Magok hot pot with 1,000-won soju and shrimp balls: J's Pot Magok

They say loving your work bestie is loving your country, or something like that — my old workmate Bakejin, who's since quit and moved on, came all the way out to Magok just to see me. I mean, when you meet up after ages, you've got to eat something good, right?

So the place we ended up at was J's Pot Magok Branch. Bakejin said Magok didn't even have Onegrove when she used to live here, and she was amazed at how much the area's changed since. And here's today's key point — Bakejin, a certified hot pot fanatic, personally vouched for this place's hot pot. Let's see what it's all about.

Where is J's Pot Magok Branch? Between Magongnaru and Magok stations

J's Pot Magok Branch is inside COEX Magok, connected right between Magongnaru Station and Magok Station, so it was easy to reach by public transit. Parking assistance is also available, so driving there isn't much of a burden either.

You can check the menu briefly right at the entrance. Since it's inside a big shopping mall, it's a good spot to meet up even on bad-weather days, and best of all, Seoul Botanic Park is right nearby, so it's perfect for a walk after eating. We stuffed ourselves with hot pot and then walked over to Seoul Botanic Park.

Inside J's Pot Magok: solo seats for eating hot pot alone

J's Pot Magok Branch has group tables as well as separate solo seats, so eating hot pot alone is totally doable. We showed up right after break time ended, basically the first customers. Thanks to that, there weren't many people around, so we could snap photos quickly.

It's set up so you can drop in without any hesitation even if you just want to eat hot pot solo.

Okay but is the panda not the cutest thing ever. A panda eating hot pot alone — I can't resist a cute detail like that.

Menu, ordering and the 1,000-won soju at J's Pot Magok

At J's Pot Magok Branch you order through the kiosk at your table. I only photographed a few, but the add-on menu is genuinely huge. You can add all kinds of vegetables, meat, meatballs, and tofu products — the variety of hot pot ingredients made me wonder for a second if I was in China.

And the thing that shocked me most: soju for just 1,000 won. That feels like straight-up cheating. We'd clearly agreed before meeting up that we absolutely would not drink today, but the second I saw that price, I couldn't hold back.

This is how you pick your broth and ingredients one by one to order. It's a system that's easy even for first-time hot pot eaters to just choose what they want.

The self-serve sauce bar and a hot pot regular's Geonhui sauce

Another important part of eating hot pot is the sauce. At J's Pot Magok Branch, you make your own combination yourself at the self-serve sauce bar.

There's a decent variety of sauces, so it's fun to mix and match. I just threw mine together roughly, but our Bakejin is different.

True to her hot pot expert status, she's putting serious effort into building what she calls the tastiest 'Geonhui sauce.' It really does help to have a hot pot expert friend along.

Mala hot pot and beef hot pot, one pot each for two tastes

We each ordered a different broth. My friend went with mala hot pot, and I went with beef hot pot. As someone who dislikes mala, I loved that there were so many broth options to choose from. People who can't handle mala don't have to give up on hot pot at all. Plus, with one pot per person, we could each have the broth we wanted, which made it a great spot to visit with a friend whose tastes differ from yours.

We decided to share ingredients too, so we ordered a bunch of different things. Isn't the whole point of hot pot throwing in a bit of everything?

We also ordered meatballs and shrimp balls and split them one by one. Ordering a range of ingredients like this means you get to enjoy a variety of flavors at once.

Bakejin's pick, the Geonhui sauce. She says it's the safest bet and tastiest, according to the hot pot expert herself. Guess you've got to trust the expert's word, haha.

Into the mala hot pot pot go all sorts of vegetables and meat. Once it starts bubbling away, you just wait for everything to cook through.

I loaded up my beef hot pot with vegetables and meat too, no holding back. My pot was pretty loaded too.

1,000-won soju with a bowl of hot pot broth

And now, the star of the show — the 1,000-won soju, how is it. Soju with hot pot broth... there's no way I could skip trying this combo.

A shot of soju right next to the bubbling hot pot. Honestly, this is way better than I expected. We'd already forgotten our whole 'absolutely no drinking' plan, haha.

Adding tofu skin, pork and shrimp balls mid-meal

At J's Pot Magok Branch you can keep ordering add-ons while you eat. As we kept trying different things, we also added tofu skin, which was Bakejin's pick. The tofu skin was chewy and delicious. Dipped deep into the hot pot broth and then into sauce, it had great texture and had really soaked up the broth's flavor.

Hot pot dipped in the special sauce is just too good. The vegetables and meat go so well together, and the broth is rich, so it's fun just pulling out different ingredients one after another. Especially with hot pot, each ingredient has a different texture, so there's fun in fishing them out one by one.

Another tip from hot pot expert Bakejin. Instead of dipping meat lightly in the broth and then in sauce, you dip it lightly in the broth, then top it with sauce. Eating it this way is supposedly paradise. I'm properly learning how to eat hot pot the right way now, haha.

There were so many vegetables that it went down more easily than I expected. Alternating between meat and vegetables tasted even better than just eating meat non-stop.

There were so many vegetables that it went down more easily than I expected. Alternating between meat and vegetables tasted even better than just eating meat non-stop.

After eating only beef pork belly for a while, I added regular pork too. Even within the same hot pot, switching up the meat brought a different kind of appeal.

We also cooked the shrimp balls thoroughly in the broth. The plump texture combined with the hot pot broth's flavor was delicious.

Our hot pot expert friend kept enthusiastically showing us how to eat it properly. Food like this really is best enjoyed with a friend who knows how to eat it well. If I'd come alone, I probably would've just dumped in ingredients and eaten without thinking, haha.

A combination that can't possibly be bad. Rich broth, all kinds of vegetables and meat, dipped in whichever sauce you like — my chopsticks just kept going back for more.

And in the end, we couldn't resist and ordered another 1,000-won bottle of soju. I mean, how do you resist when it's only 1,000 won? We're supposedly the same people who said no drinking at the start, but hey, as long as it was delicious, that's what matters, haha.

We ate so well and got so full that we headed out for a walk in Seoul Botanic Park.

Is J's Pot Magok Branch worth it? Final verdict

A day of proper hot pot feasting thanks to my old workmate Bakejin, who I hadn't seen in ages. It was even more satisfying knowing that this place got the seal of approval from a genuine hot pot fanatic.

• I can't handle mala well, so I loved being able to choose a different broth like beef hot pot instead
• One pot per person meant we could each eat according to our own taste, which was great too
• The variety of ingredients is wide and you can make your own sauce, so it's great for groups to order a bunch and share
• Good accessibility too, being inside COEX Magok between Magongnaru and Magok stations

Being able to walk straight into Seoul Botanic Park right after eating made this a great course to plan when meeting a friend in Magok. If you're looking for a good restaurant near Magongnaru, go eat hot pot at J's Pot and then take that walk through Seoul Botanic Park.