I lifted the lid off my sotbap, rice cooked in its own little pot, and there was a sheet of kelp lying on top.
This is Baekkopjip in Sangam-dong, near Digital Media City in western Seoul. I ordered the beef tripe soup, and it came with rice cooked to order in its own small pot. We were a group of four, so a plate of dumplings came out on the house.
And once you’ve scooped the rice out of that pot, you pour water into it and it turns into a toasty scorched-rice tea to finish the meal.
There’s more to do at this table than at most. It was the first meal like this I’d had in Sangam, so here it is, in order.
Before you go
It’s on the second floor. Baekkopjip is inside the Savoy City DMC building, up the central staircase. You won’t find it walking around the ground floor, and first-timers often don’t.
Parking is free. In Sangam, that matters.
The break is two hours: 3pm to 5pm. A late lunch won’t work.
Sotbap: there’s an order to it
Sotbap (솥밥, SOHT-bahp) is rice cooked to order in its own small pot. Here it isn’t a separate order; it comes with your meal.
It arrives as a small cast-iron pot with a glass lid, sitting on a wooden stand. You can see the kelp through the lid before you open it.
Here’s how to eat it.
① Lift the lid and take off the kelp. There are two or three pieces of dasima (dried kelp, DAH-shee-mah) on top. They went in with the rice, so they’re soft by now. Lift them off with your spoon.
② Move all the rice into your bowl. There’s a separate bowl for it. Empty the pot completely. The next step doesn’t work unless the pot is empty.
③ Look at the bottom of the pot. With the rice gone, you’ll see a golden layer stuck to the bottom. That’s nurungji (누룽지, NOO-roong-jee), scorched rice.
④ Pour in water. Pour water from the kettle into the pot. The crust loosens and the water turns into sungnyung (숭늉, SOONG-nyoong), a nutty scorched-rice tea. Leave it while you eat and it does the rest on its own.
⑤ Finish with the sungnyung. After the soup, spoon up the sungnyung. It clears your mouth, and there are soft bits of crust floating in it to chew on.
The key is getting the rice out first. Leave it in the pot and eat from there, and you won’t get any sungnyung.
Why put kelp on rice?
I wondered while I was eating, so I looked it up.
The savoury taste in kelp comes from glutamate. In 1908, a Japanese chemist named Kikunae Ikeda pulled this compound out of kelp broth and gave its taste a name: umami. MSG came out of that same work a year later.
When kelp sits on rice while it cooks, that glutamate goes into the cooking water, and the rice soaks it up. That’s why sotbap made this way tastes rounder and more savoury on its own, without salt.
You can do this at home tonight. Put one piece of dried kelp on top of the rice before you cook it, and take it out when the rice is done. It works in a rice cooker too.
The beef tripe soup
Yang gomtang (양곰탕, YAHNG gohm-tahng) is a beef soup made with yang, the rumen, which is the first of a cow’s stomachs.
Here it arrives in a small one-person hot pot, with a whole handful of garlic chives laid on top and big chunks of green onion underneath. The chives wilt as it boils.
The broth is red. I didn’t stir in any chili paste; it comes that way. If you’re picturing the clear, milky gomtang most places serve, this is different. It’s the spicy kind.
There’s plenty in it: meat on the bone and tripe together. When you lift the tripe out with your spoon you can see its grain. It’s white and thick, and it chews springy and firm, nothing like the offal you get in pork soups.
The broth is generous, so I tipped my sotbap rice straight into it.
Free dumplings, with one condition
This was the part I didn’t expect.
Five dumplings came out neatly on a plate. We hadn’t ordered them.
Cut one open and the inside is green. They’re mostly garlic chives and tofu, with thin wrappers and a full filling.
The condition: you need four or more people. Go as two and you won’t get them. If you’ve got the choice, it’s a reason to bring the group.
The side dishes
- Gim (roasted seaweed, GIM), cut into squares, for wrapping rice
- Baechu kimchi (napa cabbage kimchi, BEH-choo GIM-chee)
- Kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi, KKAHK-doo-gee), juicy
- Fish cake and tofu, braised in soy
- Two sauces: one soy-based, one red chili paste
Not many dishes, but all of them clean. Korean restaurants refill these for free, so ask if you run out.
A little rice on a square of seaweed with a dab of sauce worked surprisingly well. The soup is red and spicy, and a seaweed wrap now and then resets your mouth.
The menu
| Menu | Price | USD |
|---|---|---|
| Yang gomtang (beef tripe soup) | ₩15,000 | ~$11.20 |
| Galbi yang gomtang (with short ribs) | ₩18,000 | ~$13.40 |
| Premium galbitang (short rib soup) | ₩18,000 | ~$13.40 |
| Pyongyang naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles, NENG-myun) | ₩13,000 | ~$9.70 |
| Bibim naengmyeon (cold noodles in chili sauce) | ₩13,000 | ~$9.70 |
| Hanu doenjang (Korean beef soybean-paste stew) | ₩13,000 | ~$9.70 |
Lunch sets
| Menu | Price | USD |
|---|---|---|
| Chamgalbi set (marinated short rib) | ₩29,000 | ~$21.60 |
| Hanu jumulleok set (Korean beef, hand-marinated) | ₩39,000 | ~$29.10 |
At ₩15,000, the tripe soup comes with the sotbap and the sungnyung. That’s a lot for the price. But the price itself is above an average Sangam lunch, which I’ll come back to.
They do Pyongyang naengmyeon too, at ₩13,000. That’s my reason to come back in summer.
What I didn’t love
① It’s pricey. The food is good, but it costs more than most places nearby. Compare one bowl of soup with another in the same neighbourhood:
| Restaurant | Dish | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Baekam Sundaechon | Sundae gukbap | ₩11,000 (~$8.20) |
| Baekkopjip | Yang gomtang | ₩15,000 (~$11.20) |
That’s ₩4,000 more. The sotbap and sungnyung explain some of it. But it’s a lot for an everyday lunch. Think of it as the place you go when you want a proper meal.
② There’s always a queue at lunch. Every time I’ve been, there’s been a wait. Sangam’s office workers all come at once. Go a little before noon, or after 1pm.
③ You’ll struggle to find it the first time. Second floor, central staircase. Searching the ground floor won’t help.
④ A two-hour break. 3pm to 5pm. Leave at 2:30 and you’re cutting it close. Last order is 9pm.
📍 How to get there
배꼽집 본점 (Baekkopjip, main branch) 서울 마포구 월드컵북로54길 17 사보이시티DMC 2층 206·210호
Screenshot that Korean address. Showing it to a taxi driver beats pronouncing it, and it works with no data connection.
| Hours | 11:00 – 22:00 (last order 21:00) |
| Break | 15:00 – 17:00 |
| Floor | 2nd floor, Savoy City DMC, up the central staircase |
| Phone | +82-2-304-9293 |
| Station | Digital Media City (DMC): Line 6, Gyeongui–Jungang, AREX |
| Parking | Free |
DMC is on the AREX line, straight from Incheon Airport.
If you’re eating your way around the area, the sundae gukbap place we wrote up and the chicken stew restaurant with the free refills are both a short walk away.
Get the rice out first
One last time, because it’s the whole point of sotbap.
If you leave the rice in the pot and eat from there, there’s no sungnyung. As soon as the pot arrives, move the rice to your bowl and pour in the water.
If you want a bowl of soup in Sangam, Baekkopjip is a good one. Factor in the price, and the food won’t let you down.
Prices and hours as of October 2026.
