Seoul Korean BBQ with heaped Cheorwon Odae rice: Sansol Sinnonhyeon

I found a great meat restaurant in Sinnonhyeon!

What kind of Korean BBQ restaurant is Sansol Sinnonhyeon?

Sansol Sinnonhyeon is a place near Sinnonhyeon Station selling aged pork and beef, but it has the feel of an upscale hanjeongsik (Korean table d'hôte) restaurant, so there were a lot of families and couples dining there.

There's a free tableside grilling service where staff grill the meat for you, which made eating really easy.

And unusually, this place has a downdraft smoke-extraction system, so smoke gets sucked down below the grill while you're cooking.

So barely any smoke rises above the grill, meaning no smell soaking into your clothes or hair, and no discomfort from smoke.

Not just the taste of the meat but the whole atmosphere and banchan (side dish) spread felt carefully thought out, so I thought I'd want to come back here with my parents or to treat guests.

Sansol: a name that means holding the mountains

The name Sansol uses the characters for "mountain" and "lead," meaning to lead or command the mountain.

They use fresh ingredients sourced from Gangwon Province, and it's a restaurant specializing in aged pork that pays close attention to aging and grilling.

Walking into the restaurant, I noticed a space where they age and store the meat.

Seeing the aged meat displayed like this gave the impression that they take the aging and cooking process itself very seriously.

Banchan at Sansol that feels like a hanjeongsik spread

The basic banchan (side dish) spread at Sansol Sinnonhyeon was seriously no joke.

From seasoned vegetables to nabak kimchi (watery radish kimchi), aged kimchi, yuzu radish salad, young radish pickles, scallion soy sauce, herring roe, Maldon salt, wasabi, and ssamjang, a whole variety of neat side dishes that you'd only expect at a high-end hanjeongsik restaurant came out.

The taste of the meat felt completely different depending on which sauce or side dish you paired it with, and I really loved that.

Ordering aged kkotmoksal and jinkkotgalbisal, one serving each

You can order 2 or more servings of meat, and mix-and-match one serving at a time is also possible, so I ordered one serving each of beef and pork.

I ordered aged kkotmoksal (pork neck) 150g and jinkkotgalbisal (beef short rib) 150g, and the flavors were completely different, which made for a nice variety.

Aged kkotmoksal (marbled pork neck)

Maybe because it was aged, the kkotmoksal had none of that dry, tough feel and was full of juice.

It had some thickness to it, so there was a good chew to it, and it filled you up fast even eating just a little.

The pork neck was delicious no matter which side dish I ate it with.

Jinkkotgalbisal (marbled beef short rib)

With the jinkkotgalbisal, one bite in and I thought, ah, this really is beef.

You could taste the deep beefy aroma and juiciness unique to short rib, with a melt-in-your-mouth softness.

Personally, I found jinkkotgalbisal paired best dipped in wasabi or salt and eaten with the young radish pickles.

Free tableside grilling by Sansol's staff

The meat quality itself at Sansol Sinnonhyeon was good, but I think it tasted even better because the staff grilled it for us directly.

I'm especially bad at grilling beef — I never know quite how done to get it or I miss the timing and burn it, so I've ordered expensive beef and ended up eating it unimpressively many times.

But at places with a grilling service, trained staff grill it to just the right doneness, so it's both convenient and lets you enjoy the meat at its best. The staff moved between multiple tables at once, flipping the meat at just the right moment.

But some people find the grilling service a bit much. For those folks, you can just say you'd rather grill it yourself. It's a customized service that considers customer convenience, so you can request whichever way feels comfortable depending on the situation. I went with the grilling service, and it was really convenient.

At Sansol, they apparently apply the right grilling method for each cut of meat. If it were up to me, I'd probably have just grilled it however haha.

Why you should order the Cheorwon Odae rice

I added the Cheorwon Odae rice without much thought, just because I wanted plain rice, but you have to order this, no question!!!

For one thing, they serve it piled up high in a heaping bowl, and the rice is just so delicious.

I didn't know Cheorwon Odae rice was this good, that this kind of tasty rice existed!!! I'm not someone who absolutely needs rice with meat, but when I want a hearty meal, I always order rice, whether that's plain rice or fried rice.

But this was genuinely delicious rice, different from the usual bowl of rice you'd get at a typical BBQ restaurant. The Cheorwon Odae rice went well with both the aged kkotmoksal and the jinkkotgalbisal. I bet it would be amazing with stew too.

Who is Sansol Sinnonhyeon best for?

Looking for a lunch, dinner, or company dinner spot in Sinnonhyeon? Sansol Sinnonhyeon comes highly recommended!