Gwangmyeong jjukkumi restaurant with B4 Core 5 parking: Jeongipum

Hi, I'm Dori :-)

There's a place I end up going back to whenever I get a craving for jjukkumi (spicy stir-fried octopus) — Jeongipum Jjukkumi Gwangmyeong 1st Branch. It's not a one-and-done kind of spot; I keep thinking about the flavor and coming back. It's genuinely one of my favorite restaurants. This time, the craving hit again, so I made a return visit!

Where is Jeongipum Jjukkumi Gwangmyeong 1st Branch near Gwangmyeong Station?

Jeongipum Jjukkumi Gwangmyeong 1st Branch is on the first floor, right behind Take Hotel, if you face the road side from Exit 1 of Gwangmyeong Station. It's open from 11:30 to 22:00, with a break time from 16:00 to 17:00, and last order is at 15:00 and 21:00.

This Gwangmyeong IKEA-area jjukkumi spot is run using techniques passed down directly from the 20-year-old original branch, which the owner has reworked and developed further with about 10 years of hands-on experience in the restaurant industry.

Maybe that's why it feels a bit different from your typical jjukkumi restaurant. The base flavor is solid, and once you eat here in person, you really understand why people keep coming back.

How do Naver reservations and B4 Core 5 parking work?

We booked ahead through Naver Reservation before visiting!! Reserving in advance makes it much easier to plan your meal, and I'd especially recommend it if you're planning to visit during peak meal times.

For parking, just search for AK Plaza Gwangmyeong or Take Hotel parking — parking is allowed throughout the entire lot. The spot to aim for is basement level 4, near the brightly lit EV charging station. Park there and take the Core 5 elevator, and you can get to the restaurant fairly quickly. Two hours of free parking is included.

What we ordered at Jeongipum Jjukkumi

This time we ordered the griddle jjukkumi + extra meat (black pork flower belly), for two! Jjukkumi on its own is delicious, but I love the combo with meat, so I went with the extra-meat option again.

And here it is — the griddle jjukkumi + extra meat (black pork flower belly) for two, finally out!

Side dishes that go nicely with the jjukkumi came out alongside it too.

The steamed egg that arrives midway

Partway through, the steamed egg arrived. It was fluffy and soft, a perfect pairing with the spicy jjukkumi. Eating a spoonful of steamed egg after a bite of jjukkumi gently smooths out the heat in your mouth! When you're eating something as spicy and seasoned as jjukkumi, having a soft dish like steamed egg alongside it really is a great combination.

How does the black pork flower belly combo taste?

With jjukkumi and black pork flower belly served together on the griddle, it looked appetizing from the very first glance. The jjukkumi keeps its bouncy, chewy texture, and the spicy sauce soaks in well — the kind of dish where your chopsticks just keep reaching back in.

I especially liked how the flavor combo changed depending on whether I ate the jjukkumi alone or paired it with the black pork flower belly.

Eating the chewy, spicy jjukkumi together with the savory, juicy black pork flower belly softens the heat a bit while making the overall flavor much richer.

Personally, my favorite way to eat it was picking up jjukkumi and meat together in one bite. It's great wrapped in lettuce too, or just eaten together plain — either way, I couldn't stop reaching for more.

Is the finishing fried rice worth ordering?

If you're here for jjukkumi, there's one thing you absolutely cannot skip — the fried rice! After finishing off the jjukkumi and meat on the griddle, we made fried rice with the leftover sauce, and yep, a meal like this really only feels complete once you finish with fried rice.

With the spicy sauce left behind on the griddle mixed into the fried rice, the savory depth really came alive. The sauce coated every grain of rice evenly, so it was delicious right down to the last bite.

Even though I was already pretty full from the jjukkumi and meat, there's some kind of magic where the fried rice still finds room haha. The fried rice really is the truth when it comes to finishing off a griddle dish like this.

Piling the fried rice and sauce onto a piece of gim (dried seaweed) and eating it that way was so good!

We also added sesame leaf and bean sprouts and ate those too :-)

Verdict after a repeat visit to Jeongipum Jjukkumi Gwangmyeong 1st Branch

Jeongipum Jjukkumi Gwangmyeong 1st Branch is a place I care about enough to keep revisiting, and this time reminded me all over again why it keeps crossing my mind. I especially loved the extra-meat combo of griddle jjukkumi with black pork flower belly, soothing the heat midway with steamed egg, and finishing with fried rice — it felt like a truly complete meal.

If you're looking for a good jjukkumi restaurant in Gwangmyeong, or just craving something spicy off the griddle, I'd recommend Jeongipum Jjukkumi Gwangmyeong 1st Branch. Like me, you might visit once and end up coming back for more — if you love jjukkumi, give it a try!