Nokbeon gimbap-and-sundaeguk spot open 7am with makgeolli: Samo

Hi everyone, it's Narung!

When it comes to Korean soul food, it's got to be guk-bap (soup with rice)! And among all the varieties, sundaeguk (blood sausage soup) is probably the most popular thanks to its hearty portions and variety of flavors.

Every neighborhood has its own famous sundaeguk spot, but if you don't yet know a good one in Eunpyeong-gu, I have a place to recommend. This time I'm introducing a Nokbeon-dong favorite that makes really good sundaeguk: Samo Sundaeguk Nokbeon!

Location and hours of Samo Sundaeguk Nokbeon

Samo Sundaeguk Nokbeon

• Location: 1F, 193 Eunpyeong-ro, Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: 07:00 – 22:00
• Parking: Not available

A sundaeguk restaurant open from 7am

The place I'm introducing this time is a sundaeguk favorite near the Eunpyeong-gu Office, open from 7am. It's a rare spot where you can get breakfast, lunch, and dinner all covered, which makes it a great option for people living alone who don't have the setup to make breakfast at home.

The restaurant stands alone as a detached building, and you have to go quite far in through the gate to reach it.

Inside the restaurant and the self-serve bar

The inside of Samo Sundaeguk Nokbeon is spacious, quiet, and even clean, which made it a really nice place to eat. Some guk-bap restaurants I've visited have fallen a bit short on hygiene, but I didn't need to worry about that at all here.

There's also a self-serve bar right at the entrance, so I could set up only what I wanted for my table setting, which I liked. It looked like two people could use it at the same time on either side.

Four kinds of sundaeguk on the menu

Samo Sundaeguk has four sundaeguk menu items depending on what meat goes into it. On top of that, they also sell sundae (blood sausage) and boiled pork on their own, as well as separate set menus.

There's no default table setting; instead, you can casually grab whatever you want from the self-serve bar. The diced radish kimchi really matched my taste and was so good.

Offal sundaeguk and assorted sundaeguk

I ordered the offal sundaeguk, packed with specialty cuts, and my wife ordered the assorted sundaeguk. The dishes came out pretty quickly after we ordered. You know how a fast turnaround is the best thing when you're hungry, right?

Probably because we ordered the special, the sundaeguk was loaded with meat. I liked that salt and salted shrimp were provided so I could season the broth to my own taste.

Making it spicy with dadaegi

You can also stir dadaegi (Korean chili paste) into the broth. I normally prefer clear sundaeguk, but I really enjoyed making it spicy this way. The tastiest sundaeguk is the kind where you don't need to dip the meat separately in salted shrimp — you just mix it right into your rice and eat it together. Samo Sundaeguk Nokbeon was exactly that kind of place.

A good seat for makgeolli or solo dining

Filling my hungry stomach with delicious sundaeguk and having a bowl of makgeolli made for a satisfying evening meal. It's a space that's plenty appealing for chatting away over a meal with someone you get along with, but it also seemed like a really good spot to enjoy on your own. Maybe because the sundaeguk was so good, the makgeolli went down smoothly. With all the meat in the soup, I felt it was more than enough to serve as a drinking snack too.

Would I go back? Final thoughts

This time I visited Samo Sundaeguk Nokbeon. Having Korean soul food sundaeguk with a bowl of makgeolli was just so good. I've visited various guk-bap restaurants in Eunpyeong-gu, but Samo Sundaeguk Nokbeon seemed to be one of the ones that really does sundaeguk exceptionally well.

It's not too far from home, so it's easy to walk to, and it's located near the Eunpyeong-gu Office, between Nokbeon, Bulgwang, and Yeokchon stations. Since they start business so early in the morning, it seems like a great place for breakfast before heading to work or school. I think I'll be a regular here too, dropping by for breakfast, lunch, or dinner whenever I have no appetite or don't feel like cooking.