Seoul Korean BBQ with 8 unlimited wraps: Simin Sikdang, Pimatgol

I wanted a hearty meat meal with my mom near Jonggak, so we went to Simin Sikdang in the Pimatgol alley.

Right at the entrance there's a big sign for SBS Today's 'Seoul Kimchi Stew TOP5,' and once inside, there were tons of photos from TV appearances. I thought it might just be famous for kimchi stew, but it turned out to be a proper BBQ restaurant serving both wagyu and hanwoo-grade Korean pork.

More than anything, my mom loved it that day. The meat was great, but the real hit was that there were a whopping 8 kinds of lettuce wraps — exactly mom's thing. Whenever we go out for meat, a place with good wrap greens matters a lot, and here she kept wrapping bite after bite, very pleased.

Simin Sikdang Main Branch at a glance

• Address: 30 Donhwamun-ro 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul / about 95m from Exit 1, Jongno 3-ga Station
• Hours: Tue–Sun 11:00–21:30, closed every Monday
• Parking: No dedicated lot. Nearest is CGV Piccadilly1958 underground parking (₩6,600/hour, on the pricier side)
• What we ordered: Couple's Asamyuk Set, ₩69,000 — wagyu kkotsal, fresh pork belly, jeyuk bokkeum, Seoul TOP5 kimchi stew, wagyu-topped cheese fried rice
• Highlight: a whopping 8 kinds of lettuce wraps. My wrap-loving mom especially loved this part
• Meat: wagyu plus domestic Seonjin Pork hanwoo-grade pork, grilled for you by staff so you can just relax and eat
• Floors: 1st and 2nd floor operation. The 2nd floor has wider seating, good for family gatherings, group meals, or work dinners

How to walk to Simin Sikdang Main Branch from Jongno 3-ga Station

By public transit, it's about 95m from Exit 1 of Jongno 3-ga Station. Walk about 100m straight from Exit 1 and you'll hit a McDonald's — Simin Sikdang, a favorite for Jongno work dinners, sits right behind it. If you use Exit 5 instead, walk about 200m toward Jongno-daero, then when you spot a Twosome Place, turn into the alley on the left and walk about 100m.

An old-school BBQ restaurant tucked in the Pimatgol alley

Simin Sikdang sits inside the Pimatgol alley, but the red brick exterior and big sign made it easy to spot. What catches your eye right from the entrance is the sign that reads 'Seoul Kimchi Stew TOP5 — Simin Sikdang Kimchi Stew.'

1st floor or 2nd floor: where should you sit?

The 1st floor is easiest for a regular meal

On the 1st floor, tables line up right as you walk in. Each table has a built-in grill, and there are partitions between seats, so it was more comfortable to eat than I expected.

You can see into the open kitchen and get a sense of the cooking, and overall it felt like a good spot for a light meal for two or a small group. We ate on the 1st floor, and staff grilled the meat for us, which made things easy.

Korean-raised Handon pork plus Australian wagyu

The wall had fairly detailed info about the meat. It says they use domestic Seonjin Pork hanwoo-grade pork, and Australian wagyu.

8 kinds of wrap greens with unlimited refills

Lettuce, perilla leaf, red chard, red mustard leaf, kale, romaine rose, chicory, and angelica — 8 kinds in total. There's a separate wrap-greens corner where you can help yourself to as much as you want. With so much variety, even the same meat felt different depending on the wrap combo — genuinely fun.

My wrap-loving mom especially loved this. A lot of BBQ places these days only give you lettuce and perilla leaf, but here there were 8 kinds with unlimited refills, and that was the point that made mom happiest.

Inside the restaurant there were also photos from SBS, KBS, MBC and other broadcasts. At this point it felt less like just a BBQ place and more like a long-running Jongno spot also famous for its kimchi stew.

The 2nd floor suits groups and family gatherings

Up the stairs is a separate 2nd floor space, much bigger than downstairs, with long connected tables built for larger groups.

Seats run in a long line along the window, and there are also more secluded spots further in, which looked especially good for work dinners, family gatherings, or group meals.

There are plenty of seats where several people can sit together at one table, and the spacing between tables is fairly generous, so the 2nd floor would probably be more comfortable for a bigger group. That day the whole 2nd floor was set up for an evening group reservation.

What comes in the 69,000-won Asamyuk Set for couples

This is what we ordered: the couple's Asamyuk Set for ₩69,000. It comes with wagyu kkotsal 100g + fresh pork belly 150g + jeyuk bokkeum 200g + Seoul TOP5 kimchi stew + wagyu-topped cheese fried rice.

Grilled on a natural agalmatolite stone plate

The grills at Simin Sikdang aren't ordinary metal plates — they use natural jangsu gopdol stone grills, according to the signage. Jangsu gopdol is said to conduct and retain heat well, making it a good material for grilling meat. It also noted that the far-infrared heat locks in the meat's juices and cooks it more gently.

Sure enough, the grill was wide and heavy, easy to load up with wagyu, pork belly, and vegetables like onion, mushroom, and green onion all at once, and at the end we made fried rice right on the same grill.

The 8 wrap greens my mother loved most

And here's what made my mom happiest: a whopping 8 kinds of lettuce wraps. My wrap-loving mom loved this from the start. A lot of places just plop down one type of lettuce, but here you could pick and choose from several kinds, which definitely kept the meal from feeling repetitive.

