Review: Sodam Korean Restaurant (Little Baguio, San Juan)

Are you looking for an affordable Korean restaurant? How does 299php eat-all-you-can Korean buffet and barbeque sounds? Yep! A wide spread of Korean goodness and unlimited meat ready for barbeque awaits you if you visit Sodan Korean Restaurant.

I have been meaning to try this restaurant but it’s kinda out of way. I know that Little Baguio, San Juan is slowly gaining exposure as one of the food haven in the metro but honestly, I’m not that familiar with the place so tyaga tyaga nalang sa Zomato reviews and naglalaway nalang ako sa pictures. But a couple of weeks back, the ReigningTatay and I was finally able to try it!!

Sodam Korean Restaurant is a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant at the heart of Little Baguio. We kinda got lost going there coz the map we found on google pointed us to a totally different place. Good thing the ReigningTatay saw it as we passed by. Anyway, our co-foodies says we should’ve used Waze instead. Oh well!

As I was saying, it’s really just a small restaurant and it could easily get cramped. We arrived there around 6PM and by that time, it was already jam-packed. Some, I could sense, are already regulars. I guess it’s a testament on how good this restaurant is.

They have a wide spread of Korean goodness on the buffet table. Don’t ask me what they are called coz I honestly don’t know. We were able to talk to the owner and she says that her mother is the one who cooks all the dishes and she’s been doing it for years. Sodam is very proud on the fact that they serve authentic Korean home-cooked dishes. I could see that this restaurant is really a labor of love. It’s normal to see the owner replenishing the buffet spread. Galing!

Here are some of the dishes we tried. I told you, even of their buffet table is kinda small, they still offer a wide array of dishes to choose from. I tried a little bit of everything. Yes! Even the kimchi. And it was delicious.

I was soooo thrilled when I saw this orange dish! It’s a favorite. I guess it’s rice cake or something. Basta it tastes like bilo-bilo (the white one on our local ginatan), but with a twist. That orange sauce is a bit sweet and overflowing with flavor. Basta! I love this dish!!

Although, when I tried this one – grabe!! I was torn. This is also a rice cake, wrapped in what taste like, bacon!! Grabe! Super yummy. As in. I was going back for more of this goodness. Sobrang SARAP!!!

But of course, my favorite part is the barbeque. Your 299php already includes an unlimited meat – beef and pork. Although they always come in pair. As in when they serve it, it’s always beef and pork. Can’t order for beef only or pork only. But still! Super yummy sya as in. Our co-foodies says that the meat is ten times better if we had it a bit tustado. Like bacon! And they are right! The meat is perfect when wrapped in lettuce, slathered with a generous amount of their sauce (I personally prefer the garlicky one with a little amount of the oily one but they also have a spicy sauce available). Grabe. Each bite is goodness overload. It’s a bit crunchy thanks to the lettuce and the meat cooked like bacon. And its overflowing with flavor thanks to the sauce. Yay! We kept on asking for more servings of the meat.

Although the ReigningTatay says that it’ll be so much better if they have those exhausts like the other Korean restos coz we end up smelling like barbeque after. Eh ok lang naman sa akin! Ang saya nga.

All in all it was a great, great experience. I will go back there with my girl BFFs soon!