COEX mall restaurant with a self-serve banchan bar: Obongjip Samseong

This weekend I took my kid to COEX to hang out haha. We had a blast checking out exhibitions and shopping, and before we knew it we were getting hungry, so we started wondering what to have for lunch!

After looking around at nearby restaurants, I ended up at 'Obongjip Samseong Branch' — it's a COEX favorite and also a chain, so I'd seen a lot of reviews and was curious haha. After playing around COEX to our heart's content, walking there only took about 5 minutes, so the accessibility was really great! The walk was short enough that moving around with my kid wasn't a problem at all haha.

So~ today's post is about our visit to Obongjip Samseong Branch, which won our family over with a generous spread!

Where is Obongjip Samseong Branch, and what are its hours and parking?

Obongjip Samseong Branch is at 62 Teheran-ro 81-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 1F — about a 13-minute walk from Samseong Station Exit 5, and 5 minutes from COEX. Hours are weekdays 11:00–22:00 (break time 14:30–17:00) and weekends 11:30–22:00 (break time 15:00–16:00, last order 21:30).

There were cars parked along the street, but there's no designated parking space, so I'd recommend public transit! (Getting a ticket would be so upsetting...)

What Obongjip Samseong Branch looks like from the street

After about a 5-minute walk from COEX, chatting away, the clean, big 'Obongjip' sign caught our eye from a distance haha. There were lots of colorful standing signs and banners in front of the store, so it was fun to slowly browse the menu before going in! There were mouth-watering photos everywhere, from the bossam set to the fire-grilled octopus stir-fry haha.

Especially if you visit on a weekday for lunch, you can get the 'lunch special' at a much better price, and rice and side dishes come with unlimited refills — sounds like heaven for office workers in the area!

Seating inside and how kid-friendly Obongjip Samseong Branch is

Walking into Obongjip Samseong Branch, the overall atmosphere was spacious and cozy! There were more than 10 clean four-person tables set up generously as the base seating.

There was a separated area on one side with more tables — here there were 2 more four-person tables plus a group seating area! With space and rooms accommodating up to 75 people, it seemed perfect for company dinners, club gatherings, or family meals out haha.

Another thing I really liked was that there's a restroom inside the store! With a kid, having to go far during a meal is tough, so restroom location matters a lot haha.

On the table, the order tablet was neatly set up along with a sesame oil bottle giving off a nutty aroma, plus tongs, scissors, and a rice paddle.

Event perks worth claiming at Obongjip Samseong Branch

And there were so many great event perks worth grabbing!

• Write a Naver review: get to try a nostalgic no-lose draw event!
• Naver receipt review + save: free crispy, savory 'fried chili peppers'!
• Naver notification coupon: get a coupon for the fluffy, delicious 'bomb egg steamed dish'!

Also, in one corner of the store, there was a thoughtful setup for customers — a charger, of course, but also toothpicks, hair ties, and even floss, all free to use. Little touches like these really warm a customer's heart haha.

The lunch special prices are amazing! I want to come back for lunch haha. If my office were nearby, I'd visit all the time during lunch hour!!

What comes with the Obongjip Special set?

I ordered Obongjip's signature dish, the 'Obongjip Special'!

After a short wait, a charmingly retro round tray arrived, loaded with warm seaweed soup and a generous 9 neatly arranged banchan (side dishes). White kimchi, seasoned radish strips, bean sprouts — all perfect to pair with the main dishes haha.

How the self-serve banchan bar refills work

There's a self-serve bar on one side of the store! You can freely refill any of the banchan and soup from the tray at the self-serve bar, and especially during lunch, rice is unlimited too — I couldn't help but say 'wow' haha. (Asking for more Vienna sausages usually feels awkward, but since they're at the self-serve bar my kid loved it!)

A little while later, the main dishes we'd been waiting for started filling up the table one by one haha.

1. Tender, juicy Obong bossam (boiled pork with wraps)

Even though it's the bossam (boiled pork belly) that comes with a set, the portion was surprisingly generous — as much as an à la carte order! The meat had a soft, tender grain with no gamey smell at all, staying juicy — even eaten plain it was pure, clean flavor!

Piling on a little of the crunchy, sweet-and-spicy bossam kimchi and dried radish strips that came alongside made it two, no, three times more delicious! My kid, saying it wasn't dry at all, ate it up happily too.

2. Smoky, spicy fire-grilled octopus stir-fry and bibimbap

The moment the plate arrived, the subtle charred aroma made me gasp — the octopus stir-fry! It was packed generously with octopus, and being fire-grilled, it was chewy without being tough at all, with an impressively soft texture haha. The addictively sweet-and-spicy sauce soaked all the way into the octopus, so I couldn't put my chopsticks down.

★ Pro tip for enjoying the fire-grilled octopus properly! Scoop warm rice into a bowl from the self-serve bar, cut the plump octopus stir-fry into bite-sized pieces, add bean sprouts and roasted seaweed flakes, drizzle generously with the sesame oil on the table, and mix it all together!

The nutty aroma of sesame oil, the spicy octopus, and the crunchy bean sprouts come together into the best bibimbap (mixed rice bowl) — every bite made me go 'wow.' I really recommend trying it this way!

3. Sweet, tangy jaengban makguksu to cool the spice

The colorful toppings on the makguksu (buckwheat cold noodles) caught my eye right away — a generous pile of cabbage, perilla leaves, roasted seaweed flakes, and egg! Mixing it all together and taking a big bite, the noodles had a nice crunch from the fresh vegetables, and the tangy, sweet, spicy sauce was so appealing! That familiar-but-still-addictive umami, you know what I mean? Wrapping the noodles around some bossam meat and eating them together upgrades the flavor twice over!!

Was the Obongjip Special enough for 2 adults and 1 child?

There were two adults and one kid in our group, and even though my husband usually eats a lot, the portion was so generous he kept saying he was full, he was full! It seems like a solid enough spread that even three adults could eat comfortably and still feel satisfied!

After finishing our delicious, filling meal, we wrapped things up refreshingly with a cool, sweet cup of plum juice provided by the restaurant on the way out. It felt like it washed everything down perfectly, and it was satisfying right to the very end haha.

Final verdict on Obongjip Samseong Branch for a family lunch

COEX favorite Obongjip Samseong Branch had all three things going for it — generous portions, great taste, and value for money! I'd genuinely, wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking for a meal after a day out at COEX or a date, or anyone deciding on a spot for a company dinner or gathering near Samseong Station.

I never knew Obongjip was this good until now~! I keep thinking about the smoky flavor of the octopus stir-fry and the tender bossam, so I think I'll be back again haha. If you're ever near COEX, be sure to stop by and try the special taste of the Obongjip Special!