Spicy webfoot octopus in Bupyeong, Incheon: Haemokjeong

Haemokjeong Bupyeong Branch, walked to from Baegun Station

I went here because I was craving webfoot octopus in Sangok-dong, Bupyeong, and I had to introduce it because both the value and flavor were so good!

The address is 1F A Building, 4 Hwarang-ro, Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, and it is open daily from 11:00 to 22:00 all year round. Parking was available in the building, too.

Haemokjeong is about a 5-minute walk from Exit 2 of Baegun Station! It is near Hyundai Apartments across from Sinchon Elementary School, so it was not hard to find, and it is an easy walk straight from the station. Takeout and delivery are available too, so it is an option for anyone who wants to enjoy it comfortably at home!

A clean, comfortable dining room

As soon as I stepped inside, the clean, comfortable atmosphere was immediately noticeable! True to its reputation as a restaurant featured on SBS Live Today and a YouTube favorite with 2 million views, it was buzzing. You could feel that this seafood-and-short-rib specialist, known in Bupyeong for hearty restorative meals, was well established just from the atmosphere!

It is a seafood-specialty restaurant where you can enjoy a generous full spread with live abalone from Wando, Korea, aged pork ribs, and assorted seafood, so my anticipation was already exploding before the visit! They say the deep, rich restorative flavor comes from broth simmered with more than 23 ingredients and fresh seafood prepared in-house every day, which really inspired confidence. It was lively with all kinds of diners, since it is a comfortable place for a solo Bupyeong lunch, a date, or a company dinner!

The two-person stir-fried octopus set

Looking over the Haemokjeong menu, I ordered the two-person stir-fried webfoot octopus with chives set for ₩27,000! It includes the octopus dish, one shrimp tempura per person, squid miyeokguk (seaweed soup), and rice. ₩27,000 for two with all this felt like seriously excellent value. With shrimp tempura, squid seaweed soup, and rice included, it felt like a perfect complete meal!

A generous spread of banchan

The banchan (Korean side dishes) were so generous: salad, cheonsachae naengchae (chilled seaweed-stem salad), seaweed soup, white kimchi, seasoned chives, braised potatoes, and pickled chili peppers!! I was so happy from the very start to see such a varied lineup of sides!

The salad had crisp, fresh vegetables that brightened up my appetite. The clear, springy cheonsachae naengchae paired with its sweet-and-tangy dressing to feel wonderfully refreshing. The seaweed soup had a savory, gentle broth that warmed my stomach, making it just right alongside the spicy stir-fried octopus!

The lightly seasoned, refreshing white kimchi cleansed my palate between bites of the fiery octopus, while the seasoned chives kept drawing me back with their sharp, tangy flavor without becoming heavy! The braised potatoes were soft and fluffy, deeply seasoned all the way through with a sweet-salty sauce, the kind where one piece makes you reach for another. The pickled chili peppers had a crisp texture and a salty, sharp kick that was perfect with rice! With sides this substantial and varied, I could really feel Haemokjeong's care and generosity!

Stir-fried webfoot octopus full of smoky flavor

Finally, the stir-fried webfoot octopus with chives arrived!! Just seeing the octopus piled high with chives over the red sauce made my mouth water. The octopus came fully cooked, so it was ready to eat right away, which was great!

The spicy sauce, packed with smoky wok flavor, coated the octopus with such an appetizing sheen, and the green chives looked so pretty against the red sauce! There was a generous amount of octopus too, so it felt satisfying just to look at.

The webfoot octopus was chewy yet bouncy, with a lovely resilient bite! The crisp bite of the chives worked beautifully with the chewiness of the octopus, making every mouthful fun to eat. First the smoky, spicy sauce hit, then the octopus's clean, savory umami came through afterward!

My tip: add perilla leaf and cheonsachae naengchae

Here is a little tip!! I wrapped the octopus in a perilla leaf with cheonsachae naengchae, and it was truly a genius move! Putting a piece of octopus and the chilled salad on a perilla leaf deepened the flavor with the leaf's fragrant aroma. The sweet-and-tangy cheonsachae naengchae also softened the heat a little, and all three flavors came together in one bite—an absolutely amazing combination!

Eating it with rice let the spicy sauce soak evenly into every grain, making it impossible to stop after one spoonful!! The smoky aroma and spicy sauce fragrance rose together with the sharp scent of chives, keeping my appetite going until the end!! Even after I finished, the spicy yet clean aftertaste lingered in my mouth, and I kept wanting more!!

Crispy shrimp tempura

The shrimp tempura looked crispy at a glance, fried to a beautiful golden color! The coating shattered crisply while the shrimp inside stayed springy, and that contrast made me exclaim with every bite! The shrimp's naturally sweet, nutty flavor came through strongly with the crisp batter, making it even more flavorful. Between bites of spicy octopus, the mild shrimp tempura refreshed my palate perfectly!

Finish with fried rice

I finished with fried rice too, and it was another total genius move!! Once rice was tossed into the remaining octopus sauce, the smoky, spicy flavor soaked evenly into every grain. The chives and bits of octopus were fried in with it, sending up a savory, spicy aroma that made my mouth water like crazy!

The rice was fried until pleasantly firm and springy with every spoonful! The rich, spicy octopus seasoning was worked evenly through the whole dish, making it on another level from ordinary fried rice—I really recommend ordering it!!

From the smoky stir-fried webfoot octopus with chives to the crispy shrimp tempura and savory squid seaweed soup, I enjoyed every bit of it! I recommend Haemokjeong to anyone near Sangok-dong, Bupyeong, who wants a proper spicy octopus meal, or anyone looking for a spot for a solo Bupyeong lunch, date, or company dinner!