Gangneung Korean restaurant with tablet ordering: Saimdang Bueok

A September trip to Gangwon-do to enjoy the cool Gangneung sea. There's always so much to eat in Gangwon-do, and this time it was Saimdang Bueok — a Korean set-meal spot close to Gangneung Jungang Market and near Ojukheon and the Gangneung Arte Museum, both popular stops, making it a great pick for a family trip. Here's my review after filling up on hearty homemade side dishes!

Traveling always means parking matters too, and this place has plenty of space, so it's easy to visit even as a big family gathering or group trip with 2-3 cars. Anyone looking for a good restaurant near Ojukheon should keep this Gangneung spot on their radar.

Where is Saimdang Bueok, and is there parking? 3 minutes from Ojukheon

Saimdang Bueok is a 3-minute walk from Ojukheon, and there's a large parking lot right in front, so parking is plenty easy. If you see the "Matdeurin" sign pillar, you've found the right place — don't worry! Matdeurin and Saimdang Bueok are actually the same restaurant, so if you want a hearty Korean set meal, just head into the Saimdang Bueok side.

Seating and ordering at Saimdang Bueok: 4- and 8-person tables, tablet ordering

Saimdang Bueok has 4-person and 8-person tables, comfortable for families or groups. Ordering and payment happen through the tablet at the table. Tables are covered with disposable plastic sheeting, so cleanup is quick — even if there's a wait, tables clear fast and you get seated without much delay, which is great for family visits.

Saimdang Bueok menu: Ojukheon Bapsang and Saimdang Hanjang

The menu is set up as full-table spreads: the basic Ojukheon Bapsang and the more varied Saimdang Hanjang. Each set must be ordered for a minimum of 2 people, so match your party size to an even number. The Saimdang Hanjang lets you choose between Gangneung Chodang sundubu (soft tofu) or miyeokguk (seaweed soup), which makes it one of the most popular options.

If you're visiting with kids, donkatsu is an easy add-on, and you can also add grilled scallops and other side dishes for an even richer spread. Even without extras the table comes out generously full, so I'd recommend eating first and adding on as you go.

Participating in a receipt review gets you a free drink, so if you're planning to order one anyway, it's worth doing. Since ordering is by tablet, just ask a staff member if you want to join the review — they'll kindly walk you through it.

The homemade banchan: doenjang cucumber peppers and sukhoe are the best

We ordered the Saimdang Hanjang, and the side dishes just kept coming! Everything at Saimdang Bueok is made in-house, so it has that home-cooked feel, and each banchan (side dish) is distinct enough that you end up polishing off a bowl of them before the main dishes even arrive.

If I had to pick the best of the bunch, it'd be the doenjang-tossed cucumber peppers, the butter grilled scallops, and the sukhoe (blanched seafood) — the sukhoe practically melts in your mouth, and even though I don't usually go for cucumber peppers, the doenjang was so good and refreshingly crisp that I kept reaching for more.

Saimdang Hanjang for two: grilled flounder and jeyuk bokkeum

The Saimdang Hanjang comes with grilled flounder and jeyuk bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork). The flounder is dusted lightly with curry powder and grilled to a crisp surface, crunchy outside and moist inside. The jeyuk bokkeum had firm, substantial meat with softly cooked onions — less artificial heat, more of that clean flavor unique to domestic gochugaru (chili powder).

My other half chose the miyeokguk, and the broth was deeply simmered and rich, with the seaweed so soft it just slides right into your mouth with each slurp.

Chodang sundubu: savory enough without soy sauce

Come to Gangneung, you've got to have Chodang sundubu! I ordered the sundubu, and since it's made in-house, there's even a spot near the register where you can grab soybean pulp — so the tofu itself is done really well too. It's seasoned just right by default, so it's savory, softly curdled, warm and delicious even without adding soy sauce, with absolutely no beany off-flavor.

Best eaten with a scoop of the doenjang cucumber peppers on top! Each spoonful of sundubu felt dense and satisfying, and eating it with the broth was easy on the stomach and filling — I mostly ate sundubu instead of rice.

The flounder also had substantial flesh — even after picking out the bones, there was still a nice chunk of meat left, plenty for two to share. The curry flavor wasn't overpowering; rather than tasting like a curry fish, it felt more like the curry just took the edge off the fish's smell, so the flounder's own moist texture still came through.

The jeyuk bokkeum had such substantial meat too! Jeyuk and miyeokguk is a never-fail Korean soul food combo, and the flounder paired really well with the sundubu — all the different side dishes just clicked together.

Steamed cabbage also came as a standard side, and wrapping it around the jeyuk bokkeum with a bit of Saimdang Bueok's doenjang on top pulled off that hard-to-achieve combo of healthy and delicious.

And just like that, we cleaned our plates. We'd already eaten various things at Gangneung Jungang Market beforehand, so I worried we wouldn't be able to eat much — but that worry disappeared fast, since the side dishes were so clean and well made. We kept saying "oh this is good, that's good too" as we worked through it, and before we knew it, everything was gone.

Final verdict: who should eat at Saimdang Bueok?

Saimdang Bueok, a restaurant near Ojukheon in Gangneung, served up a great variety of clean, well-made side dishes that made for a really enjoyable meal. It's good for family or group visits, and since you can enjoy Gangneung's famous sundubu as part of a full set, it's a perfect fit for anyone craving Korean food on a Gangneung trip, or traveling with parents. Saimdang Bueok is also popular with locals, so lunchtime peak hours saw a lot of visitors — but the side dishes came out fast and tables cleared quickly, so we never had to wait long, and the turnover was nice and fast.

It fits neatly into a Gangneung Jungang Market → Ojukheon → Gyeongpodae travel route too, making it a convenient stop along the way. If you're looking for a good Korean restaurant in Gangneung, go have a hearty set meal at Saimdang Bueok!