Gimbap restaurant in Songpa, Seoul: filling vegetable keto gimbap

I’ve been looking for a great keto gimbap spot while trying to lose weight lately, and I stopped by Jamsil Cheotjip (잠실첫집), where I got to try a seriously well-filled roll.

Location and parking at Jamsil Cheotjip near Jamsilsaenae Station

Jamsil Cheotjip is in the Trizium shopping arcade near Jamsilsaenae Station; just head down to the first basement level.

You can use the Trizium shopping arcade parking lot, with 1 hour 30 minutes of free parking. Turn left at the west gate of Trizium Apartments to reach the arcade parking lot, and make sure—really!!—to ask the staff to register your parking.

A menu of gimbap, noodles, and more

The Jamsil Cheotjip menu leads with gimbap (seaweed rice rolls), alongside noodles, handmade dumpling soup, bibimbap, and pork cutlet. There are also can’t-miss snack-food combos: gimbap with tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), and gimbap with anchovy noodles!

Inside the restaurant, from solo meals to groups of four

The restaurant felt clean and neatly arranged, with a white-toned interior, wooden tables, and wooden chairs!

I went after 1 p.m., a little past lunchtime, and it was still full of people eating in and picking up takeout. It really felt like a popular gimbap spot around Jamsilsaenae! Luckily, food comes out quickly and tables turn over fast, so I don’t think there is usually a long wait.

There was such a variety of seating, from counter seats that are perfect for eating alone to tables for two, though I couldn’t get a photo of those.

There are tables for four too, so you can choose a seat according to your group size!

The origins of the ingredients are posted on the wall, and I liked that almost all of them are sourced in Korea.

How to order at the kiosk and collect your food

There is a kiosk at the front of the restaurant, so you can comfortably look through the menu, decide, and pay right there! Be sure to keep your receipt, because they call out your order number later.

When the order bell on the wall dings and your number appears,

just go to the counter and collect your food!

Vegetable keto gimbap with egg strips instead of rice

I ordered the vegetable keto gimbap for ₩7,000! I had planned to add anchovy noodles if the gimbap wasn’t enough, but in the end I was so full that I couldn’t order them.

Doesn’t the gimbap look so pretty? This keto gimbap is generously filled with egg strips, with anchovy broth served alongside in case it feels dry going down, plus plenty of pickled radish. It is exactly the kind of complete spread that is great for solo diners!

Instead of rice, the vegetable keto gimbap contains egg strips, with finely chopped cucumber, carrot, beet pickled radish, and burdock root packed generously inside.

I started with the end piece, and this one roll was so huge that when I put it in my mouth all at once, I thought my mouth was going to burst. The filling was packed so tightly inside that it was honestly hard to eat!

What I loved most was the egg strips. I’d had plenty of regular rice-filled gimbap before, but this was my first keto gimbap. The egg strips were fluffy and soft, and because they are lower in calories and higher in protein than rice, I really recommend this to anyone dieting who still wants to feel full..

Whenever my throat felt a little dry, I sipped the anchovy broth. Since this is a place that serves noodles too, it was a rich, deeply savory broth just like the kind used for anchovy noodles. I kept sipping it—it would have felt disappointing without it!

There is also an explanation of the gimbap on the restaurant wall, listing the ingredients in each roll in an easy-to-see way. It could be helpful if you have a hard time choosing!

Apparently, pickled radish is not as fattening as you might think because its sweetness comes from saccharin rather than sugar. So I tried putting it on top of the gimbap, and it was still so delicious.

Since I love sweet pickled radish, I piled lots of it onto the last few pieces of gimbap and popped them right into my mouth!

There is even a bench outside where you can sit while waiting for a table or a takeout order, so I think you can come without worrying too much about a wait.