Gwangjin Korean BBQ iron-lid half-set and kimchi stew: Ssamchae Jang

Location and parking for Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal

Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal 55 Jayang-ro (862 Jayang-dong), Building 102, Unit 103, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul Daily 12:00 - 24:00

This Gwangjin Korean BBQ restaurant, Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal, is about a 5-minute walk from Guui Station on Line 2 — Unit 103 in the Jayang Heaven's Ville commercial building!

The building's own parking isn't usable, so it's more convenient to use the temporary public parking lot in Jayang District 5 across the street. It's a fairly new restaurant but already very popular.

A dining room that seats up to 56

For a BBQ place, the first thing you notice is how calm the atmosphere feels. Everything's clean, and the tables and chairs are all neatly arranged, which probably adds to that impression.

The spacious dining room seats up to 56, and the tables aren't packed tightly together so it never feels cramped. For groups of 28 or more, a private room can also be booked.

Menu and prices

• Pork belly / frozen pork belly / pork neck ₩17,000 / 200g
• Pork jowl, kkodeulsal ₩19,000 / 150g
• Beef short rib flap ₩19,000 / 200g
• Beef flap meat ₩19,000 / 150g
• Beef chuck flap tail ₩21,000 / 150g

You can choose between the iron lid or a charcoal brazier for grilling. There are also various side dishes like mul-naengmyeon (cold noodles in broth), bibim-naengmyeon (spicy cold noodles), kimchi-mari guksu (noodles in chilled kimchi broth), and doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), but what really caught my eye was the spicy minari (water parsley) kalguksu (hand-cut noodle soup)! Had to try that one too :)

Meat can feel a bit heavy at lunchtime, so the spicy kalguksu is a nice option too. It requires a minimum order of two people, at ₩11,000 per person.

The iron-lid half-set looked like great value, plus we got the meat-packed kimchi jjigae and an extra bowl of rice haha

All-you-can-eat wrap greens self-bar

The all-you-can-eat wrap greens bar — this is such a great touch T_T. There was a wide variety of wrap greens and side dishes, so good paired with the meat.

This is the basic side dish setup. You can keep going back to the self-bar for more whenever you run low.

What comes with the iron-lid half-set

Here comes the big iron lid. Charcoal-grilled meat is great, but sometimes you just want it cooked on an iron lid instead.

The iron-lid half-set — this one comes with pork belly, pork neck, pork jowl, and pork skin, a good amount for 2-3 people to share. On top of that, Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal is apparently run by a meat specialty company based on Umiraen-gil 6. So there's really no question about the quality of the meat, right?

The meat had great color from the start —

Best of all, a staff member grilled and trimmed every single piece from start to finish, so all we had to do was eat, which made it even better.

They grilled everything expertly and quickly, and even arranged it neatly on the lid — nice touch, haha.

Meat-packed kimchi stew

In the meantime, the kimchi stew arrived too —

True to its name, meat-packed, every scoop of the spoon pulled up more meat, to the point I wondered if there'd be any left for the restaurant, haha — I was genuinely moved by how generous it was. It's spicy and rich, and pairs really well with the meat, so definitely try this kimchi stew if you go.

By the time the meat was nearly done, they added kimchi, bean sprouts, and bracken (fernbrake) on top too.

Cooked in the pork fat pooled to the side, it tastes even better. I only recently discovered how well bracken pairs with pork, haha.

A generous spread laid out on the table. Yay.

How's the iron-lid pork belly?

The appeal of the iron lid is that the juices stay in and it's savory — sizzling in the fat gives it a golden, crispy texture that a lot of people seem to love.

Since it's run by a meat company, the juices burst out with the very first bite and it was so savory. I dipped the first piece in salt, then lightly in curry powder for extra umami, and finished with my favorite combo — cheongyang chili.

Ate a ton of it wrapped in fresh greens, haha.

Pork jowl and pork skin

After demolishing the pork belly and pork neck, we moved on to pork jowl and pork skin —

Chewy yet springy, the pork jowl has plenty of fat so it's rich and full of that distinct pork flavor. The lean meat and fat are tightly woven together so it's never dry, which makes it a favorite for people who like a softer texture.

This is pork skin, which my daughter has recently developed a taste for — grilling it on the iron lid brings out a moist, deep flavor.

The distinctive chewy, springy texture of pork skin, grilled golden on both sides for an extra crispiness, was a hit with the whole family. Dipping it in soybean powder adds even more savoriness — full-on flavor bomb, haha.

Finishing with spicy minari kalguksu

I was too curious about the spicy minari kalguksu not to try it. True to its name, the fragrant minari paired with the spicy, hot noodle soup felt like it cleansed the palate after all that rich meat — I'd personally really recommend trying this too >_<

It's a newly opened Gwangjin Korean BBQ restaurant that's already drawing crowds, and with service and prices this good, I think I'll keep coming back whenever I'm craving iron-lid meat.