Weekend Korean BBQ lunch in Cheongna: 520g kimchi pork belly

Did you know there's a great-value weekend lunch special at a pot-lid pork belly spot in Cheongna?! Sammi-jip uses grade-1 domestic female pork and even has a solo dining menu that comes with a fried egg, so you can enjoy a hearty solo meal packed with good-quality meat without breaking the bank. Let me introduce Sammi-jip, a pot-lid pork belly restaurant in Cheongna!

Where is Sammi-jip in Cheongna, and is there parking?

Sammi-jip is on the 1st floor of a commercial building at 18 Cheongnacaneol-ro 233beon-gil, Seohae-gu, Incheon, across from Cheongna Complex 4 Hyundai Homesteel. Hours are 10:30~22:30 (last order 21:30), and there's parking for about 5-6 cars in front of the restaurant.

• Location: 18 Cheongnacaneol-ro 233beon-gil, Seohae-gu, Incheon, South Korea
• Hours: 10:30 - 22:30 / last order 21:30
• Parking: 5-6 cars in front of the restaurant

It's tucked into the ground floor of the commercial strip across from Cheongna Complex 4 Hyundai Homesteel, where a bunch of my personal favorite go-to spots are clustered together. Sammi-jip in particular sits right in front of the pedestrian overpass, with one side of the entrance facing a car-free street — haha, it used to be a frequent family dinner spot when my kids were little. Parking is available for about 5-6 cars in front.

Inside Sammi-jip: floor-to-ceiling windows and group tables

A pork belly restaurant surrounded on all sides by floor-to-ceiling windows! The moment you walk into Sammi-jip, the open, airy dining space gives you zero of that usual cramped, smoky BBQ-joint feeling. Tables are spaced generously apart so you can eat without being bothered by the next table, and there's a slightly separated section next to the main space that looked perfectly suited for group gatherings or work dinners.

Sammi-jip menu: does the lunch special run on weekends?

Here's the menu at Sammi-jip in Cheongna Complex 4. There are set menus of pork belly, whole pork belly, pork neck belly, and diced pork jowl grilled on a pot lid together with kimchi and minari (water dropwort), plus a doenjang stew. There's also a generous weekend-available lunch special — ojam dooruchigi (spicy pork and squid stir-fry), kimchi jjigae, budae jjigae — along with a solo lunch special for those dining alone. Cheese potato pancake, minari pancake, soy-egg rice, jjolmyeon (chewy cold noodles), kimchi bibim guksu, and injeolmi ice cream round out a lineup that covers sides and dessert alike — haha, pretty thorough.

Ordering the Sammi kimchi half-portion (520g) + doenjang stew, 56,000 won

I was originally aiming for the great-value weekend lunch special available at Cheongna, but seeing the pot-lid pork belly at the next table made me change course... I ordered the Sammi kimchi half-portion (520g) + doenjang stew for ₩56,000 at Sammi-jip. A bowl of dongchimi (watery radish kimchi) came out with lettuce wraps, and the dongchimi with its thin layer of ice was genuinely delicious! Why isn't there a dongchimi noodle dish on the menu?! Haha.

Onion, mushrooms, scallion salad, seasoned bean sprouts, minari, and well-fermented kimchi hidden away in a jar all sat waiting — they'd get grilled together with the pork belly on the pot lid once it arrived, haha.

What's on the self-serve bar at Sammi-jip

The table setting only comes with the basics, but everything else you'd want to add — garlic, garlic scapes, pickled onion, pickled chili, seasoned bean sprouts, kimchi, ssamjang (dipping sauce), pickled radish, and lettuce wraps — is all available at the self-serve bar.

Why the doenjang stew set wins for 3 servings or more

If your first order is 3 servings or more, I highly, highly recommend the set that includes the doenjang stew!! Most BBQ places serve a doenjang stew brewed from a sauce base with that distinct salty umami flavor, and it's tasty too, but Sammi-jip's doenjang stew has a deeper, more savory depth, with shiitake mushrooms giving it a subtle aroma — a genuinely upscale flavor!

A full pot lid of pork, grilled in the kitchen and carried out

Pork belly, pork neck, and diced pork neck all arrived already grilled!! Instead of grilling at the table, Sammi-jip grills the meat in the kitchen, cutting it into bite-sized pieces before bringing it to the table, where fermented kimchi, minari, seasoned bean sprouts, scallion salad, mushrooms, and onion are all arranged on top, ready to eat!! Looking good and tasting good, as they say — the visuals were something else, haha.

They say they carefully select only grade-1 domestic female pork, and having an expert grill it and bring it out on the hot pot lid meant the juicy pork retained a gentle warmth right down to the last piece — I liked that. Pork belly, pork neck, and diced pork jowl were all appealing, but my little one was totally obsessed with the plump pork neck, haha.

Sammi-jip's house soy sauce dipping sauce

Sammi-jip's own special soy sauce, made with cheongyang chili, minced garlic, and chili powder, was also seriously delicious! The spicy-yet-sweet sauce paired perfectly with the savory pork — I'm curious about the recipe... it'd probably be great with steamed fish or vegetables too!

Fried rice to finish, 5,000 won: worth every bit of it

Isn't fluffy fried rice the real finale to a pot-lid kimchi pork belly meal?! Honestly, I thought ₩5,000 was a bit pricey for fried rice, but wow — the seasoned fried rice arrived with a whole egg cracked right on top! I finished every last grain of rice, haha.

Final verdict on Sammi-jip in Cheongna

From the open, clean interior to the weekend-available lunch special, the quality grade-1 female pork, the appetizing spread on the pot lid, and the surprisingly satisfying finishing fried rice — I recommend Sammi-jip, a pot-lid pork belly restaurant in Cheongna. I think I need to go back and actually try that weekend lunch special next time, haha.