Danyang ssambap eatery, sauce on the side for a toddler: Heukmaneul

Last weekend we went on a family trip to Danyang. Traveling with a 17-month-old, one of the big questions was always where and what to eat. Our baby is still on toddler food, so we avoid anything too salty or strongly seasoned, and when picking a restaurant I always end up checking whether there's something the baby can eat and whether a baby chair is available.

Today I want to share our lunch during the Danyang trip at Danyang Heukmaneul Ssambap, a restaurant near Gyeonggyeong Market, where we went with our 17-month-old.

What is Danyang Heukmaneul Ssambap, the black garlic restaurant near Gugyeong Market?

Danyang Heukmaneul Ssambap is a black garlic ssambap restaurant located at 9 Dojeon 2-ro, Danyang-eup, Danyang-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do — near Gyeonggyeong Market in Danyang and close to a free parking lot. Baby chairs are also available.

• Name: Danyang Heukmaneul Ssambap
• Address: 9 Dojeon 2-ro, Danyang-eup, Danyang-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea
• Baby chair available★★, close to free parking lot

Traveling with a baby on toddler food, the first thing I check is always whether there's a menu item the baby can eat. Since we're still careful with spicy or strongly seasoned food, I look for restaurants with meat or rice that isn't too salty and works for the baby too. I also wanted to try black garlic, a Danyang specialty, at a place where the baby could join in — that's how we ended up at Danyang Heukmaneul Ssambap.

A baby chair ready at the table

As soon as we walked in with our baby, they brought out a baby chair right away. The place wasn't huge, but the tables had a comfortable amount of space between them.

At 17 months old, our baby is more interested in looking around and moving than sitting still at a restaurant, so being able to sit them in a baby chair made the meal much easier for us. The tables weren't packed too close together either, so I worried less about disturbing the table next to us.

Black garlic boiled pork ssambap with the sauce served on the side

To share with our 17-month-old, we ordered the black garlic boiled pork ssambap. The menu also had black garlic stir-fried squid and black garlic pork ssambap.

And the really great part! They kindly served the black garlic sauce separately, so the adults could add sauce while the baby got plain boiled pork with no seasoning.

The side dishes weren't heavily seasoned either, so the baby could even have a little of the mushroom banchan (side dish). I put the black garlic sauce on my lettuce wrap and it was so much more delicious than I expected — I kept adding more sauce to every wrap haha.

How did the 17-month-old take to the black garlic rice?

Danyang Heukmaneul Ssambap serves black garlic rice by default. I was a bit worried whether the baby would eat it, but she ate it without any hesitation, much better than expected.

Maybe because we were traveling, she actually ate more rice than she usually does at home ^^ If you let them know ahead of time, they can swap it for multigrain rice, so if you're worried about the black garlic rice, that's good to know.

It was especially nice being able to eat meat and rice together. Instead of preparing separate baby food, we could just set aside portions from the adult dishes that the baby could eat, which made meals simpler during the trip. Above all, the boiled pork was so tender that the baby kept asking for more meat haha. In the end she ate so well that we ordered extra pork.

As a parent, seeing your baby eat well while traveling is honestly enough to make the whole day feel good. Thanks to this meal, our family had a solid lunch and could head off to the next spot on the trip.

Honest verdict after eating here with a 17-month-old

When planning where to eat in Danyang, there were four things we cared about most:

• Whether there's a menu the baby can eat
• Whether the food isn't too heavily seasoned
• Whether there's a baby chair
• Whether the whole family can eat comfortably together

On all those points, this visit to a restaurant near Gyeonggyeong Market in Danyang was satisfying, both in menu and in dining environment. What we liked most was having a baby chair ready, the black garlic sauce served separately so we could feed the baby, and how well she ate the pork and black garlic rice.

If you're looking for a restaurant near Gyeonggyeong Market in Danyang to eat at with a baby, I'd say it's well worth visiting with your little one, just like we did.