Gunja Station bar with beer and mild spice bone grill: Saechamjip

I don't usually crave alcohol, but after running around all day I came home craving a cold, fizzy beer. My husband and I had a telepathic moment and decided to go out.

Since we wanted good food with our cold beer, we headed to Saechamjip, a Korean bar with private rooms near Gunja Station.

Where is Saechamjip near Gunja Station, and is there a wait?

Saechamjip is close to Gunja Station, so it's easy to reach by public transit. It's on the 2nd floor of the building, and there's an elevator so getting up is easy.

We went late, so luckily there was no wait — but if you wait over 20 minutes, they give you a free ice cream dessert, so that might actually be a plus!

Inside Saechamjip: interior mood and private room seating

Saechamjip has a variety of seating — 6-person, 4-person, and 2-person tables — and lots of rooms too. Since the rooms aren't fully closed off by doors, it doesn't feel stuffy while still being private, so I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for a bar with private rooms in Gunja.

Saechamjip's bathroom even stocks mouthwash and hair ties

The bathroom is inside so it's easy to use, and it's stocked with everything down to hair ties, floss, and pads. Best of all, there's mouthwash ready to use right there — amazing. At first I thought it was a hand dryer, but looking closer, it was mouthwash. I'd never seen this new invention (?) before, so it was fascinating. Whoever's idea that was, it's such a great one! I used it after finishing my meal and my mouth felt so fresh :)

Saechamjip discounts and the Naver review event

I found this while I was in the bathroom — adding their KakaoTalk channel gets you ₩3,000 off.

There's also a Naver review event where they give you a pomegranate-peach dish worth ₩8,000 for free, so keep that in mind too.

Saechamjip's menu: makgeolli and highball options

Saechamjip's menu is broadly divided into signature dishes / soups & stews / desserts / stir-fry & grill / pancakes & fried dishes, and everything looked delicious, so I agonized over what to order.

True to a Korean bar, they had all kinds of makgeolli — strawberry, yuzu, pine nut, mango, blueberry! And the highball wasn't just a regular highball, it was made with Andong soju; there was also Neurin Maeul makgeolli and soju, lots of delicious drink options haha. But we were craving beer, so we ordered that first.

The basic side dishes were nacho-style crackers, refreshingly tangy mukchimuchi (acorn jelly salad), and heotgae (raisin tree) sticks, which we munched on together.

Stone plate bone grill: a bone grill rematch after 10 years

The signature dish at Saechamjip, this Gunja bar — bone grill! Bone grill is such a trend these days. My husband isn't really a big fan of bone dishes, and about 10 years ago the two of us went to a famous bone grill place in Seoul that was such a disappointment that we hadn't tried bone grill since. So after much deliberation, thinking this would be our last shot, I ordered Saechamjip's signature bone grill. If this one failed too, bone grill was going to be over for us for good lol.

I loved that they gave us each plastic gloves and tongs. I dabbed a bit of the sauce off the tongs and tried it — so good....!!!!

They also gave us baek-kimchi (white kimchi) and mayonnaise><

At first I put on the plastic gloves and grabbed it, then got startled because it was so hot. Tongs were definitely essential at first. Anyway, can you see the meat coming off the bone? They said it's simmered for 48 hours, and wow, the meat really does fall off that easily.

You can tell just by looking how tender the meat is, right? Every bit of the meat is moist! How is there not a single dry or bland part?.?

How spicy is spice level 1 on Saechamjip's bone grill?

It goes perfectly with the mayonnaise too. Oh, but we chickened out and ordered spice level 1 — the menu says level 1 is like shin ramyeon spiciness, but to me it didn't taste like shin ramyeon spice at all. To my palate it was more like mild jin ramyeon spice. I barely felt any heat. Even without spice it was delicious on its own, so we enjoyed it a lot, and next time I think I'll try level 2.

The green onion and bean sprouts in it were also totally my thing.

After picking off some meat with the tongs, I put on the gloves and got serious about deboning. I was so into it that even though I had an apron tied around my neck, when we got up to leave, my clothes were covered in sauce splatters;; lol

Nakji-saeu-kimchi-jeon (octopus and shrimp kimchi pancake)

Next up, the octopus and shrimp kimchi pancake we ordered!

There's no way this could be anything but delicious, even without tasting it.

The octopus and shrimp were in big chunky pieces.

It was cooked crispy on the outside and moist inside — so good. Kimchi pancakes fail a lot, so I was happy this one succeeded. Both dishes today were a success >< The kimchi pancake was so good I got curious about the other menu items too. But I can't skip the bone grill or the kimchi pancake either... already agonizing over what to get next time lol

If you're looking for a bar, group bar, or bar with private rooms near Gunja Station, Saechamjip will be a choice you won't regret!! Highly recommend.