Baby-friendly Sokcho restaurant with high chairs: Deungdae Gotgan

While touring around Deungdae Beach and the Deungdae Observatory in Sokcho, we stopped for lunch at Deungdae Gotgan (등대곳간).

Deungdae Gotgan at Deungdae Beach, Sokcho

With Deungdae Beach spread out right in front and a reputation for jjaglak-ji, I figured it was worth a visit.

Since this time we came with a baby, the adults ordered two servings of jjaglak-ji (spicy octopus stew) and the baby got pork cutlet! Bottom line: it was great eating spicy octopus stew while looking at the sea, and having a solid baby menu made it a good spot for a family visit. As for parking, the beach is right out front, so you just park along the shore or squeeze in between other cars.

Where Deungdae Gotgan is and what you see from it

Deungdae Gotgan is located at 강원특별자치도 속초시 영랑해안길 109. Being right in front of Deungdae Beach, it's great for a beach walk before or after eating, and it pairs well with a visit to Sokcho's Deungdae Observatory.

One of the biggest perks here is the ocean view from the second floor! Head upstairs and the East Sea and Deungdae Beach open up wide through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Even after seeing plenty of ocean on a Sokcho trip, watching it while you eat feels different somehow, haha.

Deungdae Gotgan's menu and second-floor window seats

(As you can tell from the menu — octopus hangover soup, jjaglak-ji, octopus porridge — octopus is the base here, plus pork cutlet for kids and stir-fried pork for sharing.)

Personally, I'd recommend a window seat on the second floor if you can get one. Eating while looking out at the blue sea feels a lot more like a real trip than just having a meal.

High chair, baby tableware and the side dishes

Since we came with a baby, the essentials — a kids' plate and baby chair — were perfectly ready for us.

Usually you have to ask again for scissors or tongs when you order pork cutlet, but they were already set up, which made things easy for us as parents.

Right after ordering, the owner set out the basic banchan (side dishes). Since jjaglak-ji is the main event, the sides weren't heavily seasoned or spicy overall — mostly clean, simple dishes. The bean sprouts are meant to be used in the rice mix I'll describe later, and the fish cake was easy to cut up for the baby. If you run low, there's a self-serve zone to grab more!

Jjaglak-ji octopus stew for two: how spicy is it?

Our main order was two servings of jjaglak-ji. It's the kind of dish that simmers at the table, and visually, it reminded me of nakgopsae from Busan minus the tripe and shrimp, focused purely on octopus. As the sauce starts bubbling, the octopus and vegetables come together into a look that instantly makes you think of rice. On my personal scale, the spice level was about as hot as Shin Ramyun.

It's not the kind of spicy that burns your tongue — more like the kind that makes your forehead sweat a little and really wakes up your appetite! It's delicious just spooned over rice, but the real charm of Deungdae Gotgan's jjaglak-ji comes out when you mix it.

(There's a guide for the '200% delicious way' to eat it, so mix it up to your own taste.) Put rice in a big bowl, pile on plenty of jjaglak-ji, then add the bean sprouts and seaweed flakes and mix it all together. The spicy sauce, crunchy bean sprouts, and savory seaweed flakes combine into something way better than eating it plain.

It's spicy enough that one bite leads to another and your spoon just keeps going. The jjaglak-ji itself isn't overly salty — it's seasoned to be mixed well with rice, so it's the kind of dish you'd think of when craving something hot and spicy in Sokcho.

(This is the bean sprout soup served to cool down the spice — it comes out refreshing and clean, perfect to pair with it when things get hot.)

Visiting with a baby? Order the pork cutlet

Whenever you're eating spicy food with a baby, the baby's menu is always the thing you worry about.

But Deungdae Gotgan has pork cutlet, so there was nothing to worry about there. On top of that, with the baby chair and kids' plate ready to go, it was easy to visit with a baby. We ordered one pork cutlet for the baby, and it turned out to be a proper, generous cutlet.

(It's easy to feed a baby this way once it's on the kids' plate. Served on a divided tray, the baby ate it well, like at daycare, and with the seaweed to wrap it up, it made for a full meal in no time.)

The meat was fairly thick and fried crisp on the outside, good enough for adults too. The sauce was especially memorable — a bit different from the usual sweet, store-bought cutlet sauce, more like a house-made special sauce. Crispy batter, thick meat, and that sauce made this pork cutlet pretty tasty for something you'd assume was just a kids' order.

Since jjaglak-ji is spicy and hard for a baby to eat, pork cutlet is basically a must-order if you're visiting Deungdae Gotgan with a baby. Parents get the spicy jjaglak-ji, the baby gets pork cutlet, and the whole meal is solved without any menu stress.

A Deungdae Beach restaurant with a Sokcho ocean view

Sokcho has plenty of famous restaurants, but Deungdae Gotgan's location and view were a big draw beyond just the food. Sitting right in front of Deungdae Beach, you get to look at the sea while eating, and it pairs well with a walk around the beach or the Deungdae Observatory before or after your meal. Especially if you're visiting with a baby like us, having the chair and plate ready and a solid baby menu in pork cutlet is another plus.

Adults get spicy jjaglak-ji, the kid gets crispy pork cutlet, and outside the window, the ocean view of Sokcho's Deungdae Beach.

If you have plans to visit Deungdae Beach or the Deungdae Observatory in Sokcho, this is worth a stop for lunch. Personally, if I go again, I'd order the same combo — two servings of jjaglak-ji plus pork cutlet! Mixing the spicy octopus stew with plenty of bean sprouts and seaweed flakes while looking out at the East Sea made for a pretty satisfying meal on our Sokcho trip.