We had a get-together in Shin-Okubo, and after going back and forth over where to go, I booked a ssambap place I had been to before. Sanpaya is the Japanese-style name for a ssambap-jip, a ssambap restaurant. It is in a basement, but the atmosphere is cozy, so it works well for a group.
Pumpkin porridge and an aperitif
These come on the house.
Makgeolli
The food prices here are reasonable, but the drinks are really expensive. A cup of makgeolli was around 600 yen, so I sipped it as sparingly as I could.
Ssambap set
It comes out almost exactly the way it does in Korea.
Samgyeopsal
You grill the samgyeopsal and eat it wrapped in the leaves. Maybe because the meat is good quality, it is really quite tasty.
Bossam
This one is tasty too, probably thanks to the quality of the meat again. Every now and then I need to take people to a Korean restaurant in Japan, and a place like this beats a grubby one or one with a long line when you are meeting as a group. I can see myself using it again from time to time.