Diet-friendly Korean BBQ in Jayang-dong, Seoul: kale wraps, Ssamchae

A Jayang-dong pork belly spot you can visit even on a diet: Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal

Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal (쌈채솥뚜껑삼겹살) is a pork belly restaurant with unlimited fresh wrap vegetables brought into Jayang-dong every dawn. Lots of you are skipping pork belly while watching your diet these days, right? I'm dieting too, so when eating out I only look for places that give you heaps of vegetables, to get my fiber in first. And that's how I found this hidden gem 🌿!!

Visit info for Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal

• Location: 55 Jayang-ro, Building 102, Unit 103, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul
• Main menu: aged pork belly, cold noodles, iron-lid fried rice
• Features: unlimited self-serve wrap vegetable bar, meat from the head office's own livestock business
• Service: staff grill the meat for you
• Parking: building's shopping-complex parking lot available (ask the restaurant before visiting)

What vegetables are at the self-serve wrap bar?

The self-serve wrap corner has lettuce and perilla leaves plus chicory, kale and mustard greens, and enoki mushrooms, eggplant and sweet pumpkin for grilling. It had a straight-from-the-farm feel.

At most BBQ places you feel awkward asking for a few more lettuce leaves, but here the fresh vegetables delivered every morning are displayed generously, cold and plentiful.

Lettuce and perilla are a given, and chicory, kale, mustard greens and more were all fresh and green, so picking them out was half the fun.

There are also enoki, eggplant and sweet pumpkin for grilling, perfect to cook alongside the meat on the iron lid 🍆

Inside Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal: atmosphere and menu

The Jayang-dong branch is quite spacious and well ventilated. It wasn't filled with smoke and the air was fine.

Inside, the space is pretty big! The ventilation is good too, so it wasn't smoky and the air was fine.

What stood out is that they sell only 100% Korean pork belly and pork neck. Apparently the head office runs its own livestock business, which seems to be why the meat quality is good. No wonder it tasted great.

The set menus are reasonably priced and let you try a variety of cuts, but what we ordered was single servings of pork belly and pork neck. (I can't eat pork skin, so... sob, what a shame.)

What are the side dishes and sauces?

The basic side dishes were white kimchi, gungchae (stem lettuce), myeongi namul (wild garlic greens), mustard leaf kimchi and braised onion. There were also kimchi, bracken and bean sprouts that get grilled along with the meat. The basic sauces were salt and curry powder.

How do the staff-grilled pork belly and neck taste?

A staff member grills the pork belly and neck for you on a heated cast-iron lid, so you just wait. They serve the meat you ordered, and you can really feel how good and fresh it is.

Best of all, the friendly staff put the meat on the cast-iron lid at the right temperature and grill it for you, which was so convenient.

Of course we also ordered cold noodles, the essential partner for glistening, fatty meat. Extra side dishes and vegetables are plentiful and tidy at the self-serve bar, so just help yourself.

I loved that we could just sit comfortably while the staff grilled everything deliciously.

Cold noodles with iron-lid grilled vegetables

Chewy noodles in an icy broth, wrapped up with a piece of well-cooked pork belly: my mouth got reset and the meat just kept going down 🥢

I put assorted vegetables, kimchi, bracken and bean sprouts around the edge of the lid, and grilled in the meat fat they were so good.

This is why I can never quit the iron lid.

I ate it with the cold noodles and dipped it in curry powder too. The vegetables are so fresh that I mostly ate those, and I stuffed a huge amount into my wraps. So this counts as a diet, right?

Finishing with iron-lid fried rice

The crowning touch of the iron-lid course is of course the fried rice. With leftover kimchi, bean sprouts and bracken chopped fine and fried until crispy on the lid, it was so addictive that I couldn't put my spoon down even when full. I scraped up every bit down to the bottom, and only then did the meal feel complete.

Overall verdict on Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal, a Jayang-dong meat restaurant

Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal lets you eat fatty meat while still loading up on fresh vegetables, so it's a guilt-free choice even if you're managing your diet. With the grilling service, you can chat comfortably without the hassle of cooking, which makes it a fine spot for a family meal or a get-together with friends. If you're craving a hearty, healthy meat meal, do drop by!!