Seohae pork belly restaurant for homemade kimchi: Sammi-jip

Sammi-jip near Cheongna Lake Park

Sammi-jip, a pork belly spot near Cheongna Lake Park

I visited Sammi-jip, a pork belly restaurant near Cheongna Lake Park that has become well known for its kimchi alone. There is space for about seven cars right in front of Sammi-jip, so keep that in mind. Even if those spots are full, there seemed to be quite a few places to park near the restaurant in the evening, so I do not think you need to worry.

We went in the early evening, so it was pleasantly uncrowded. The dining hall was really spacious and airy.^^ There were already people eating, and the smell of kimchi grilling was incredible, haha. I will get into the kimchi in more detail shortly!

House-made kimchi to look forward to from the side dishes onward

The basic side dishes were set out before we ordered, and the dongchimi (chilled radish-water kimchi) and kimchi caught my eye first. These days, many restaurants use Chinese-made kimchi, but Sammi-jip is known for kimchi made in-house by a master kimchi maker. I was so excited, haha. The dongchimi was delicious too—icy cold with little slivers of ice floating in it! It is great for settling your stomach while you wait for the main dish, haha.

Our pick today was the Sammi Kimchi Platter (700g) + soybean paste stew!

Sammi-jip's signature menu

• Sammi Kimchi Platter (700g) + soybean paste stew — ₩73,000
• Sammi Kimchi Platter (540g) + soybean paste stew — ₩56,000

For a family of four, the 700g Sammi Kimchi Platter plus an order of fried rice was just right! Of course, families with older kids might need to add more meat, haha.

A pot-lid platter that arrives already grilled

The meat comes on a pot lid, and meat grilled on a pot lid is an instant win! But the best part is that it arrives grilled. It is not just par-cooked—it is almost fully cooked, so you can eat it right away.^^ Keep the heat on the very lowest setting as you eat, and everything stays warm and delicious until the end. When you are having meat with kids, having it grilled like this makes things so easy and nice for Mom and Dad! Haha.

The pot lid is divided into sections with pork neck, pork belly, and pork jowl, while minari (water parsley), bean sprouts, kimchi, and seasoned scallions grill in the center. They cook in the fat from the pork belly, so what more is there to say? Haha. It was so fun enjoying every side dish in my own way! Everything was delicious!

The meat was cut into easy-to-eat pieces too, so all we had to do was eat—it was honestly so convenient, haha. And the kimchi was truly delicious. It confidently takes first place among all the kimchi I have eaten at barbecue restaurants! Calling it kimchi made directly by a master kimchi maker was a statement of confidence. Kimchi approved! Haha.

Spicy house sauce and sizzling kimchi fried rice

This is Sammi-jip's own dipping sauce for the meat, and it paired so well with it. It is spicy, though, so please note that it may be hard for kids to eat~ One tip: later, when you have the sizzling fried rice, add a little of this sauce on top for an even tastier bite! Haha.

After finishing the meat, we ordered sizzling kimchi fried rice. We should have ordered two! We only got one, and it was so good that the whole family wished we had more.. haha. They crack an egg in the middle and stir-fry it like that. It was not overly spicy, and perhaps because the egg made it milder, the kids ate it really well too.^^

Lastly, for leaving a receipt review, they gave us this appetizing-looking injeolmi (roasted soybean powder rice cake) ice cream. The kids ate almost all of it while I was taking photos, so I only got one spoonful.. haha. Anyway, we wrapped things up nicely with injeolmi ice cream~!!

Clean Plate