Doenjang stew refills at a Paju ssambap restaurant: Simhaksan

Fresh wrap greens and sticky pot rice — Simhaksan is a great ssambap spot for a filling, satisfying meal.

Where is Simhaksan Deulkkot Ssambap, and when is it open?

• Location: 55-10 Dolgoji-gil, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:00
• Weekday break time: 15:30–17:00
• Parking available
• Baby chair available

Ordering the deuljeongsik set for two

If you're heading out to Mount Simhaksan in Paju and looking for a hearty meal, I recommend Deulkkot Ssambap! We visited with my husband and ordered the deuljeongsik set for two.

True to a ssambap restaurant, dish after dish started filling up the table once we ordered — and the spread was way more generous than I expected.

What comes with the set, from pumpkin porridge on

First came warm pumpkin porridge, followed by various banchan (side dishes), doenjang stew (soybean paste soup), pork stir-fry and squid stir-fry. There were so many kinds of banchan that it was fun trying them one by one.

Sometimes places have plenty of banchan but they're not that appealing — here, though, everything tasted great, haha. I kept reaching for more without even thinking about it.

How fresh are the ssam wrap greens?

Personally, what I liked most was the variety of fresh vegetables. The pork stir-fry and squid stir-fry taste great over rice, but wrapping them in greens as ssam made them even better.

With the seasoning from the meat and squid stir-fry paired with fresh vegetables, I kept making one wrap after another. If you're someone who loves ssam greens, this is definitely something you'll appreciate.

So I thought this would be a good recommendation for anyone looking for a hansik (Korean set-meal) restaurant near Mount Simhaksan, or a good place to eat in Paju in general.

Refilling the doenjang stew

One thing I quietly appreciated was that the doenjang stew is refillable. There's a certain magic to having plenty of stew when you're eating Korean food — it makes you feel content, haha.

Between bites of pork stir-fry and squid stir-fry, a spoonful of the savory doenjang stew went well with the rice too. Since you can get more whenever you need it, we never felt short until the very end.

Sticky pot rice, plus one extra bowl of rice

The pot rice was also quite impressive. The portion was generous, and the rice itself felt really sticky and chewy. It tasted so good that even just one side dish on top kept us eating more. We thought the pot rice alone would be enough, but the banchan was so tasty that we ended up ordering an extra bowl of rice.

Even sharing between the two of us, we still ended up adding more rice. I think this is a great Paju restaurant to visit on a day you really want to eat a proper meal.

Free ice cream after the meal

After we finished eating, ice cream was ready for dessert.

Thanks to that, we didn't need to find a separate café afterward — meal and dessert taken care of in one visit. Eating a hearty meal and finishing with sweet ice cream was really nice too. Especially if you're visiting as a family, kids would love this part.

Is the deuljeongsik set worth it for two?

Overall, the food quality was solid and the spread was generous, making for a satisfying meal.

From pumpkin porridge to a variety of banchan and wrap greens, pork stir-fry, squid stir-fry, doenjang stew and sticky pot rice, the composition was quite substantial. What stood out most was that the banchan was tasty enough to make us order extra rice. If you're looking for a hansik restaurant near Mount Simhaksan and want to enjoy a variety of ssam greens and side dishes, or if you're searching for a good restaurant in Paju, I highly recommend Deulkkot Ssambap.

If you want a proper Korean meal after a walk near Mount Simhaksan, followed by ice cream all in one stop, Simhaksan Deulkkot Ssambap is the place!