We wrapped the wagyu, wrapped the pork belly, and even added grilled kimchi on top — it was fun mixing up the combos the whole time.

Side dishes that go well with the grilled meat

There was a nice variety of banchan (side dishes) too — scallion salad, salad greens, kimchi, pickled vegetables, and more. BBQ places can get greasy fast if the sides are too simple, but here we had wrap greens, yeolmu kimchi (young radish kimchi), and stir-fried fish cake to mix in, which helped a lot.

When the first spread came out, it was more generous than I expected. The wagyu marbling in particular was gorgeous. The pork belly was thick, and whole kimchi, enoki mushroom, onion, green onion, and cherry tomatoes all came out on the same tray. Great to look at right off the bat.

Super generous portions! Could the two of us really finish this, haha.

Wagyu kkotsal vs fresh pork belly: how they taste different

The wagyu marbling stood out from the start

We put the wagyu on the grill first. The marbling was so dense it looked tender even before cooking, and staff grilled it for us, which made things easy.

It's a shame to overcook wagyu, but they cut it for us at just the right moment, so all we had to do was eat. In your mouth, it wasn't chewy at all — soft, with a rich, savory meaty aroma rising up. Glad we started with the wagyu first.

Thick-cut fresh pork belly

After the wagyu came the pork belly. It's fresh pork belly from Seonjin Pork hanwoo-grade pork, and it was quite thick, so it had good chew.

Best dipped in salt.

The pork belly was thick with good chew, browned nicely on the outside while staying moist inside. The fat's richness was pronounced, but with the wrap greens and grilled vegetables it never felt greasy — I kept going back for more.

If wagyu is soft with deep savoriness, pork belly is a more familiar, sturdier kind of juiciness. Eating both one after another off the same grill, the difference was clear and it was fun to compare.

That eye-squint my mom does when something's delicious, haha. That day she said the wagyu was so good and really dug in, hahaha.

The SBS Seoul TOP5 kimchi stew

And then there's something you can't skip at Simin Sikdang: the kimchi stew (kimchi jjigae).

Once it started bubbling away, the smell alone was a pass. They said it's made with house-made kimchi and beef bone broth, so it couldn't not be good.

It had tofu, enoki mushroom, green onion, and meat in it, and the broth color alone was deep. Eating meat and then a hot spoonful of kimchi stew in between reset my palate and made me want to eat more meat right after.

I understood why they push the kimchi stew so hard right from the entrance. It's not the type that's just aggressively spicy — it's a rich kimchi stew that pairs really well with meat. I loved it, no notes.

The set also included jeyuk bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork), but between the wagyu, pork belly, kimchi stew, and fried rice, we clearly weren't going to finish everything. So we asked to pack the jeyuk bokkeum to go. (Stir-fried it up nicely at home later.)

How the wagyu cheese fried rice is made

The table had instructions for making the wagyu-topped cheese fried rice, and the process itself was fun to read.

• Stir-fry the wagyu first.
• Add kimchi, bean sprouts, and 3 kinds of finely chopped vegetables.
• Add sesame oil and stir-fry with the rice until evenly mixed.
• Add seaweed flakes and the remaining sesame oil and stir-fry once more.
• Shape the center of the fried rice into a crater, like a volcano.
• Pile plenty of cheese into the center and cover it with the surrounding rice.
• Wait about 2 minutes, then scoop from the center — done.

Finishing with wagyu cheese fried rice

There was still one thing left: the wagyu-topped cheese fried rice. It was unusual right from when the ingredients first showed up. On a divided plate, like a gujeolpan (nine-sectioned platter), wagyu, kimchi, bean sprouts, finely chopped vegetables, seaweed flakes, and cheese were all arranged beautifully.

Fried rice ingredients laid out this elaborately... haha.

They put it all on the grill and stir-fried it, and with the leftover meat and vegetables mixed in too, it looked so good there was no way it could taste bad.

The finishing move of carving out a crater in the middle for cheese was fun, and after covering it with rice and waiting a bit, the cheese inside melted properly and stretched with every scoop.

The staff member here was so kind and fun. Normally you're supposed to stir-fry the rice yourself, but since it wasn't busy, she made it for us specially. So grateful.

The moment the cheese stretches off the spoon is a must-photo moment. By now my mom takes the photos on her own without me even asking, haha.

My mom wrapped rice in lettuce too and said the fried rice was hearty and delicious, eating well right to the end. My mom is truly amazing.

The crispy scorched rice stuck to the bottom — couldn't resist that either...

It's wild that even after being full of meat, there's still room for fried rice. I guess the last stage of a Korean meat course really is fried rice.

On our way out I noticed — if you like beer, check the fridge here. The beer is insanely cold. Cold enough to wipe out a day's worth of exhaustion.

Final verdict on Simin Sikdang Main Branch

If you're looking for a BBQ place near Jonggak, Pimatgol's Simin Sikdang was a pretty solid choice. Being able to eat wagyu and pork belly in one sitting, with the famous kimchi stew and a cheese fried rice finale rounding out the meal, made for a good course overall.

Most of all, my wrap-loving mom loved it the moment she saw the 8 kinds of lettuce wraps, and I thought I'd happily come back here with her again. The spacious 2nd floor also seems well suited for a Jonggak work dinner or a family meal out.