Uijeongbu Station Korean BBQ, beef ribs with parents: Supsok Oki Jip

A beef rib meal close to Uijeongbu Station

Mom had been saying for days that she wanted galbi (beef ribs), so this is where we went — the set-up is unusual and the meat is delicious, so my parents were really happy with it too!!!

Address: 20 Sinheung-ro 258beon-gil, 1st floor, Uijeongbu-si, Gyeonggi-do (경기 의정부시 신흥로258번길 20 1층) Hours: 14:00–23:30 Parking: Uijeongbu underground shopping arcade public parking lot

Atmosphere and seating

Supsok Oki Jip (숲속 옥이집) is a 3-minute walk from Uijeongbu Station! It's so easy to get to that, as a Uijeongbu local, I'd passed by it often on my way here and there, but this was my first visit, so I was really excited hahaha

Such a stylish interior, right from the entrance!!

Inside, it's set up with 4-person tables across the 1st and 2nd floors! We came on a weekday evening, and it was spacious and comfortable, which was great!

Supsok Oki Jip menu and what we ordered

I wondered what 'Supsok' Oki Jip was supposed to mean — turns out 'sup' (숲) stands for soup (스프) and 'sok-oki' (속옥이) for sogogi (소고기, beef), hence Supsok Oki Jip hahahaha The owner's got a sense of humor!!!

The menu had diced beef ribs (kkakduk sogalbi — beef short ribs), emperor rib finger meat (hwangje neukgansal — marinated galbi) and house-made LA galbi, and for an extra ₩10,000 you can also get a set that comes with gopchang jeongol (beef intestine hot pot) and curry! We ordered 2 portions of diced beef ribs and 2 portions of emperor rib finger meat!

Individual side dishes, soup and the set

First they set out individual dipping sauces and side dish plates — shiitake mushrooms, wasabi sauce, jangajji (pickles), kimchi and even a soy sauce for the meat haha Having it all set up on individual plates felt neater and more thoughtful, which I liked haha

This is the soup~!!!!! It's the 'sup' in 'Supsok' Oki Jip hahaha There were crispy bread pieces on top, and surprisingly my mom absolutely loved it!!! It was my first time eating soup at a Korean BBQ restaurant, and it was tasty, so that was nice!

We added the set, so the gopchang jeongol and curry came out too haha The hot pot was loaded with perilla seed powder! And the curry was a pretty generous portion, which was nice, right? haha

Then the meat we ordered got set up too!!! A whole table full of deliciousness — doesn't it look great? hahaha The meat is grilled over charcoal, and the curry and hot pot each have their own separate burner to adjust the heat, so you can eat everything just right — clever haha

The clean, chewy texture of the diced beef ribs

First up, grilling the diced rib meat! It had a beautiful bright red color — fresh and tasty-looking!

You could really taste that rich, clean beef flavor, and it wasn't tough at all — just pleasantly chewy, so the more you chewed the better it got haha

Dipping it in the sauce and in salt!! There was no off smell at all and the meat itself was so clean that even a light dip in salt was delicious, but dunked in the dipping sauce it turned salty and umami-rich for a whole different taste! I especially loved it soaked in that sauce or eaten together with a chili pepper!!!

The mushrooms grilled over charcoal were bursting with juice too! Really delicious haha

The emperor rib finger meat that satisfied Mom

Next, the emperor rib finger meat! At first glance I figured it was just some nice rib meat, but once grilled, the sweet-and-salty marinade had soaked right into the meat — exactly the delicious marinated galbi flavor we all picture!

So dipping it in the sauce boosts the umami another notch, while eating it plain lets you taste the charcoal smokiness and the sweetness of the marinated meat, so it was fun alternating between the two! Best of all, Mom had kept saying she wanted marinated galbi, and after eating the emperor rib finger meat here she said it was delicious, so I felt oddly proud hahaha

Mixing the curry well into the rice and stirring the seasoning through the hot pot too!!! With 4 of us eating 4 portions I wondered if it would be too little, but with the curry and hot pot the amount was just right haha The curry had so much sauce that we ordered an extra bowl of rice and mixed in more hahahaha Hot pot with grilled meat makes sense and you can imagine the taste, but curry was hard to picture, so I wondered whether the combo would really work — and surprisingly it was delicious!!!!

Both the charcoal-grilled diced beef ribs and the sweet-salty emperor rib finger meat were delicious, and being able to have gopchang jeongol and curry alongside made for a hearty, satisfying meal haha Best of all, Mom got to properly enjoy the marinated galbi flavor she'd been craving, so I was really satisfied!