Couple's lunch with extra ham at Seongsu budae jjigae: Songtan

Whenever I eat lunch near Seongsu Station, I find it's surprisingly hard to find a Korean restaurant that's reasonably priced and actually fills you up.

This time I visited Songtan Jindaegwang Budae Jjigae, and the ham portion was seriously generous, plus rice and side dishes were unlimited — a Seongsu Station spot I'd recommend to anyone looking for a hearty meal.

Location and parking for Songtan Jindaegwang Budae Jjigae near Seongsu Station

The place is near Seongsu Station, in a convenient spot for office workers to stop by for lunch or dinner.

If you have plans around Seongsu or work nearby and want Korean food, this is a good place to head to.

If you're driving, you can use the parking lot in front of the building.

But it's unavailable when full, so if you're planning to drive, it's worth checking parking availability before you go.

Inside the restaurant

Walking in, the overall vibe was clean and comfortable for a relaxed meal.

Rather than a flashy interior, it had a friendly feel — the kind of place you'd casually come to for budae jjigae without any pressure.

When I visited, it felt like a comfortable spot for lunch or dinner, and since you cook the budae jjigae right at the table, it made for a warm meal.

Overall it was tidy and well-kept, fitting well for office lunches or a casual meal near Seongsu Station.

A single menu of budae jjigae — what about the add-ins?

The first thing I noticed on the menu was that there's only one main dish: budae jjigae.

Instead of selling several types of stew, they run on a single-menu format, which made me think they must be confident in this dish.

Side dishes were limited to fried sundae (blood sausage) and pork cutlet, and the add-ins for the stew were simple too — just ham and ramen.

I liked that they didn't pad the menu with extras but focused entirely on the budae jjigae itself.

My husband and I ordered two servings of budae jjigae with extra ham and ramen noodles.

They apparently use premium-grade sausages as a base, and once we added the ham, the pot was seriously packed — the portion was genuinely huge.

When the food first arrived, I wondered if the two of us could even finish it.

How was the budae jjigae with extra ham?

The first thing that surprised me when the stew arrived was, again, the amount of ham.

I'd added ham, but the pot was almost entirely full of it, so every scoop with the ladle kept bringing up more ham and sausage.

I'm actually not a huge fan of ham or sausage.

At some budae jjigae places I've been to before, the salty, processed-meat taste of the ham was so strong that I'd stop reaching for it after a few pieces.

But the ham here tasted a bit different from what I expected.

Instead of just strong saltiness, there was a savory, clean flavor, so even I, who doesn't usually eat much ham, kept picking it up.

As several kinds of ham simmered together with the broth, the flavors melded in, and the soup itself felt much deeper and richer.

What I liked most was the broth.

It was spicy but also carried the savory flavor from the ham, which made it great for mixing with rice, and I kept coming back for spoonful after spoonful of the hot soup.

It works well as a hearty lunch, but eating it, I thought I would've wanted a shot of soju if I'd come for dinner instead.

Jin Ramen instead of the usual noodle add-in

I couldn't skip the ramen noodle add-in while eating budae jjigae, so I ordered that too — and it was unique that they give you Jin Ramen instead of the typical thin noodle add-in.

In the past, budae jjigae places usually served thin, generic instant noodles, but with actual Jin Ramen noodles it felt familiar yet soaked up the broth much better — more delicious to my taste.

By the time we finished cooking the ramen in, the two of us were genuinely stuffed.

We didn't get extra rice because of the ramen, but if you're eating the stew with rice instead of ramen, refilling the cha-jo-bap (millet rice) and mixing it into the broth would be great too.

At other budae jjigae places I've been, adding ham raised the price but I didn't always feel the portion actually changed much.

Here, the moment we got the pot with extra ham, the difference in quantity was obvious — 'generous' really fit.

Would I go back? Why I'm curious about dinner more than lunch

Looking for good places near Seongsu Station, if I need a filling Korean lunch, I'd come back here.

Especially if you've felt that one serving at other restaurants wasn't quite enough, being able to eat as much rice and side dishes as you want would be pretty satisfying too.

Next time, I'd like to visit for dinner rather than lunch. Eating the spicy, rich budae jjigae broth with ham and ramen kept making me crave a soju.

For a hearty lunch or a light drink with dinner, this is a good match for anyone looking for a solid spot near Seongsu Station.