Guui-dong Korean BBQ: ₩50,000 for pork belly, neck and sides, Ssamchae

From wrap vegetables to kimchi, bean sprouts and bracken, take as much as you like! I grilled pork belly on an iron lid and had a proper feast, haha

What kind of Korean BBQ restaurant is Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal in Guui-dong?

Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal (쌈채솥뚜껑삼겹살) is a Korean BBQ restaurant in Guui-dong where you grill pork belly and pork neck on a big iron lid, and you can help yourself to wrap vegetables and side dishes at a self-serve bar, as much as you want. I was looking for a place to have meat for dinner in Guui-dong and found one where you can pick all the wrap vegetables you like, and that self-serve bar was my favorite part.

That day we ate our fill: pork belly, pork neck, cheese bomb egg steam, soybean paste stew and spicy cold noodles, haha.

Opening hours and parking

The restaurant is open daily 12:00–24:00, with last order at 23:00. It stays open late, so it looks like a good spot for meat after work.

There is no parking at the restaurant, so if you drive, you need to park at the Jayang Temporary Public Parking Lot next door!

Atmosphere and interior

You can smell the meat from in front of the restaurant. Even from outside, it felt less like an ordinary pork belly place and more like a BBQ spot where you eat a generous spread of wrap vegetables and side dishes.

Inside, as you'd expect from a BBQ restaurant, every table has its own ventilation hood.

Each table has a tablet, so we could order right away without calling a staff member. When we visited, quite a lot of people were eating. I even spotted some familiar faces and was the only one surprised... haha

There was also an aging fridge on one side, and we could see big chunks of meat inside.

Ssamchae menu prices and our ₩50,000 order

The menu has separate iron-lid and charcoal brazier sections. Iron-lid options include pork belly 200g ₩17,000, frozen pork belly 200g ₩17,000 and pork neck 200g ₩17,000. There were also various other cuts such as galmaegi-sal (pork skirt), hangjeongsal (pork jowl) and kkodeulsal (chewy pork cartilage cut).

Since it was our first time, we went with the basics: one serving of pork belly and one of pork neck. For meals we added cheese bomb egg steam ₩5,000, soybean paste stew ₩5,000, spicy cold noodles ₩5,000 and steamed rice ₩1,000! Going by our table order, the total came to ₩50,000.

You order on the kiosk at your seat!

What's at the unlimited wrap vegetable self-serve bar?

The self-serve bar has a really wide variety of wrap vegetables, including lettuce, perilla leaves and napa cabbage. You can also grab things to grill with the meat, like garlic, cheongyang chili peppers, eggplant and enoki mushrooms.

Lower down there are side dishes like kimchi, bean sprouts and bracken. Take as much as you want and grill it on the edge of the iron lid.

At most BBQ places you get a few wrap leaves and that's it, but here you can keep going back without feeling awkward, so I think it's especially good for people who eat lots of vegetables and are looking for Korean BBQ in Guui-dong.

Side dishes served with the meal

To start, a simple set of basics like kimchi and jangajji (pickled vegetables) comes out.

Pickled onions come too, and they were nice to nibble on one by one until the meat was cooked. Ssamjang (wrap dipping paste) and garlic are also set out by default, and for anything you run short of, you can mostly just fetch more from the self-serve bar.

Pork belly and pork neck grilled on the iron lid

Both the pork belly and the pork neck were quite a bit thicker than I expected. Once they're on the iron lid, they sizzle and the fat spreads out naturally, and when you grill kimchi, bean sprouts and bracken in that pork fat too, it's game over!

After browning the surface of the meat, the staff cut it into bite-size pieces.

The staff grilled it for us, so it was so easy to eat, haha

How were the soybean paste stew, cheese bomb steamed egg and cold noodles?

Doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), ₩5,000

You can't have meat without doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), haha. It came out bubbling, with tofu and zucchini inside. Sipping the hot broth between bites of meat was just right.

Cheese bomb steamed egg, ₩5,000

The look alone was powerful! The steamed egg puffs up over the edge of the bowl, and cheese completely covers the top, haha. The soft egg with the salty, nutty cheese was great to scoop a bite at a time between pieces of meat.

Bibim naengmyeon (spicy cold noodles), ₩5,000

With meat, it has to be bibim naengmyeon! It's topped with cucumber, radish and egg, with seasoning sauce and noodles underneath. They even give you cold noodle broth!

How the pork belly and neck taste, and the best wrap combos

Perfectly cooked meat, yaaas~

The pork belly has fat and lean meat together, so the more you chew the nuttier it gets. The outside was browned and slightly crispy, while the inside was juicy.

The pork neck was quite thick, so I worried it might be dry, but it was softer than expected and delicious, with juices coming out as I chewed.

A bite wrapped in myeongi-namul (pickled wild garlic leaves), haha. Just wrapping the meat in them adds a tangy note, which was another treat.

Napa cabbage with a little rice, meat, and grilled bracken and bean sprouts, all wrapped into one big mouthful. Seriously delicious, haha.

Wrapped in cold noodles, it's seriously amazing, haha. The spicy noodles cut right through the richness of the meat, making it a great finishing combo.

What I liked best about Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal

• Personally, the best part was that the wrap vegetable and side dish bar is unlimited.
• With so many kinds of wrap vegetables, I could keep switching up my wraps all through the meal.
• Kimchi, bean sprouts and bracken can be grilled on the iron lid too, so I never got tired of eating meat.
• The pork belly and neck came out thick, with a great texture.

I came to Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal for pork belly in Guui-dong. The thick pork belly and neck were tasty, but what I remember most is the self-serve bar where you can take as many wrap vegetables, kimchi, bean sprouts and bracken as you like. Grilling meat and greens together on the iron lid, making big wraps, then finishing with stew, cheese bomb egg steam and bibim naengmyeon, haha. If you love wrap vegetables or want a hearty Korean BBQ meal in Guui-dong, give Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal a visit!