Garlic hairtail stew ₩15,000 per person by Hyeopjae Beach: Onjeong

When you visit Jeju, there's one thing you absolutely have to eat at least once — hairtail. And of all the hairtail dishes, I really love braised hairtail stew. In Seoul it's either painfully expensive or you end up with fish so thin you can't tell if it's the body or the tail, so whenever I'm in Jeju, I make a point of eating my fill of hairtail.

I usually eat it around Seongsan or near Jeju City Hall, but this time I went to Hyeopjae after a long while and... oh wow! I found a genuinely great value hairtail stew spot in Jeju. It's called Onjeong Jorim (온정조림). The sign gives off an old-school, veteran vibe, but once you step inside it's actually clean and stylish — the first impression was oddly great.

Best of all, it's right next to Hyeopjae Beach, so it's great for grabbing a meal after playing in the water, or for a filling lunch before a beach walk. Highly recommend it for a Hyeopjae date lunch or if you're looking for a Korean restaurant to bring the family.

How close is it to Hyeopjae Beach?

Onjeong Jorim is right in front of Hyeopjae Beach, super close. When you're traveling around western Jeju, it's oddly hard to find a proper, reasonably priced meal near tourist spots. Personally I usually avoid eating right in front of famous attractions — I've been burned a few times with tourist-trap prices for mediocre food.

Hairtail stew price: ₩15,000 per person

But here, the moment I looked at the menu — huh? Hairtail stew is 15,000 won per person. If you've had hairtail stew in Jeju recently, you'll know: a proper whole-fish stew can be quite pricey. But here, everything from the Jeju garlic hairtail stew to mackerel stew to mixed stew is 15,000 won per person, so the price alone won me over. If you're looking for good-value hairtail stew in Hyeopjae, this passes with flying colors just on price!

I drove there, and there's parking space right in front of the restaurant, which was convenient. It pairs well with a trip to Hyeopjae Beach, so if you're looking for a Korean restaurant near Hyeopjae Beach, the logistics work out nicely. Especially since you can eat right by the sea and then head straight back to the beach — it's a perfect fit for a day of ocean-view sightseeing in Jeju.

Jeju garlic hairtail stew — garlic is the kick

I ordered the Jeju manong (garlic) hairtail stew. Manong is Jeju dialect for garlic. So when the dish arrived, there was a generous pile of minced garlic on top of the hairtail stew. At first I thought, would a bit of garlic on top really make that much difference? But oh... it's surprisingly a real kick.

Instead of boiling the garlic in from the start, it's piled on top, so you get a much livelier garlic aroma as you eat. The spicy, salty hairtail stew sauce meets that sharp garlic scent, and the broth flavor deepens a whole level. It's not just sweet-and-spicy stew flavor and done — the Jeju garlic scent lingers deeply at the end.

And I was surprised again by the size of the hairtail. The fish is completely plump!!!!! It's not the kind that falls apart the moment you pick it up with chopsticks because the flesh is too thin — the meat was genuinely thick. And there were quite a lot of chunks. Two of us ate, and I remember we each had about three chunks. That counts as good-value hairtail stew in Jeju, right???

That long rectangular side plate detail

And this is the kind of detail that gets me every time. The individual side plate for hairtail is a long rectangle. Sounds like nothing, right? But anyone who's picked apart a lot of hairtail knows haha. You pull off the side bones first, then lift the flesh with a spoon — but on a round plate it always slides off to the side. Bones fall off the plate, sauce gets everywhere, total chaos.

But at Onjeong Jorim the plate is wide and long, so it was really easy to lay down a chunk of hairtail and pick out the bones. First time having ocean-view hairtail stew — Hyeopjae Beach visible while I ate, hairtail tasting amazing, such a happy meal.

Definitely order the boiled pork with fresh kimchi salad

Since I'd been overdosing on seafood this whole Jeju trip, I hadn't properly eaten black pork yet. So I ordered a small boiled pork too. Boiled pork at a hairtail stew restaurant? Might sound random, but there are actually quite a few places in Jeju that serve boiled pork alongside hairtail stew.

I didn't expect much, but — what, what is this. Why is the boiled pork so tender and soft too. Usually the boiled pork served as a side at places like this feels pre-boiled and reheated, or comes out a bit cold. But here the meat was soft and tender and absolutely delicious.

And the fresh kimchi salad matters so much with boiled pork, right? This one was slightly sweet and paired really well with the pork. So even though I was already pretty full, I ended up scraping the plate clean haha.

The best way to eat it

And if you go to Onjeong Jorim, please try this. Don't just keep eating the hairtail alone as soon as it arrives. Grab the seaweed sheets that come as a side dish. Put a spoonful of rice, add a chunky piece of hairtail flesh, and wrap it in the seaweed.

Then dip it into the hairtail stew broth at the end. Just — done. Game over. I nearly ordered another bowl of rice after one bite of this. Seriously, this could take down two bowls of rice easily. I only held back thinking about my waistline...

And try the braised radish in between bites too. Radish that's soaked up the sauce, with a spoonful of rice — ugh, you know? Because Onjeong Jorim's stew has garlic in it, the umami of the sauce itself is so good that wrapping rice in seaweed and dipping it in the broth really brings the flavor to life.

Why it's worth adding to your Hyeopjae itinerary

So if you've just been comparing rankings of the best hairtail stew restaurants in Jeju while searching online, instead of only following the famous places, consider adding this one to your Hyeopjae itinerary. I don't usually expect much near famous tourist spots, but I saved this place to my map the moment I walked out. No need to drive far out of your way or line up for opening time — you get to see pretty Hyeopjae Beach and eat a hearty Jeju hairtail stew, which makes the whole travel route so much easier.

If someone asked me for a Jeju hairtail stew spot that feels like a local favorite, not too touristy, and filling enough for Hyeopjae — I'd bring up Onjeong Jorim. And you absolutely have to try this combo: rice + hairtail + seaweed, finished with a dip in the broth. Got it?

You'll understand why I got so excited about finding one good hairtail stew place in Jeju that I wrote this whole long post — one bite and you'll get it haha

If you're looking for a delicious, filling meal in Hyeopjae, I recommend Onjeong Jorim!