Solo dining in Cheongna: squid and pork stir-fry ₩11,000 at Sammi-jip

It really felt like fall had arrived today!!! The weather was so nice I wanted to get out, so I went looking for good restaurants in Cheongna and ended up at Sammi-jip's Cheongna branch! There are 4-5 parking spots right in front of the restaurant, so no worries about parking :)

Sammi-jip Cheongna hours and parking

Sammi-jip's Cheongna branch operates daily from 10:30 AM to 10:30 PM, with 4-5 parking spots in front. Sammi-jip is a well-known Korean BBQ restaurant in Cheongna, and its lunch special — available even on weekends — is really famous too 👍

The inside of this Cheongna Korean BBQ restaurant was much bigger than I expected, and surprisingly clean and well-kept for a grill place!

What's on the Sammi-jip menu, and which dishes come in single portions?

The Sammi-jip Cheongna menu includes osam-duruchigi (spicy squid and pork belly stir-fry) at ₩11,000, kimchi stew at ₩10,000, potato cheese pancake at ₩9,000, and more — single-portion dishes are available too. I ordered the osam-duruchigi.

• Sammi kimchi platter + doenjang stew — ₩73,000
• Osam-duruchigi (squid & pork stir-fry) — ₩11,000
• Kimchi stew — ₩10,000
• Potato cheese pancake — ₩9,000
• Minari pancake — ₩9,000
• Injeolmi ice cream — ₩5,000

This Cheongna Korean BBQ restaurant does single-portion menus! So there were quite a few solo diners around too!!

Self-serve side dish corner and one free fried egg per person

After ordering at Sammi-jip, you grab your own side dishes from the self-serve corner — a really wide variety, neatly kept, as you'd expect from a grill restaurant!

I'm ready to eat! They also gave one fried egg per person as a free extra!! 👏 👏 👏

Osam-duruchigi, ₩11,000: squid and pork belly grilled in the kitchen

Sammi-jip's osam-duruchigi (₩11,000) comes out already grilled and ready to eat. Here it is! Being able to dig in right away was so nice!! 👍

The second it arrived, that spicy-sweet sauce smell hit me and really got my appetite going!! 😃

First off, the squid was so plump and tender — passed the test! It wasn't chewy in a tough way, more bouncy and springy, and the pork belly had just the right amount of fat, getting more savory with every bite! Eating the two together, this place felt like heaven~~~~ 🌟

The sauce is honestly insane... it's not heavy or cloying, just spicy with a subtle sweetness trailing behind, so you keep reaching for more hahaha

Piled onto plain white rice with a bite of fried egg — ahhhh I want it again already ㅜㅜㅜㅜ

Potato cheese pancake, ₩9,000: the green chili is the kick

Sammi-jip's side dish, the potato cheese pancake, is ₩9,000 and comes with pepper mixed in. Here's the side dish — look at that visual hahahaha, look at all that cheese hahaha

But here's the kick — potato and cheese alone could get greasy, but they added pepper in there? That's the trick that makes it totally addictive!

The savory potato flavor mixed with the salty, soft richness of the cheese was more addictive than I expected!!! And it was even better warm, when the cheese was melted soft ❤️

Alternating a spicy bite of osam-duruchigi with a savory bite of potato cheese pancake made everything taste even better! 🍯

Also ordered a zero-sugar cola to cleanse the palate!

Injeolmi ice cream for dessert, free with the receipt review event

Sammi-jip's injeolmi (sweet rice cake powder) ice cream is ₩5,000, but you can get it free through their receipt review event. After finishing the meal I noticed they sell injeolmi ice cream as a side — my kid saw the visual and wanted it so badly I ordered it right away~~~

And wow, this was amazing too... generously loaded with vanilla ice cream and injeolmi, truly the best combo! Perfect for dessert!

You can get this free through the receipt review event, so don't order it separately like I did — write a review and get it free!!! hahaha

Is one order enough food for a solo diner?

Eating the osam-duruchigi and potato cheese pancake together, the portions were big enough that we couldn't even get to fried rice. It all tasted so good I cleaned my plate! I wanted to finish with fried rice but the portions were bigger than I thought and I felt like I'd burst, so I couldn't make it that far....ㅠㅠ Next time for sure!!!!

This Cheongna restaurant, Sammi-jip, is also famous for its grilled pork belly! Next time I'm definitely going for the pork belly!