Jeonju jjukkumi restaurant in Ajung-ri: perilla wraps, Jjukkumi Sinhwa

I already shared some Jeonju Hanok Village snacks before, but you can't live on snacks alone!! There's a saying that in Jeonju 'you can't go wrong wherever you go' (the taste is guaranteed!!!). So instead of the usual bibimbap or bean sprout soup, I was curious how my favorite — jjukkumi (baby octopus) — would taste in Jeonju!!!

I searched hard for jjukkumi spots near where I was staying, and guess what popped up? This place was already super famous as a Korean restaurant in Ajung-ri, Jeonju haha. So here's my visit review right away ♥

Where is Jeonju Jjukkumi Sinhwa Ajung-ri Main Branch, and what are its hours?

• 📍Location: 1F, 16 Donggajaemi 2-gil, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeonbuk, South Korea
• 📍Hours: 11:15 – 21:00 (break time 15:00–17:00)
• 📍Restroom: inside, separated by gender
• 📍Parking: private lot behind the store

Is parking easy? A 100-pyeong private lot behind the restaurant

Jeonju Jjukkumi Sinhwa Ajung-ri Main Branch has a private parking lot right behind the store. As soon as I arrived, I could see this wide lot right away~!

They said it's a whopping 100-pyeong parking site lol, so honestly... parking was super, super easy and I loved it : )

This lot is only for customers of Jjukkumi Sinhwa, the Korean restaurant in Ajung-ri, Jeonju!

The store was right next to the parking lot~ It says 'deliciously spicy house'! Since I take a bit of pride in handling spicy food, I was ready to see just how spicy this would be!

Inside Jeonju Jjukkumi Sinhwa: seating and group tables

Walking into Jeonju Jjukkumi Sinhwa Ajung-ri Main Branch, the interior was bigger than I expected~ Every table has a burner in the middle so you cook the jjukkumi right there as you eat.

There was also a semi-private room space like this, so I thought it'd be good for group visits too~

Right, right lol, places like this should have those '<Benefits of jjukkumi>' info boards haha. I saw lots of writeups about jjukkumi all around the store!

There was also a guide on how to eat it deliciously, so I checked it out before ordering!

Since this place is so famous for jjukkumi, I saw a lot of customers getting takeout too~ Takeout is much cheaper, so it'd also be great to enjoy at home!

Free steamed egg custard and self-serve side dishes

Jeonju Jjukkumi Sinhwa Ajung-ri Main Branch gives you egg custard for free. I usually order egg custard separately whenever I go to a restaurant, but here it came standard~ Probably because it pairs so well with spicy jjukkumi haha.

Whoa... can you see the size? This is... the free serving???? The egg custard was almost the size of those 'volcano egg custards' you see at restaurants these days, so it looked amazing! It's free at first, but due to recent egg price hikes, a refill costs an extra ₩2,000. That said, the first serving was already plenty, so we just went with the one~

Then a bunch of basic side dishes came out~ The owner told us we could freely grab more from the self-serve bar!

And they gave us aprons since the jjukkumi sauce can splash around later~!

Jjukkumi Sinhwa is running a receipt review and Instagram hashtag event~ Participating gets you a cheese add-on, which is a really nice event, right?!

Hwasan jjukkumi for two, 36,000 won: menu and prices

The menu at Jjukkumi Sinhwa was simple! Since this place basically does one thing — jjukkumi — I picked the most famous option, the Hwasan jjukkumi, which comes with beef belly : ) You order by scanning the QR code with your phone~

• 🐙Hwasan jjukkumi (for 2): ₩36,000
• 🍚Rice: ₩1,000
• 🧀Cheese fried rice: ₩3,000

(hehe, and to finish it off, cheese fried rice too~)

What's on the self-serve side dish bar?

I went to check out what was at the self-serve side dish corner~

Salad, and the garlic sauce they said pairs well with the food!

And all the other side dishes we'd been given at the table were here too~

Jjukkumi ringed with beef belly, grilled on a dimpled iron pan

After a short wait, the food came out pretty quickly!

Whoa,,,!! So this is why it's called Hwasan (volcano) jjukkumi. The beef belly was arranged in a round ring, and it really did look like a volcano lol. In the middle sat a mound of Jjukkumi Sinhwa's special sauce, with the octopus hidden inside~

And the owner came over to show us how to grill it before leaving~ They mixed it thoroughly with the sauce for us.

Ahh...... so this is the look! Check out that color lol totally red!!!

As it kept cooking, the broth reduced and got even richer and more velvety~ Beef belly and jjukkumi together was a combination I'd never tried before! The beef belly was tender and chewy, while the jjukkumi was springy and firm — the different textures worked really well together.

We stirred it occasionally so the sauce wouldn't burn~ A lot of places serve jjukkumi over rice like a rice bowl, but here it's cooked on a dented iron pan, so it stays hot, and as the broth reduces down to a thicker consistency, the sauce's flavor keeps changing bit by bit, which I liked!

Following the 'how to eat jjukkumi deliciously' guide lol, I tried wrapping it in perilla leaves~ I really love perilla leaves, so naturally, eating it this way suited my taste perfectly!

Finish with cheese fried rice, 3,000 won

When we were almost done eating, I asked the owner about the cheese fried rice we'd ordered, and they came over and made it fresh for us right there~ Since the owner had come by and done most of the cooking from the moment the food arrived, we got to eat really comfortably.

They used just the right amount of sauce — since adding it all would make it too salty — and stir-fried it with the rice like this~

I'm dyingggggg~ there's cheese in my fried rice~~??? hahahaha

After finishing off the cheese fried rice, I really felt it — even from the start, the portions felt generous, and by the time we finished and walked out, it felt like even more food than I'd realized lol

Worth a stop for jjukkumi while traveling in Jeonju?

If you're in Jeonju and craving jjukkumi? Or craving something spicy! If you're a tourist mostly hitting the sightseeing spots? Parking is really convenient and the seats were comfy too — why not try the Hwasan jjukkumi at this Korean restaurant in Ajung-ri, Jeonju, Jjukkumi Sinhwa Ajung-ri Main Branch!