprouts, seasoned chili peppers, seasoned hijiki seaweed, and more. Add in the bibimbap toppings from the salad bar and the spread was seriously substantial.

The seaweed soup that came with it was also really tasty, and I enjoyed it — they gave a huge portion, too.

Nothing particularly special about the side dishes, but it felt like eating home cooking, and the seasoning was just right — not too much, not too little.

This hijiki seaweed side dish in particular was really good — nice crunchy texture.

What to order: duck bulgogi octopus stir-fry

This place is apparently famous for octopus near Bongcheon Station. Braised pollock is also famous here, but maybe I'm not quite at braised-pollock age yet? I like octopus better haha. It seemed like they catch the octopus alive and bring it straight out, because it was literally dancing on the hot plate.

What made it even better was that every table gets a free steamed egg, so it really felt like true home-style Korean food. Anyone else out there wanting neat, proper Korean food with barley bibimbap like me?

The duck bulgogi octopus stir-fry had a really generous amount of octopus. That's what made it feel like such good value.

The octopus was also super plump and chewy haha. The seasoning hit just right too — not the kind loaded with MSG, but a warm, home-cooked flavor.

This octopus in particular was really delicious. I officially confirm this as a top spot for octopus near Bongcheon Station...

I especially liked that you could order barley rice instead of plain white rice — a spoonful of barley rice with the duck bulgogi octopus was so good.

Barley rice orders get the self-serve bibimbap bar free

Ordering barley rice let me make my own bibimbap at the self-serve bar, and it turned out to be quite the treat.

This is exactly the kind of healthy food I'd been craving. A spoonful of barley bibimbap — such a healthy, delicious flavor.

You can order just the duck octopus dish alone and still end up with a table piled full of food like this haha.

Wrapping the barley bibimbap and octopus in a perilla leaf was so good.

The 10,000 won buckwheat pancake and its huge portion

The buckwheat pancake here is only ₩10,000, so I gave it a try, and the portion was seriously insane. It's the kind of buckwheat pancake that would probably cost ₩18,000 in Gangwon-do — really tasty, and top-tier value for money.