Incheon Korean restaurant with roe-packed monkfish jjim: Haemokjeong

What kind of restaurant is Haemokjeong Guwol Branch?

Haemokjeong Guwol Branch is a Korean restaurant that recently opened on the 2nd floor of a building at 15 Seongmal-ro 13beon-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon. The stir-fried baby octopus and stir-fried long arm octopus served as lunch specials are excellent value, and beyond those they also sell a range of braised/stewed dishes like seafood stew, braised ribs, and angler fish stew.

If you're looking for a good Korean restaurant in Guwol-dong, or a spot for a group gathering, this one's worth checking out.

Where Haemokjeong Guwol Branch is and where to park

📍 Location — it's on the 2nd floor of a building directly across from the old Lotte Department Store. It's also close to Yesulhoegwan Station, so it's easy to reach by subway.

🅿️ Parking — you get 2 hours of free parking in the building. Parking is tough in Guwol-dong, and a lot of places only give you 1 hour, so 2 hours felt convenient and generous.

Inside Haemokjeong Guwol Branch: interior and window seats

Haemokjeong Guwol Branch is on the 2nd floor, and walking in, the interior was bright and so clean — I loved it. Café-style interior. Being on the 2nd floor also gave it a much more open feel.

So open and spacious. Being bright made it even better.

The left side is divided by partitions, so it felt like a separated space.

The view from the window seat ✨✨ so good, right?

Haemokjeong Guwol Branch menu and prices

✔️ Haemokjeong meal menu

• Mushroom kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup) ₩9,000
• Cold kalguksu ₩9,000
• Roe & milt mushroom kalguksu ₩13,000
• Homemade king pork cutlet ₩13,000
• Chive stir-fried baby octopus ₩14,000
• Chive stir-fried long arm octopus ₩15,500

✔️ Haemokjeong main menu

• Seafood braised ribs ₩48,000
• Abalone seafood hot pot ₩40,000
• Boneless angler fish stew ₩35,000
• Spicy braised pork ribs ₩35,000
• Chive stir-fried duck ₩16,000

The meal menu is very affordable, so you could easily eat alone without much of a burden. The chive stir-fried baby octopus and chive stir-fried long arm octopus are apparently very popular as lunch options too! The seafood braised ribs is the most popular item, but we ordered the boneless angler fish stew.

✔️ Naver Place save + review event. They say you'll get 2 fried shrimp as a free service, so give it a try!

Haemokjeong Guwol Branch reportedly serves a birthday seaweed soup to guests celebrating their birthday, so keep that in mind if it's your special day.

The six side dishes at Haemokjeong Guwol Branch

The side dishes included seaweed soup, angel hair salad, potatoes, chive salad, jalapeños, and white kimchi.

Having soup served alongside is great for eating with the stew.

My favorite, the angel hair salad.

The side dishes were clean and tasty. The potatoes were so good I refilled them several times hahaha.

How the 35,000-won boneless monkfish jjim tastes and how spicy it is

Haemokjeong Guwol Branch's boneless angler fish stew is ₩35,000, and it comes fully cooked, placed on a tabletop burner so you can keep eating it warm the whole time!

Especially nice was that it's served boneless, so you don't have to pick out bones — very convenient. Note that you can adjust the spice level when ordering. I chose medium, but it was still quite spicy (for reference, I'm weak with spice).

There was roe in the stew too.

And plenty of milt, which I love — great!

There were rice cakes in there too. With rice cakes, roe, milt and vegetables all packed in, it felt almost like a seafood stew, which I loved. Angler fish stew usually doesn't come with milt and roe, so having them in there felt like a real bonus!

The sauce on the stew was also just the right amount of spicy, so it seemed like it would be great mixed with rice too. We were too full to have fried rice, unfortunately. Being boneless also made it easy and tender to eat.

Finished a whole bowl of rice, easy! I ate a full bowl of rice, so there wasn't any room left for the fried rice, ugh hahaha.

Perilla leaves were served alongside, and wrapping the stew in them was just the perfect combination!

Is Haemokjeong Guwol Branch worth a visit?

Haemokjeong Guwol Branch was even better because you could keep eating the stew warm on the tabletop burner the whole time. If you're looking for a good Korean restaurant or a lunch spot in Guwol-dong, this is a place I'd recommend ‼️ The spicy braised ribs are said to be great too, so give it a try sometime.