Mashed egg in jjuksam sauce at a Sangbong jjukkumi spot: Joajukne

Joajukne Jjukkumi in Sangbong: jjukkumi cooked for you at an outdoor tent

Joajukne Jjukkumi, a jjukkumi (baby octopus) spot near Sangbong Station. This place is famous in Sangbong Meokja Alley! The weather was so nice I wanted to fully enjoy the outdoor tent (yajang) vibe and eat some spicy jjukkumi, so I headed to Sangbong.

Being a popular spot, it fills up fast during dinner peak hours, so on Fridays or weekends you'd probably want to grab a spot early! True to a Sangbong jjukkumi restaurant, the menu has both a jjukkumi hot plate and a hot pot — we went with the classic hot plate! No regrets at all, the spicy flavor was delicious with maximum umami, absolutely amazing🥹

What comes free: side dishes and the self-serve bar

Joajukne Jjukkumi provides mayonnaise, flying fish roe, lettuce wraps, and pickled radish by default, and there's a self-serve bar so you can freely grab as much extra as you need. By the way, extra flying fish roe needs to be ordered separately, but the initial amount was already plenty, so I never ran short.

What's in the jjuksam for 2 set menu?

We ordered jjuksam (baby octopus with pork belly) for 2 plus the set menu with fried snacks. Joajukne is famous as a jjukkumi restaurant near Sangbong Station — famous for the yajang atmosphere but also just for tasting great — and I finally got to try it. It arrived looking incredibly appetizing, and since the staff does all the cooking for you, it's really convenient.

Bean sprouts, sliced scallions, and mushrooms come as standard, and the jjuksam comes with a generous amount of pork belly too, so it's quite hearty. The set also includes glass noodles, fried snacks, and a boiled egg, making the whole spread even more filling.

Sungnyung as a starter at Joajukne Jjukkumi

The hot sungnyung (scorched rice tea) arrived, and honestly, the Joajukne Jjukkumi set — with all the fried snacks plus sungnyung included — is amazing value, highly recommend. The jjukkumi is fairly spicy, so sipping sungnyung now and then helps neutralize the heat, and it's genuinely nutty and savory. It's really hearty, generous in portion, and since it's a broth, it goes down easily — perfect as an appetizer while you wait for the jjukkumi to finish cooking hahaha.

Since the staff does all the cooking, you really can just sit back and eat, which is great. And because Joajukne Jjukkumi, this Sangbong jjukkumi spot, is set up entirely as an outdoor tent in Sangbong Meokja Alley, it's the best place for jjukkumi with a beer on a nice day like this. The spicy, savory smell rising up as it cooks was already making my mouth water like crazy~_~

How spicy is the jjukkumi at Joajukne Jjukkumi?

Joajukne Jjukkumi doesn't have a spice-level option, but it's a level pretty much everyone can eat without much divide — subtly spicy with a real umami kick underneath. At the end, they add glass noodles and cook it in, and the staff carefully walks you through the eating order too. Piling on the default side dishes — perilla leaves, pickled radish, mayonnaise, and flying fish roe — for a wrap is absolutely delicious.

Mashing the boiled egg into the spicy sauce

The sauce is spicier than expected the more you eat it, but it's also incredibly delicious. I was puzzled why there was a boiled egg side dish, but after tasting the jjukkumi sauce, I understood immediately. Mash the boiled egg and mix it into the sauce, stir stir — it's spicy but so, so good. On that note, I'd recommend being careful and deliberate about how much chili powder (ttaengcho-garu) you sprinkle on!

The jjukkumi itself is plump and cut into good, easy-to-eat sizes. Sometimes jjukkumi restaurants serve pieces that are broken up into tiny bits, but Joajukne Jjukkumi's presence is on another level. Now I get why it's mentioned as a famous jjukkumi restaurant in Sangbong Meokja Alley, and having tasted it, I fully agree.

Cheese fried rice and the dessert pick at checkout

No matter how filling and generous the jjukkumi portion is, no matter how full you feel from the great set, there's one K-dessert you can't skip when there's delicious red sauce left over: fried rice. We ordered cheese fried rice, and the staff did everything for us. They even brought toppings for the fried rice and finely chopped the ingredients. They stir-fried it with real professional flair, absolutely perfect, and the staff were also incredibly kind, which made the whole meal even better🥹🥹

You absolutely have to try the fried rice...

The umami is insane, and once you press it down and let it crisp up, it's incredible.. This fried rice pairs so well with the delicious jjukkumi sauce, pressed down and crisped on the hot plate — highly, highly recommend. Even a single serving is a genuinely generous portion, so just be aware it's quite filling, but you absolutely have to try it.

Truly, the final touch. Joajukne Jjukkumi was perfect right to the end. They give you a choice of ice cream, hangover remedy, or digestive aid — we didn't even know about this, but they still offered it to us at checkout. We picked the ice cream, ate it at the table before leaving, and it was vanilla ice cream with chocolate drizzle — genuinely good vanilla ice cream... Good from start to finish, this jjukkumi restaurant near Sangbong Station, Joajukne — if you want to experience the full outdoor-tent restaurant vibe, highly recommend!