Paju ssambap restaurant for a day-trip dinner: Simhaksan Deulkkot

Why Simhaksan Deulkkot Ssambap was the last dinner stop on our Paju day trip

We decided on Simhaksan Deulkkot Ssambap for the last dinner of our Paju day trip. The course went: Heyri Village's Modern & Contemporary History Museum → lunch at Cheonje Guksu → Café On the Rail → Paju Odusan Unification Observatory → dinner at Simhaksan Deulkkot Ssambap.

Leaving Odusan Unification Observatory behind, we headed off for dinner at Simhaksan Deulkkot Ssambap. Since our way home passed near Simhaksan, we set off for there. We could eat with the kids, and for ₩20,000 you get a main dish, soup, ssam (wrap greens), stew, and stone-pot rice — so we went straight there, let's go 💞

Simhaksan Deulkkot Ssambap / 55-10 Dolgoji-gil, Paju-si / Daily 11:00–21:00 / Break time 15:00–17:00 / Last order 20:00

Ordering one deul-jeongsik set (20,000 won) and one kkot-jeongsik set (26,000 won)

Simhaksan Deulkkot Ssambap serves the deul-jeongsik set at ₩20,000 per person and the kkot-jeongsik set at ₩26,000 per person, plus grilled mackerel, grilled atka mackerel, and potato pancake, and the kids' Spam egg rice menu caught my eye. If it had just been my sister and me, the deul-jeongsik would have been plenty, but with the kids around we went for the one with fish 💗

• ✔ Ordered one deul-jeongsik and one kkot-jeongsik

The doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) came out right after we ordered. Not too salty, exactly the taste of a good restaurant stew! 🤍

What side dishes come with the set menu

Stir-fried anchovies with chili, stir-fried aged kimchi, seasoned pickled cucumber, seasoned eggplant, seasoned laver, stir-fried chives, seasoned young radish greens. The basic banchan (side dishes) were generous too ^^

The seasoned laver wasn't spicy at all so the kids ate it up well. Seasoned pumpkin, ssamjang (wrap dipping sauce), and salad greens were also included among the side dishes.

Pumpkin porridge to start: my niece had two bowls

The pumpkin porridge that came out before the meal — my niece refilled twice haha 💛 Yuni was asleep, but we woke her up to eat and she finished it all. Sweet pumpkin porridge is really the best.

Our niece Jjini eating so well haha

'More pumpkin porridge please' hahahahahaha, too cute 💛

Stone-pot rice with pork and squid stir-fry

Even though it's a ₩20,000 set, the stone-pot rice came piping hot, and you can even pour water over the crispy scorched rice (nurungji) at the bottom. The scorched rice water was the highlight!

The squid stir-fry and pork stir-fry that come with the set — the menu says they're even better mixed together :) It had that nice smoky wok-hei flavor and the seasoning was just right, so my sister and I both let out an 'ooh!!' of appreciation haha

The grilled fish that comes with the kkot-jeongsik set

The grilled fish that comes with one order of the kkot-jeongsik turned out to be mackerel — we picked the flesh off the bone and put it on the kids' rice 💛 It wasn't too salty at all!

This was the tastiest of the main dishes. Now to wrap it in ssam greens haha, I love ssambap so I was extra excited

How the self-serve wrap-greens bar works

The wrap greens aren't served with the meal from the start — you get them yourself from the self-serve corner. Perilla leaves, lettuce, mustard-looking leaves, kale, curly lettuce, cheongyang chili peppers, and cabbage were all set out fresh.

Turns out those weren't mustard leaves but Swiss chard leaves. Nutty and delicious 💚

You have to grab the spicy cheongyang chili peppers, no question (must-have)

The basic banchan were also set up in the self-serve corner so you could take more

You always have to take only as much as you'll eat, no leaving leftovers >_< My sister and I were plenty full just on the basic banchan.

Piling a perilla leaf with smoky squid stir-fry, pork stir-fry, a bit of rice, and — wow oh wow 💛💛 wrapping it up and eating it, then gulping down the doenjang stew too 💚 stuffing a wrap full of pork stir-fry, chomping away, stew, then ssam, then cheongyang chili, hahaha

The main dish alone was so tasty that even piling on other banchan and stew was great.

A ssambap wrap loaded up with pork stir-fry haha, I love it... actually for the two-person set the main dish is always included, and with a price and taste this good, I'm so happy ❤

Finishing with nurungji rice water and free dessert coffee

After eating, we poured hot water in to make sungnyung (scorched rice water), which was savory and warm — Yuni and our niece ate it with the fish rolled in, and finished it all hahahaha. Seeing our niece eat so well made me happy too

Simhaksan Deulkkot Ssambap, a genuine local favorite that several celebrities have visited

For dessert we also had a variety of coffee. These days, after a meal, I really crave instant mix coffee. The dessert coffee was the best coffee of the day

There was ice cream too but I didn't get to try it. Bummer ㅠ

After a delicious meal, it was time to part ways. The parking lot view at Simhaksan Deulkkot Ssambap is so pretty 💙💙 Let's play again next time, Jjini

A shot with Mom and Yuni too 💜 The dinner was so delicious it made a great close to our Paju day trip. The banchan, main dishes, and stew were all tasty, it's crowd-pleasing Korean food, and it's located in Simhaksan's cluster of good restaurants so it's easy to get to 💚 Simhaksan Deulkkot Ssambap 💚 — ate well, thank you, and blessings to you all