Mala hot pot buffet in Songdo: meatballs & fenmozi, Sangsangcheom

I was craving hot pot so badly lately that I went looking for a place, and I heard there's a good one at Songdo Triple Street, so I rushed over. It's Sangsangcheom (상상첨)! I really love mala tang and hot pot, so I went in with huge expectations!!!

The joy of unlimited food~!

Can you order half-and-half broth at Sangsangcheom?

Yes, the Triple Street branch of Sangsangcheom lets you order half-and-half broth. Both of us love mala flavor, so we ordered just the one mala broth! The mala soup base at Sangsangcheom is seriously delicious, so we were very happy!!

How do you order meat, and which cut tasted best?

You don't go and get the meat yourself at Sangsangcheom. You order on a tablet and they slice it fresh and bring it over. There were three kinds of meat, and personally my favorite was the woojeon gaksal (우전각살, a lean beef cut).

It was nicely tender while still tasting properly of meat. The other meats were fine too, but to my taste the woojeon gaksal was clean, nutty and the most satisfying.

What's on the Sangsangcheom self-service bar?

The self-bar at Sangsangcheom isn't just about meat. The huge variety of skewers is its signature. Let me take a little tour of the self-bar first. One of the real reasons I loved Sangsangcheom is that you can eat such a wide range of ingredients as much as you like.

If you're looking for all-you-can-eat hot pot in Songdo, I think you'll be happy here. The skewer selection is so varied that just browsing was fun. The skewers were really impressive: lots of ingredients you rarely see at ordinary hot pot places, so I kept piling things onto my plate. Looking at the tables around us, lots of people were bringing back nothing but skewers, haha. If you like skewers, this is totally your thing!!

Mixing your own hot pot dipping sauce

I also liked that you can pick the ingredients and mix your own sauce to taste. Right in front there's even a big recipe for making a tasty sauce, which helped. I love cilantro, so being able to pile it on made me even happier, haha.

Gimmari, fries, guobaorou and dessert

It's not only hot pot. There's gimmari (fried glass noodle rolls), fries, and even fruit and ice cream, so the dessert setup was perfectly complete and I was honestly amazed haha. There's guobaorou (crispy sweet-and-sour pork) too! It tasted freshly made, crispy, warm and delicious haha.

Unlimited free drinks at Sangsangcheom

The surprising part is that drinks are unlimited at Sangsangcheom, so you can have all the Chinese black tea you want... and on top of that, the soft drinks are all free too...!

Is Sangsangcheom crowded at weekday lunch?

We visited the Triple Street branch of Sangsangcheom at weekday lunchtime and it was still packed. You could really feel how popular it is haha. I always bring back a full plate. Doesn't it just look incredibly delicious??

You can't quite see it, but there's sauce underneath and a generous pile of cilantro and cheongyang chili (spicy green chili) on top..!

How does the Sangsangcheom mala broth taste?

The mala broth at Sangsangcheom isn't just sharp and spicy; it has real depth, and the more ingredients I added, the better it tasted. I quickly dumped in all the vegetables. Looking at the photo, I want to eat it again T_T

What matters most in mala tang is the broth. I'm pretty serious about mala flavor. Mala tang is what I order most on delivery apps!! And the mala broth at Sangsangcheom was really, really good. Now I get why it's so full even on a weekday lunch.

The skewers all look alike, but every single one is different haha. That's part of the fun of eating them!

How were the meatballs, glass noodles and fenmozi?

The meatballs at Sangsangcheom were especially delicious, and the glass noodles and fenmozi (분모자, chewy konjac-style starch noodles) were cooked soft all the way through. If a meatball has even a slight frozen fishy taste, I never eat it, but all the meatballs here were really good!!!!

As someone who is really serious about mala tang... there's one thing I check: the state of the glass noodles and fenmozi. Some places serve them hard or oddly textured even after long boiling, but here they were really soft. The glass noodles were chewy yet tender and the fenmozi had absorbed the broth right through, so they were soft the whole meal and I was happy. This part is a total pass!!!

How long is the time limit at Sangsangcheom?

The Triple Street branch of Sangsangcheom has an 80-minute limit at weekday lunch and 100 minutes on weekends. I thought I'd finish quickly without even using up 80 minutes, but everything was so good and there was so much to eat that I filled the full 80 minutes.. hahaha. Also, there were lots of zero-sugar sodas, which I liked!

Is Sangsangcheom worth it for mala hot pot buffet in Songdo?

Dessert at the end was good too. If you're looking for a great hot pot place at Triple Street, I'd recommend Sangsangcheom as an all-you-can-eat hot pot spot in Songdo. If you like skewers or mala broth especially, you're very, very likely to be satisfied.

I'll go again next time I crave hot pot. Honestly, it was the best hot pot I've had lately. Recommending Sangsangcheom, all-you-can-eat hot pot in Songdo~~!!!