Yongmun Market lunch special: spicy octopus & braised ribs, Jjigaen

I stopped by Yongmun Market in Yongsan and went looking for lunch at Jjigaen Jjukkumi Yongmun Market Branch! I heard it's a Yongmun Market spot that was even featured on the show Amazing Saturday, so I had to check it out. On weekday lunches, both the octopus and the braised pork ribs are just 10,000 won per person! Here's my review of a filling lunch special that gave me real 10,000-won happiness given today's prices.

• Address: 60 Hyoyo-ro 41-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea (1st floor)
• Hours: Daily 11:00–22:00

Finding Jjigaen Jjukkumi deep inside Yongmun Market

Jjigaen Jjukkumi is about 500m from Hyochang Park Exit 3. Walk into Entrance 1 of Yongmun Market and you'll find the restaurant just a short stroll in. There's no dedicated parking, so if you're driving, you'll need to use a nearby lot.

I'd heard the value lunch special here was pretty good, so I was curious and went to check it out haha

I walked in a bit past the peak lunch hour, right as customers who'd finished eating were filing out.

The restaurant has a relaxed, unpretentious vibe — great for a casual lunch, but it also seemed like a good spot to come back to for octopus and drinks in the evening.

From meals to drinking snacks, a varied menu

The signature dishes are griddle octopus with pork belly (₩16,000), cheese octopus (₩16,000), and octopus with beef brisket (₩18,000). There's also Hanwoo pork kimchi stew, Hanwoo pork stir-fry, and whole chicken dishes — plenty of options ranging from full meals to drinking snacks.

I went with the good-value lunch special. Fire-grilled octopus is 10,000 won per person, and we added cheese for 12,000 won per person, ordering two servings; we also ordered two servings of Hanwoo pork braised ribs at 10,000 won per person. Both the octopus and the braised ribs starting at just 10,000 won each felt like such great value given how expensive eating out has gotten these days.

10,000-won happiness: the Yongmun Market lunch special

Order: lunch special fire-grilled cheese octopus ₩12,000 x2 / lunch special Hanwoo pork braised ribs ₩10,000 x2

First came the basic side dishes: pickled radish, stir-fried fish cake, bean sprouts, and perilla leaves topped with flying fish roe and mayonnaise.

Soon after, the main dishes arrived, and any worry I had about portion size given the price disappeared. A griddle of octopus grilled over open flame, fragrant with that smoky fire-grilled aroma, piled high with snowy cheese. Beside it, the braised pork ribs bubbled away, loaded with the glass noodles and rice cakes I love — the visuals alone made me hungry.

How spicy is it? Slightly spicier than Shin Ramyun

The octopus was tender rather than chewy from the first bite, carrying that distinctive smoky char from the open flame — delicious. By my own scale it's a bit spicier than Shin Ramyun, and the heat crept up subtly the more I ate, but it was a good kind of spiciness.

Eating it along with generous amounts of the bean sprouts that came as a side dish tempered the spiciness while adding a nice variety of textures — totally my type! It was just the right level of pleasantly spicy, and the smoky aftertaste lingering in my mouth kept pulling me back for more.

Adding in the cheese melted nicely on the griddle made it absolutely heavenly! haha

The combo I'd recommend: octopus with sweet braised ribs

The braised pork ribs we ordered alongside were also better than expected.

The ribs weren't dry or gamey and were nice and tender, and the sauce wasn't overly sweet — just the right level of sweetness.

There was a generous helping of the glass noodles I love, which set off this carb lover's appetite haha

Pairing the spicy octopus with cheese and then adding in the sweet braised ribs made me overeat all over again haha

Gotta eat your vegetables too, so I made sure to wrap some in perilla leaves — the spicy-sweet flavors combined with the crunch of the flying fish roe made it impossible to stop eating rice.

Both dishes start at just 10,000 won per person, so it's not a big financial burden — if you're visiting with a group, I'd definitely recommend ordering the octopus and braised pork ribs together. (For the lunch special, adding cheese costs 12,000 won.)

Finishing it off properly with fried rice

You can't just leave all that delicious sauce behind. At the end, we thoroughly stir-fried rice in the leftover sauce.

The spicy sauce soaked evenly into every grain of rice, and even though I was already full, it was hard to put the spoon down.

After enjoying octopus, braised pork ribs, and fried rice to my heart's content, I really had to wonder — is this actually the right price for this much food? A great-value lunch at a real find in Yongsan.

A place I'd love to come back to for lunch at Yongmun Market

Jjigaen Jjukkumi was even more satisfying for letting me enjoy properly smoky, spicy octopus together with sweet braised pork ribs. I especially loved that the 10,000-won lunch special let me eat generously without any financial worry. If I ever find myself back at Yongmun Market in Yongsan, this is a restaurant I'd want to return to for lunch.