Cheongna BBQ restaurant open all day: 540g kimchi pork at Sammi-jip

▪️Cheongna 4-danji restaurant Sammi-jip

📌Pot lid pork belly, grilled for you

I was craving pork belly grilled on a pot lid again, so I searched around Cheongna and went haha. Because of work, I can't visit during peak hours, so I tend to look for restaurants with no break time. This turned out to be a Cheongna 4-danji restaurant that serves lunch and has no break time, so you can visit whenever you want :)

A pork belly place that grills minari (water dropwort) pork belly on a pot lid, exactly the way I like it, and does the grilling for you — such an easy place to eat at! Let me introduce Sammi-jip in Cheongna 4-danji 🐽

▪️Sammi-jip

📌18 Cheongnacaneal-ro 233beon-gil, Seohae-gu, Incheon

⏰Daily 10:30–22:30

Sammi-jip in Cheongna 4-danji: parking and opening hours

You can park in front of the restaurant, but it's not spacious, so it might be hard to find a spot during busy hours. There's short-term parking around the Cheongna 4-danji commercial complex.

Most pork belly restaurants only open for dinner, but Sammi-jip in Cheongna opens early, so you can get the lunch special at a good price. The kimchi jjigae is ₩10,000 per person, which is quite reasonable haha.

Inside Sammi-jip: white and wood tones, quiet at a late lunch

My husband and I went for a late lunch, so we had a relaxed meal with no other customers around. The inside of Sammi-jip in Cheongna is decorated cleanly in white and wood tones, not like a typical pork belly restaurant. The tables are spaced generously apart too, which felt nice and open.

With floor-to-ceiling glass on all four sides, Sammi-jip feels really open! Good for a family meal, and I think the mood would work well for a date too :) We sat by the window.

You can get more side dishes or tableware from the self-service bar if anything runs low. The self-service bar was really clean and had a good variety of side dishes. You can grab more wrap greens there too :)

What comes with the Sammi Kimchi half portion (540g)?

You order through the kiosk. My husband and I got the Sammi Kimchi half portion (540g) and added two extra bowls of rice. The Sammi Kimchi half portion is a set of three cuts — pork belly, pork neck, and diced pork jowl — so you get to try all three at once, which I loved. Doenjang jjigae comes included, so you don't need to order it separately.

The dongchimi (watery radish kimchi) that comes as a default side is so refreshing and clean-tasting! Pork belly can get a bit greasy, and this completely cuts through it. They give a generous amount too :)

They give you minari and bean sprouts to grill along with the meat, plus a generous amount of shredded green onion by default. I love chili, so haha, I saw there were pickled chili peppers at the self-service bar and grabbed a good amount.

Sammi-jip's own signature meat sauce! A soy-based sauce with a strong garlic kick that pairs really well with pork. It's a bit spicy, which is exactly my taste haha.

The kimchi at Sammi-jip in Cheongna comes in a jar, and it tastes properly aged, like mukeunji (well-fermented kimchi). Pork belly plus mukeunji is basically cheating, you know 🤭🫠 A half head of cabbage comes as is, and you can get more from the self-service bar if you run out.

Crunchy, delicious dongchimi! The best match for pork 👍🐽

The owner grills on the pot lid — why it was easy with a child along

Sammi-jip in Cheongna 4-danji grills the meat on a large pot lid, and since it comes pre-seared, you can eat quickly. You know how once you've been to a place where they grill it for you, it's hard to go back to grilling it yourself, haha. If you've ever brought kids along, you know how chaotic it gets trying to grill and eat at the same time.

The owner personally puts the kimchi and bean sprouts on the grill too :) All we had to do was sit and eat, which was so convenient. Great for a family meal with young kids too. Kimchi grilled right in the pork fat — that's the real deal haha.

They cut it into bite-sized pieces for you. Now it's time to really eat!

They added the minari, bean sprouts, and shredded green onion, filling the big pot lid to the brim. Sometimes you just crave pork belly grilled on a pot lid like this, right? But old-school places can be a bit much with the smoke and hygiene concerns. Sammi-jip in Cheongna keeps all the good things about pot lid pork belly while being far more pleasant and hygienic to eat at 🫶

The meat came out fully cooked, and after grilling the kimchi a bit more, we started eating.

How the three cuts taste: pork belly, pork neck and diced pork jowl

The Sammi assorted platter of pork neck, pork belly, and pork jowl! A combination of my favorite pork cuts, so the menu composition was great too.

Sammi-jip's pickled chili isn't too salty, and eating it with the meat completely cuts the richness haha. It's a bit spicy, which pairs perfectly with the pork neck 👍

I loved that Sammi-jip in Cheongna had both perilla leaves and lettuce! Some pork belly places don't have perilla leaves, and as a perilla leaf lover, that's a real letdown 😅 Pork plus perilla leaf is an unbeatable combo..🫶

This diced pork jowl was so good,, bite-sized and easy to eat. You could really taste the savory meat flavor unique to pork jowl, so it was delicious even just dipped in salt :)

The minari, lightly grilled, has such a lovely fragrance when eaten with the meat. It refreshes your palate and goes really well with the kimchi too :)

Dipping the meat lightly in Sammi-jip's signature sauce fills your mouth with garlic aroma and makes the pork taste even richer. It pairs especially well with the pork jowl 👍

How much doenjang jjigae comes with the set?

The doenjang jjigae included in the Sammi Kimchi half portion set! They said it's enough for 2–3 people, and the stone pot was bigger than at most pork belly restaurants, so the portion was really generous. My husband and I finished it together happily 🤭🫶

It's packed with mushrooms and tofu too, haha. With plenty of side dishes to go with the pork belly and a generous stew, we left really full. If you're looking for a good-value pot lid minari pork belly place in Cheongna, try Sammi-jip in 4-danji :) It's open year-round, including Chuseok holiday 🫠👍