Daejeon pub for seasoned hagfish and live abalone clam grill: Jinppaei

Today I went to Jinppaei, a hagfish spot in Bongmyeong-dong, Daejeon, and had the seasoned-grilled hagfish and grilled clam set! Jinppaei is a great place to visit when you're craving fresh, live hagfish and grilled clams.

What are Jinppaei's hours and day off?

Jinppaei is open Monday through Saturday from 18:00 to 02:00, and closed every Sunday. Since it's open from evening until 2am, it's also a good spot for a second round after drinks.

The vibe inside Jinppaei in Bongmyeong-dong

The inside of Jinppaei really gives off that old-school pub feel! When I visited it was evening, so there were already quite a few customers inside.

It wasn't a spotless, quiet kind of place — more of a comfortable spot to sit down with good food and a drink! The tables were spaced reasonably, and overall it felt like an easygoing place to sit and eat. You could also feel that lively energy unique to Bongmyeong-dong, and I thought it'd be a great spot to visit with friends and chat while eating!

Jinppaei's Set 1 and hagfish cooking styles

Jinppaei's Set 1 comes with two servings of hagfish plus a tasting portion of grilled clams. I ordered Set 1, and I liked that I could enjoy both the hagfish and a taste of grilled clams.

For the hagfish, you can choose from salt-grilled, seasoned-grilled, or stone-pan stir-fried. After some deliberation I went with seasoned-grilled! Salt-grilled would've been good for tasting the hagfish's flavor cleanly, but on this day I was more drawn to hagfish stir-fried in a spicy-sweet sauce!

What side dishes come with the meal at Jinppaei?

The basic side dishes at Jinppaei included bean sprout soup that's great for a hangover, along with cherry tomatoes, quail eggs, cucumber, carrot, seasoned vegetables, aged kimchi, perilla leaves, and more!

How does Jinppaei grill the seasoned hagfish?

At Jinppaei, a staff member cooks the hagfish right on the grill! The hagfish and grilled clams I ordered came out, and the hagfish was still alive and wriggling!

Once the hagfish is cooked partway, the staff brings it back over with the sauce brushed on! After that, you just grill it a little longer over the fire before eating.

Taste and texture of the seasoned-grilled hagfish

Jinppaei's seasoned-grilled hagfish had a chewy, springy texture combined with a spicy-sweet sauce. Hagfish is known for that distinctively chewy yet springy texture, and eating it seasoned-grilled let the savory sauce and the hagfish's nutty flavor come together really well!

It wasn't tough or mushy at all — the more you chewed, the chewier it felt, and the sauce paired well with rice or drinks. It had a spicy-sweet flavor that kept me reaching for more!

Best of all, since it's grilled right there on the pan, you get to eat it hot! Hagfish really is best enjoyed warm before it cools down. The slightly charred sauce added a nutty aroma that really stirred up my appetite!

What's in Jinppaei's tasting grilled clams?

The tasting portion of grilled clams in Jinppaei's set came with scallop, abalone, and fan mussel together. I expected just a few pieces since it was a 'tasting' portion, but it turned out to be more generous than I thought! Being able to enjoy grilled clams alongside the hagfish made the set feel like a pretty solid deal!

Live, moving abalone

The abalone was alive, so I could even watch it move — it definitely felt fresh! Grilled on the pan, it had that signature chewy texture and nutty flavor of abalone. Abalone can get tough if overcooked, so I grilled it just enough, and the springy-yet-tender texture was great!

Scallop that resets your palate

As the scallop cooks, juices build up inside the shell, and eating it straight like that gave a mild, savory-salty flavor! Since the hagfish sauce was a bit intense, eating a scallop in between felt like it reset my palate each time!

Chewy fan mussel

The fan mussel also had a great chewy texture. Each type of grilled clam had a slightly different texture, so it was fun picking through them one by one, and eating them alongside the hagfish made the whole spread feel varied instead of one-note!

The review-event corn cheese

The corn cheese I got as part of the review event was really tasty too! That stretchy, pulling cheese!

Who is Jinppaei a good fit for?

Overall, I think Jinppaei is a great fit for anyone who wants to make hagfish the main dish while also enjoying grilled clams alongside it. Ordering the set menu lets you try several things instead of just one dish, which also makes it convenient to order when visiting with a group!

If you're looking for a hagfish restaurant in Daejeon, Jinppaei in Bongmyeong-dong seems like a solid choice. I liked that you can choose your hagfish style to suit your taste — salt-grilled, seasoned-grilled, or stone-pan stir-fried — and on this day I had the seasoned-grilled version, which I personally enjoyed for how well the hagfish's chewy texture matched the savory sauce! If you want to enjoy hagfish and grilled clams together in one place, Jinppaei is worth a visit!