Sadang date bar with abalone porridge and pink sausage: Jindallae

Jindallae (진달래, azalea) is one of the flowers most associated with Korean sentiment — its flower language is love and hope, and it carries the feeling of wistful love and waiting that runs through Korean culture. A silbi (실비) place is where you can enjoy drinks and a wide variety of food at an affordable price, so isn't Jindallae Silbi the kind of place where you can enjoy familiar, nostalgic menus alongside your drinks? True to its name, it's bursting with retro charm. This is my date-night review of trying the samchon kase (uncle's course) at Jindallae Silbi, a well-known Sadang bar and group-dinner spot.

Where is Jindallae Silbi Sadang Branch? Hours and parking

• 🌱 Location: 2nd floor, 70 Dongjakdae-ro 7-gil, Dongjak-gu, Seoul (294m from Sadang Station Exit 7)
• 🌱 Hours: Mon–Sat 18:00–24:00, last order 23:00 / Closed every Sunday
• 🌱 Parking: paid parking available (first 5 min ₩400, then ₩4,800 per 60 min, max ₩30,000 / 5-minute walk from Sadang Public Parking Lot No. 2)
• ※ Alcohol order required, minimum 1 bottle per table

I turned on navigation and still wandered a bit around the alley nearby. Where is it? Where? Once you've seen it you never forget it, but the first time you might get a little lost. Located on the 2nd floor, Jindallae Silbi is a perfect Sadang/Isu group bar.

A retro hall in Sadang that feels like the 1990s

Retro vibes everywhere, obviously. From the moment you walk up to the 2nd floor entrance that seems to have crossed decades, it feels like a time machine back into the past. Even the old celebrity photos, now looking a bit weathered with age, carry the full weight of time. There's really no better place than Jindallae Silbi for a Sadang retro bar. The spacious hall with plenty of tables makes it a great Sadang/Isu spot for group dinners and gatherings.

How much is the samchon kase? The course changes before and after 8pm

The samchon kase (uncle's course) is the thing that made this a word-of-mouth Sadang restaurant, and it's exactly what brought me here. Haha, I was ready to sink back into the past for once, soaking up the food and the atmosphere with a fresh, nostalgic feeling.

The samchon kase is a set that lets you sample sashimi, meat, seafood, and more all at once — which is why it comes up so often as a recommendation for dates, gatherings, and group dinners. Before 8pm, it's meant to double as a meal and a drinking snack, so you get 15 dishes for ₩39,000. After 8pm, the lineup shrinks down to 6 dishes for ₩20,000. A pretty smart way to structure the menu, if you ask me.

Birthday seaweed soup spread and the lucky draw at Jindallae Silbi

With its 1990s retro charm in full force, Jindallae Silbi also has its own events. If it's your birthday, you get a seaweed soup setup, a pretty photo, and even a song request. And then there's the nostalgic lucky draw event, haha — prizes worth up to ₩76,000. First prize is a full 100% refund on today's meal at Jindallae Silbi — pretty worth trying, right? Good luck to you.

The first spread: abalone porridge, shrimp and pink sausage

The very first spread already comes with a huge amount of food. There's no way to eat it all at once, so we planned to take our time. As dishes started disappearing, the staff either brought more automatically or would bring extra if we asked — so feel free to set your own pace. Bigger, more substantial dishes come out one by one after this first spread, so pace yourself well. We set aside the dishes we wanted to save for later and ate slowly.

Abalone innard porridge — so thick and rich!

I've been hooked on seasoned shrimp (saeujang) ever since trying it in Tongyeong recently. Nice to see we each got two, so we could share fairly, haha.

Old-school pink sausage, haha — talk about retro. This is the same pink sausage people used to pack in their lunch boxes back in the day; if you had this, you didn't envy anyone else's lunch... cough, cough. Definitely feeling the passage of time with this one, back in my day...

Two rice balls and tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes). I thought it'd be jeyuk-bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork) at first, but it turned out to be tteokbokki stir-fried with lots of vegetables — it felt more like a proper dish than a snack food. The portions are big too, so I'd recommend coming to Jindallae Silbi in Sadang with an empty stomach.

Seasoned soft tofu with a garlic-chili dipping sauce

Look at the size of that japchae (stir-fried glass noodles) 👀 — not stingy at all, whew. Since you shouldn't rush at the start, we paced ourselves, sipping a drink here and there while slowly enjoying it as both a meal and a drinking snack.

Naturally, drinks came out at this point, right? Even with my other half needing to drive, the sweet soju just kept going down smoothly on my side, haha.

The couple's top picks: bossam and the seafood steamer

Bossam (boiled pork wrap) and kimchi — my husband's favorite of the whole meal. Warm, no gamey smell, tender in just the right way, and the kimchi was so good it disappeared fast. The meat-lover's top pick! 👏👏👏

My pick was the seafood steamer. And there's a whole squid in there! Steamed right in the steamer basket and brought straight out, the moment I saw it I knew — this one's mine!!! Scallops, clams, shrimp, and a whole squid, all neatly steamed and ready to eat.

The aged sashimi was fresh, and the kind of dish nobody dislikes. My other half's eyes went wide again, haha. Earlier it was bossam that was the best, and now suddenly it's the sashimi!!! Haha haha 😂 So excited, so excited. We're both totally disarmed in front of food we love, haha. I'd recommend Jindallae Silbi's samchon kase as a group bar for Sadang/Isu.

4kg Wando flounder sashimi and the spicy stew to finish

Grown in Wando's waters at over 4kg, this flounder is a great size for aged sashimi, since the bigger the fish, the better it works aged. Using good quality ingredients like this for the aged sashimi made for a real party moment. Is there any drinking snack quite like this for a Sadang group bar?

Grilled flatfish. Plain and simple, topped with a refreshing sauce — an absolute masterstroke.

Crispy pork cutlet (donkatsu). This one comes in a hefty portion too.

Kimchi pancake, fried up reddish with kimchi. Crunchy kimchi, greasy pancake, and a shot of soju — this is exactly what makes drinking taste good, and what makes food taste good too. Honestly not sure anymore whether the drink is calling for the food, or the food is calling for the drink, haha.

The final dish: skate, tofu, and minari (water dropwort) spicy stew. A spicy stew with plenty of broth — perfect for a Korean who needs soup to finish a meal.

I'd recommend this as a Sadang/Isu group bar for dinners and gatherings, and as a Sadang date spot for anyone who loves retro charm.