Gueui Seoul Korean BBQ dinner for two at 51,000 won: Sanggu's

These days going out for meat with a friend can blow through 70,000–80,000 won in no time, right…? But I heard there's a sotttukkeong samgyeopsal (cauldron-lid pork belly) place in Gueui-dong where the meat is delicious AND the prices — from the lettuce wrap self-serve bar to the draft beer — are absurdly cheap, so I went to check it out! This is Sanggu's Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal Gueui Branch (상구네솥뚜껑삼겹살 구의점), famous as a Gueui food spot :)

Where Sanggu's Gueui Branch is, and what a weekend evening looks like

Sanggu's Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal Gueui Branch sits between Gueui and Gangbyeon stations, which makes it a solid spot not just for Gueui-dong locals but for anyone near Dongseoul Terminal looking for a place to eat meat. We came on a weekend evening and the place was absolutely packed. There was a wait when we arrived, so I thought, okay, this is definitely a proper Gueui food spot haha.

What we ordered: half-plate set, bibim naengmyeon and fried rice

Highly recommend the half-plate set with beer!

We ordered the half-plate set and bibim naengmyeon (spicy cold noodles) for dessert! And of course we couldn't skip the fried rice — you can never pass on fried rice after sotttukkeong samgyeopsal, haha. The half-plate set came with a variety of cuts, not just pork belly, which was nicer than sticking to just one cut.

That's the basic table setting — you can also help yourself to all sorts of extras from the self-serve bar, including vegetables!

Staff grill the cauldron-lid pork belly at your table

Best of all, the staff grill the meat for you. Thick cuts can easily end up charred outside and undercooked inside if you're not careful, but they cut it into bite-sized pieces and kept an eye on the grilling the whole time — so easy for us.

All we had to do was sip our draft beer and wait for the meat to cook, haha. On the cauldron lid they add kimchi, bean sprouts and bracken fern, and we also chose minari (water dropwort) from the set. You all know pork-belly-fat-grilled minari is unbeatable, right? The fragrant minari cut through the richness of the meat perfectly, so I kept piling grilled kimchi and minari onto each slice of pork belly and just couldn't stop eating.

The meat was browned golden on the outside with juicy insides still intact, so it was great even with just a light dip in salt. The kimchi, bean sprouts and bracken fern sizzling away in the pork fat let us properly enjoy that signature sotttukkeong samgyeopsal flavor! And honestly what surprised me most at Sanggu's was the lettuce wrap self-serve bar.

Is the self-serve vegetable bar worth it?

There was a huge variety, and maybe because the place is so busy, the vegetables were super fresh too!

Finishing with bibim naengmyeon and fried rice

Once we'd nearly finished the meat, we ordered the bibim naengmyeon for dessert. The spicy-sweet sauce with cold, chewy noodles cleaned up our greasy palates nicely, and wrapping a last piece of meat into the naengmyeon proved once again that meat plus bibim naengmyeon never fails.

Wrapping up neatly one last time…💗💗

And finally, the fried rice! The pork fat and savory kimchi flavor left on the cauldron lid soaked right into the rice, so even though we were already full, my spoon kept going back in, haha. Wait until it gets a little crispy on the bottom and you get that nutty nurungji (scorched rice) texture too. From the half-plate set to the bibim naengmyeon dessert and fried rice, we thoroughly ate everything we wanted — and the total was still just 51,000 won…

Is Sanggu's Gueui Branch worth the 51,000 won?

If you're looking for good-value sotttukkeong samgyeopsal or a convenient BBQ spot where staff grill the meat for you in Gueui, I'd recommend Sanggu's Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal Gueui Branch!

• Staff grill the meat for you
• The delicious pairing of minari and sotttukkeong samgyeopsal
• A self-serve bar with a wide variety of vegetables
• The surprisingly low price of 1,900 won draft beer
• Great value from the half-plate set to naengmyeon and fried rice