Seafood pancake and solo window seats at Sindorim Sambaekga, Guro

A week after Hoodoong's eyelid surgery, we stopped by the eye clinic for a checkup, and it happened to line up with lunchtime — that's how we ended up at Sambaekga, the bossam spot in Sindorim I want to tell you about!

Sindorim Sambaekga hours, location and parking

Sindorim Sambaekga is a bossam and kalguksu place on the first floor of the Sindorim Purugio shopping complex. Hours are 11:00–21:40, with a weekday break time of 15:00–16:00, and there's no regular closing day. Parking is available, there are high chairs for kids, and while there's a wait around noon on weekdays, tables turn over fast.

Sambaekga, with its excellent bossam and kalguksu, is inside the Sindorim Purugio complex. If you're driving, you need to enter through the parking lot on the mall side. In the photo below, the rabbit-hole-shaped opening on the left is the entrance to the parking lot. 🐰

We parked on basement level 4 and took the mall elevator up to the first floor. Sambaekga stands out among all the restaurants and coffee shops. The photo doesn't show a line, but there was a wait the whole time, from when we walked in until we left.

We came with a kid, and the staff were so kind to us — really appreciated that. 🙏

The 'Sambaek Special Points' written on the standing sign turned out to be no exaggeration! Spoiler alert: the bossam was moist and the kalguksu broth was light yet full of savory depth. The fresh kimchi had just the right kick to go with the bossam and noodles.

Free barley rice and the kimchi self-bar

Sindorim Sambaekga's self-bar has fresh kimchi, young radish kimchi, and barley rice. There used to be a lot of kalguksu places that gave you barley rice with gochujang and sesame oil as a free service, but that's rare these days. I was so happy to see it that I wanted to eat a huge bowl right away, but I held back to save room for the main meal. Hehe — mixed with the young radish kimchi, it was honey-sweet.

We went during weekday lunch, and there seemed to be a lot of kalguksu customers, with a fair number of bossam eaters too.

Window solo seats and a back room for 12

There are solo seats by the window for eating alone. The glass has a frosted film on it so no one outside can see you eating by yourself — you can slurp away to your heart's content. Imagined-meal mode: on.

Further inside there was a slightly cozier area. It's not huge, but it looked like it could handle a group of around 12.

How to order: tablet or table QR code

You can order food using the tablet on the table or by scanning the QR code stuck to the table.

When we ordered, I had no idea how much food was coming... dish after dish just kept appearing, endlessly. @_@ This is the fresh kimchi and young radish kimchi from the self-bar. I heard they make it themselves, so I was tempted to load up, but since you shouldn't leave leftovers, I only took as much as I could finish.

While waiting for the food, I looked around at the other customers enjoying their meals. Peeking at what other people are eating — a little shameless of me, haha.

Cold jokbal salad comes as a free side

After a short wait, the basic side dishes came out quickly. Something like a cold jokbal (pig's feet) salad appeared as a side dish, and at first it looked so impressive I thought it was the main bossam. I was a little startled that a 'main dish' portion would be so small — but then remembered it wasn't the main at all, and it turned out to be very much my taste, which surprised me all over again. Tangy, with a bit of a kick, and the meat was nutty and rich — a great combination.

Bossam and kalguksu set served on a gas burner

Here's the bossam that showed up as the main. The regular bossam set comes on a plate, but our bossam+kalguksu set came on a gas burner like this, so it stayed warm and tender all the way through the meal!

I tried it with salted shrimp, then with chives, then with fresh kimchi — and honestly couldn't pick a favorite, they were all delicious. First off, the bossam had no off smell and was tender. And it wasn't like they'd overloaded it with seasoning or aromatics just to mask any smell either.

We also ordered rice with seaweed flakes for our kid, but since we'd stuffed her with snacks before heading to lunch, it all ended up as my rice. Meanwhile, she somehow still managed to demolish the meat and noodles like magic. Even our little one loves Sambaekga's bossam.

Seafood pancake: thick and packed with seafood

At some places, ordering a pancake gets you disappointing, flour-heavy results. Sambaekga's seafood pancake was thick and crispy, and packed full of fillings. As someone who could eat ten pancakes at home instead of rice (a self-proclaimed 'pancake fiend'), I was very happy.

Fresh hand-cut kalguksu worth one more bite

The last dish was the kalguksu. The clear broth looks like it might not have much flavor, but with every sip there was a deep savoriness. It wasn't the kind that gets old, and it wasn't bland either — even though I was already stuffed, I kept taking one more bite. The noodles were freshly cut too, so they had a nice chew without being tough. My dad said he was full too, but kept going back for more of the pancake and noodles anyway.

If my office were near Sindorim Station, I'd probably come to Sambaekga often just for the kalguksu at lunch. Whenever I thought of gathering in Sindorim before, I'd only think of restaurants in D-Cube City — but now I'm planning to gather at Sambaekga instead. Next time, I'm getting the jokbal (pig's feet). 🤤