Seocho Chinese restaurant with butter pork skewers: Baoro China

A Chinese restaurant with good flavor at sensible prices

I visited Baoro China Sadang Branch (바오로차이나 사당점) because I was craving Chinese food. The restaurant was spacious and clean, so it was easy to settle in comfortably. There was a wide choice of rice and noodle dishes, assorted à la carte dishes, and courses—and everything from the thick, juicy fresh pork loin tangsuyuk (sweet-and-sour fried pork) skewers to the flavorful mapo tofu rice with a subtle mala aroma and shrimp har gow with pleasantly chewy wrappers was impressive in both flavor and presentation!

Baoro China’s exterior near Sadang Station

Baoro China is within a five-minute walk of Sadang Station Exits 13 and 14, so it is conveniently close to the station.

It is on the second floor, but there is an elevator. The exterior has the feel of a casual Chinese restaurant!

A clean interior with a dining hall and private rooms

Inside is a spacious, clean room without being overdone. It had a neat atmosphere that would suit a family meal or gathering, and the tables were reasonably spaced apart. Partitions also gave it a somewhat separated feel.

There are private rooms as well as the main dining hall, making it a nice choice on days when you want to eat a little more comfortably. Private group rooms for 3 to 44 people can be reserved through Naver Place, apparently. This Sadang Station restaurant with rooms works for everything from small gatherings to pre-wedding meetings and work dinners.

The in-store display stand also sold snacks such as tofu crackers. There is a restroom inside, too, which was convenient.

There were candies, too, nice for freshening up after paying.

A broad menu, from lunch specials to dim sum

There is a roulette event for receipt reviews, so it might be fun to join if you are interested. The well-rounded, good-value lunch specials are available until 2 PM on weekdays, apparently. They include yusanseul (stir-fried seafood and vegetables), tangsuyuk, and either jajangmyeon or jjamppong; or cream shrimp, palbochae (eight-treasure stir-fry), and either jajangmyeon or jjamppong.

Lunch and dinner courses can be ordered for three or more people. The course selections looked quite good.

As you would expect from a Chinese-food specialist, the range was extensive: yusanseul, palbochae, and stir-fried seafood; chicken dishes such as kkangpunggi and yuringi, plus crab-meat soup; shrimp dishes including medium shrimp, cream shrimp, and fish-fragrant shiitake mushrooms; beef and pork dishes such as stir-fried tenderloin, dongpo pork, and guobaorou; and even sea cucumber and abalone dishes including soy sauce abalone, fish-fragrant abalone, and sea cucumber soup!

There were also plenty of standard meal options such as dim sum, jajangmyeon (black bean noodles), jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup), and rice bowls, so there was lots to choose from. There are lots of alcoholic drinks, too haha. Each table had as many as six seasonings, so you could add more to suit your taste—nice!

The basic side dishes were danmuji (pickled yellow radish) and jjajang (pickled mustard greens).

Shrimp har gow, mapo tofu rice, and pork loin tangsuyuk skewers

I ordered shrimp har gow, mapo tofu rice, and fresh pork loin tangsuyuk skewers. The portions were more generous than I expected. The tangsuyuk in particular comes with seven skewers, but they are large and thick, so it is quite a lot of food!

The shrimp har gow had fairly thick wrappers. When I bit in, I could feel the distinctive sticky-chewy texture of glutinous rice. The springy shrimp inside contrasted nicely with the wrapper, and it tasted clean and mild.

The mapo tofu rice came with a savory egg soup.

It felt a little different from the mapo tofu I am used to. There was a subtle mala fragrance, which made it distinctive. Still, the aroma was not strong, so it was easy to eat without being too intense; with rice, it mellowed out beautifully into a delicious full meal haha.

Fresh pork loin tangsuyuk skewers with butter sauce

The fresh pork loin tangsuyuk skewers were what I was looking forward to most. There were no fewer than seven big skewers. Seeing them in person, they were larger than I expected and really caught my eye!

The tangsuyuk sauce contains butter. I stirred it in while the sauce was warm to melt it, and it gave the sauce its own rich, soft flavor. Even though the meat was thick, it was tender rather than tough, and each bite was juicy all the way through. It was not burdensome to eat despite its size, and the batter was not thick, so I could really appreciate the texture of the meat. Quality pork loin tangsuyuk with no unwanted meat smell.

The sweet-and-tangy sauce gets a subtle buttery note, and coating the tangsuyuk generously in it was seriously memorable. It was so addictive that I kept reaching for more even when I was full! Baoro China is a great match when you are looking for a Chinese restaurant with a relaxed atmosphere.