Delicious, Authentic Korean Food at GAAE Ssambab

From Mediterranean food to incredible pancakes and Argentinian artisinal ice cream (to name but a few), Tianmu is bursting with some excellent food choices. It’s a well-off area with a tonne of expats, so a wide range of cuisines are represented. Our newest Tianmu find is GAAE Ssambab, a fantastic little Korean spot that we’ve been excited to write about ever since visiting. Located right next to Lanya Park on a quiet road, GAAE Ssambab is a bright, clean restaurant with a welcoming atmosphere and great home-cooked food. If that wasn’t enough to convince you, the Korean owner was absolutely lovely, too. Oh, and for what you pay, you get an astounding amount of food — what’s not to love?

After much deliberation, the first thing we ordered was the LA rib steak ($390 for a set). This had come heavily recommended by our kind host for Westerners, and she was right on the money. The sweet sauce just burst with flavour and was absolutely fantastic wrapped in a leaf of lettuce. We would definitely order this again, despite it being one of the more expensive items on the menu.

Probably the very best thing about GAAE Ssambab is the massive set that comes with almost every meal, which we were genuinely shocked by when it first arrived at our table. Pictured below is the set for one person — each of us had our own. This included toasted seaweed, lettuce, rice, soup, lightly pickled cabbage leaves, four small dishes, and a spicy sauce for dipping. Everything in the set was fantastic, and what was really awesome was that we were shown how to wrap up the different parts for the best combination of flavours. For example, we were shown how to wrap up the rice in the pickled cabbage leaves with a little touch of sauce. For such a simple trick, we couldn’t believe how delicious it was.

The second thing we ordered was the spicy stir-fried pork ($249 for a set). Tender pork was cooked with kimchi and vegetables to make a juicy, slightly spicy dish. This was another great choice, and we were able to enjoy it all the more because we were shown how to wrap it up with toasted seaweed and pickled radish for the best combination of flavours.

Seriously, this combination was amazing. We highly recommend trying it.

The last thing we ordered was kimchi-jjigae ($249 for a set), a delicious kimchi soup with tofu and pork. This was a wonderful, warming soup with just the right amount of spice, but to be perfectly honest, we were already too stuffed to properly enjoy it. Even though we had come hungry, there was so much food included in our meal that it was hard to finish everything!

We washed everything down with a lightly alcoholic peach drink and a watermelon soda. Both were great additions to the meal — the peach wine was only about 3% ABV, so you could barely taste the alcohol. It was sweet and milky, and ever so slightly carbonated. The watermelon soda was made with a high percentage of real watermelon juice and was very sweet and refreshing. We really enjoyed them both, although next time we’d go straight for the soju!

Check out their menu, which we pulled straight from their Facebook page:

All in all, we can’t recommend GAAE Ssambab enough. The food was absolutely incredible: the bold flavours, quality ingredients, and care that had gone into cooking it all made for an unforgettably authentic Korean experience. The quantity of food was way more than we expected, and more than justified the price, which was already on the reasonable side for good Korean food. On top of that, the lovely owner was the sweetest, most welcoming host. We all left raving about the restaurant, immediately leaving five-star reviews on Google. If you’re looking for fantastic, home-cooked Korean food made by real Koreans, this is absolutely the place to be!

What’s the vibe?

Bright, clean, casual restaurant next to Lanya Park in Tianmu. Customers were mostly Taiwanese when we went, but we’ve heard it’s popular with Koreans too.

Worth it?

Absolutely! It’s not expensive, the food is fantastic, and the service was amazing. It’s a little far out of the way in Tianmu, but definitely worth the trek.

Would you go back? 

You bet.

Last updated November 2019

GAAE Ssambab

Chinese Name: 可愛包飯

Hours: 11:30am – 2:30pm, 4:30pm – 9pm Closed Sundays

Phone: 02 2831 5038

English Address: No. 6, Lane 40, Section 2, Zhongcheng Road, Shilin District, Taipei City

Chinese Address: 台北市士林區忠誠路二段40巷6號