Squid restaurant in Yonggang-dong, Seoul: bossam combo set with a kid

A day we had dinner with our kid in Mapo. Our child came along, but honestly the menu choice was picked more with the adults in mind. I love squid dishes, and I'd been curious about a place with a bossam combo set that lets you eat bossam (boiled pork wraps) together with squid — so we went to Hwakkeunne Ojingyang (화끈네오징양).

True to its name — squid is clearly the main event here — the entrance had a pretty lively energy, and overall it felt more like a spot for drinks with friends, a date, or coworkers than a family dinner with kids.

What is Hwakkeunne Ojingyang? A squid specialty restaurant in Yonggang-dong, Seoul

Hwakkeunne Ojingyang sits on Tojeong-ro in Mapo-gu, near Mapo Station and Yonggang-dong, and specializes in squid dishes. The first thing I noticed walking in was the tank by the entrance — live squid inside it. My kid and I stopped to look before sitting down.

Looking at the menu, there was a good range of seafood dishes — smoky stir-fried squid, spicy-sour squid muchim, steamed clams — plus plenty of simple drinking snacks. A lot of the squid dishes looked like they'd pair well with Kirin draft beer, so anyone who likes to drink would have fun picking a menu here.

Inside there are 4-person tables, and there's outdoor terrace seating too, which looked like a nice spot for a drink on a nice day.

The free starter snack: squid and peanuts

Once we sat down, a basic side dish arrived. That day it was squid and peanuts.

It was a perfect little snack to pick at while waiting for the main dishes. This is exactly the kind of place where a simple side dish and a draft beer before the food arrives would fit really well. 🍻 We were with our kid, so it was more of a meal for us than a drinking session, but looking around at the atmosphere, I felt this place would really shine with a group of adults.

The soft-fried egg that comes with the bossam combo set

Order the bossam combo set at Hwakkeunne Ojingyang and a warm fried egg comes free with it. Not long after ordering, a soft-fried egg, still sizzling on a small hot plate, arrived first.

Since we came with our kid, this was especially welcome. Our child ate a bit of the egg first while we waited for the main dishes. We hadn't specifically gone looking for a kid-friendly restaurant, but having one dish everyone could share made the meal a lot easier.

What's in the bossam combo set? One generous plate, three dishes

The bossam combo set brings boiled pork bossam, squid muchim, and stir-fried squid all on one plate. When it finally arrived, the table suddenly looked pretty full.

We started with the bossam, and the pork was more tender than I expected. Even the leaner parts weren't dry — they stayed moist, and dipped lightly in salted shrimp, it tasted clean and delicious. Since we had our kid with us, we set aside a bit of the bossam for them. We ate the rest along with the squid dishes, and being able to eat meat and seafood together in one sitting was the most fun part of this set.

Tangy squid muchim with blanched bean sprouts

Hwakkeunne Ojingyang's squid muchim mixes squid and vegetables in a sweet-and-sour sauce. Minari (water dropwort), onion, and cucumber were all mixed in, adding a nice crunch.

More than anything, the blanched bean sprouts served alongside tasted better tossed lightly in the squid muchim sauce than eaten plain. Add a piece of bossam on top and it all goes together really well. The clean flavor of the bossam, the tangy squid muchim, and the crunchy bean sprouts — my chopsticks kept going back for more.

If nobody had told us to eat it that way from the start, we might have just skipped it, but once we tried it, we kept eating it that way for the rest of the meal.

Stir-fried squid with real smoky char 🔥

And then, the dish I'd been most looking forward to that day: the stir-fried squid. Just as the menu described, it had that seared-over-high-heat character, and the moment it hit the table, the smoky aroma and spicy sauce smell hit us. The squid was chewy and the sauce was fairly rich — the kind of flavor that goes great with rice.

It was too spicy for our kid, so the adults ate it separately, and honestly this dish felt like it would be even better slowly savored as a drinking snack. I also tried mixing bean sprouts into the stir-fried squid, and the crisp, clean bite of the sprouts against the spicy sauce worked really well.

We ended up not wanting to waste the leftover sauce, so we added an extra bowl of rice. Mixing rice into the leftover stir-fried squid sauce turned out to be a treat in its own right. 😋

Is Hwakkeunne Ojingyang good with kids? Better for adults

We visited with our kid this time, but personally, I felt Hwakkeunne Ojingyang fit the mood better when it's just adults. Dishes like the stir-fried squid or squid muchim pair well with a draft beer, and there are dishes like bossam or steamed clams that are great for sharing among a group of friends.

If you're bringing a kid like we did, just set aside some bossam or egg for them to eat. What I liked most was not having to stress over the menu when meat lovers and seafood lovers go together — if bossam alone feels like it's missing something and you want squid too, ordering the bossam combo set lets you taste both.

Final verdict on Hwakkeunne Ojingyang

On a day when you're craving spicy seafood like stir-fried squid or squid muchim in Yonggang-dong, Mapo, and you want bossam in the mix too, the bossam combo set at Hwakkeunne Ojingyang is a solid choice. We went with our kid this time, but next time I'd rather come with adults, grab a draft beer, and work through the other squid dishes one by one. 🍻