Guui Station pork belly restaurant with self-serve greens: Ssamchae

What kind of place is Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal near Guui Station?

Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal is a pork belly BBQ restaurant on Jayang-ro in Gwangjin, near Guui Station. On this visit I ordered pork belly and pork skin, and grabbed wrap greens and side dishes from the self-bar.

These days when I go for samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly), the taste of the meat matters, but so does having a good variety of wrap greens and side dishes to go with it. The self-bar was right there as soon as I walked in, so I was already excited haha.

Here's the location — if you're hunting for a good Guui Station restaurant, it shouldn't be hard to find! Inside, the space was much bigger than I expected. Lots of tables too, so it looked great for eating with friends or visiting as a bigger group.

Once we were seated, the basic side dishes were set out for us right away.

What is on the self-serve greens and side dish bar?

One of the biggest features of Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal is the self-bar. If any side dish ran low, we could just grab more ourselves. I wandered over to check it out while waiting for the meat, and there were way more options than I expected hahaha. Several of my favorite side dishes were there too.

If you like wrapping your pork belly in lettuce and other greens, you'll really like it here. There was a wide range of wrap greens, so we could mix and match whatever combination we felt like that day.

Ordering pork belly and pork skin at Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal

Here's the menu — this time I ordered pork belly and pork skin!

Honestly, whenever I go to a samgyeopsal place, I agonize over the menu and end up ordering pork belly anyway haha. And I feel like the meal isn't complete unless I finish with pork skin, so I ordered that too.

Staff grill the pork belly at your table

After a short wait, the meat finally arrived!! Doesn't it look delicious just from the photo...? And here's what I loved most — the staff grill it for you!!

Timing matters when grilling pork belly, right? Flip it too soon and it's disappointing, but keep watching it too closely and you can't even have a proper conversation. Here, the staff grilled it for us, so we could relax and wait comfortably. So I sat there patiently watching the meat cook to a nice color haha. Watching the pork belly slowly turn golden brown just made me hungrier, ugh. When it was finally done and I tried it, it was just as delicious as expected!!

Golden and crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside — exactly the kind of pork belly I like. Eating it together with the wrap greens from the self-bar made the combination even better. I'd put a piece of meat on a lettuce leaf with a little garlic and side dishes, or sometimes just dip the meat plain in salt haha. With so many types of wrap greens, even though it was the same pork belly, it was fun switching up the combinations.

Doenjang jjigae, the stew you order with pork belly

And there's one dish I absolutely cannot skip when eating samgyeopsal, right?? Doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew)!!

Taking a spoonful of doenjang jjigae in between bites of meat is seriously so good, ugh. It went great with rice, and paired well with the pork belly too.

While eating, I noticed autographs from celebrities all over the restaurant haha. It seems a lot of celebrities have stopped by, which felt kind of surprising and cool.

Finishing with chewy grilled pork skin

Places that have been loved near Guui Station for a long time really do have their reasons!! After eating my fill of pork belly, I finished things off properly with the pork skin I'd ordered. Pork skin's charm is its chewy texture, which makes it the perfect closing dish after samgyeopsal. After finishing both the pork belly and the pork skin, I was genuinely stuffed hahaha.

Who is this Gwangjin pork belly restaurant best for?

I liked that Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal has a spacious dining room and a great variety of side dishes and wrap greens at the self-bar, and above all, having the staff grill the meat made the meal really easy to enjoy. If you're searching for a Guui Station restaurant and love pork belly, it's worth a visit at least once.

It's a comfortable spot for grabbing pork belly with friends, and the atmosphere works well for a bigger group ordering all sorts of dishes too! I walked out that day having eaten really well haha. I'm not sure why samgyeopsal always makes me this happy afterward...🤭 If you're looking for a place to eat meat near Guui Station, give Ssamchae Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal a try!!