Setting out for Yongsan Station to catch the next train to Jeonju, we walked right into the unmistakable smell of the Grilled Fish Alley. Dak-hanmari and Grilled Fish Alley mostly overlap and can be called by either name interchangeably depending on what you're there to eat.
Each time I make a trip down this alley for some good fish-fry or chicken, I see the sajangnim of Songjeong Sikdang quietly practicing his craft outside his restaurant. And as anticipated, he was there today. Flanked by piles of grilled mackerel and containers of pork, the sajangnim stood at his grilling station flipping a gridiron full of meat over a charcoal fire. The restaurant is as famous for its smokey bul-kko-ji (불꼬지/charcoal grilled pork bulgogi) as it is for its grilled geodeungeo (mackerel) and samchi (Spanish mackerel). The restaurant uses the term 'cho-beol-gui' (초벌구이) to describe how the bulkkoji is grilled before it is finished over a charcoal fire to give it its beloved smokey flavor.
Nothing on the menu exceeds 8,000 won (about $7.00), including the bulkkoji baekban which generously comes with a plate of the smokey pork, a fried egg, kimchi, soondubu jjigae, a bowl of rice, and shredded radish, lettuce, ssamjang, and raw garlic for ssam. Another popular dish is the kimchi-odeng bokkeum.
Seating is very limited at Songjeong Sikdang (four, two-person tables on the ground floor and a few more squeezed into the attic), so you might have to wait on line if you go during peak lunch hours. The turnover is pretty quick though.
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