Ttukseom Korean restaurant for a family meal: Set for 3 at Seongsu AGU

I was looking for a place to eat with my parents in Seongsu, and that's how I ended up at Seongsu AGU (성수아구AGU)! Seongsu has so many great restaurants and cafés that it's hard to choose, but this time I wanted somewhere comfortable for a meal with my parents, so I went for monkfish stew (agu-jjim).

Where is Seongsu AGU, and is the restaurant spacious?

Seongsu AGU is near Exit 4 of Ttukseom Station, which makes it easy to get to within Seongsu. The restaurant is split across the 1st and 2nd floors, and it was roomier than I expected.

With a dish like agu-jjim that several people share, table spacing and the size of the place matter more than you'd think, right? Seongsu AGU is fairly big, so I thought it would work not just for a family meal but for bigger groups too. It would be a good pick for meeting friends or a family get-together in Seongsu.

What are the side dishes at Seongsu AGU like?

Once we sat down, the side dishes were set out neatly one by one. There weren't an excessive number of them; it was a tidy lineup that goes well with a meal, and each one was well seasoned, so they were easy to nibble on while waiting for the main dish.

With agu-jjim, the main dish matters, but I also find myself watching whether the accompanying side dishes are clean and well done. At Seongsu AGU the whole setup felt orderly right from the side dishes. Since I came with my parents, I liked that too.

What's in the Seongsu AGU Set for 3?

The three of us, me and my parents, ordered the Seongsu AGU Set for 3 that day.

The Set for 3 comes with same-day-slaughtered Majangdong fried gopchang (beef intestine) monkfish stew, plus a pollack roe cheese potato pancake and gamtae (seaweed) octopus rice balls, so you get to try several dishes at once. With a pancake and rice balls alongside, the table looked much fuller than with monkfish stew alone. Eating with my parents, it was especially handy that everyone could pick what they felt like eating.

How does the Majangdong same-day-slaughtered fried gopchang monkfish stew taste?

The fried gopchang monkfish stew pairs crispy fried beef intestine with spicy agu-jjim sauce, so there's a lot of texture going on. I tried the main dish first, and since it includes fried gopchang, unlike an ordinary monkfish stew, it caught my eye right away. The chewy monkfish plus the crunch of the fried gopchang meant I got several textures from a single dish.

The seasoning soaked into the ingredients well and went nicely with rice, and my parents enjoyed it too, so I felt it was a good choice for a family meal. If you're looking for agu-jjim in Seongsu and want something a little different from the usual, this seemed like a good option.

Pollack roe cheese potato pancake: roe and cheese inside crispy potato

The pollack roe cheese potato pancake that came with the set was better than I expected. The outside is a crispy potato pancake, and inside there's pollack roe and cheese, so each bite had soft melting cheese along with the salty roe.

The nutty, mild flavor of the potato pancake plus the savory depth of the roe and the gentle richness of the cheese went well with the agu-jjim. Eating the pancake in between bites of the spicy stew changed the mood of the flavors, and I kept reaching for more.

Gamtae octopus rice balls wrapped in seaweed

Last, I tried the gamtae (a type of seaweed) octopus rice balls from the set. Wrapped in gamtae they look pretty, and since they have octopus in them, they went well with the agu-jjim.

The distinctive aroma of gamtae mixed with chewy octopus, and with rice included they made a filling meal. They were good dipped in the agu-jjim sauce and good just picked up one at a time, so I felt the set was well put together.

Is Seongsu AGU good for a family get-together with parents?

Thanks to the spacious restaurant and a Set for 3 that lets you try several dishes at once, Seongsu AGU was a great gathering spot in Seongsu to go with my parents. It's also easy to reach from Ttukseom and Seongsu stations, so it's worth considering when you're looking for a lunch spot in Seongsu~!