Baby octopus hot plate in Dong-gu, Gwangju: Jjukkumi Sinnara

Jjukkumi Sinnara in Dong-gu, Gwangju: lunch after the suit fitting

I had jjuksam (octopus and pork belly) hot plate at Jjukkumi Sinnara on Muding-ro in Dong-gu, Gwangju. Suit contract done, off we went to eat with a clear mind~! Before heading to a pretty café in Dong-gu, we swung by for spicy octopus to fill up first 🐙🐙🐙

I'd heard this place gets really crowded, so I went in with high expectations for how good it'd be. I don't usually have reasons to come to Dong-gu, but lately I've been in and out a lot for wedding stuff haha.

I actually had a plan mapped out for the day haha. My plan 📑!! Sign the custom suit contract first, eat jjukkumi, then head to a pretty café in Dong-gu. Kind of proud of myself for becoming more of a planner type lately 😎

Where do you park at Jjukkumi Sinnara?

Jjukkumi Sinnara doesn't have its own parking lot, so I parked along the line by Pureungil Park and walked over. Parking matters when you're going somewhere for the first time!!

Even here the spots were all full, but after circling once a spot opened up haha. It looked like some people were parking right in front of the restaurant too, but I felt more comfortable parking near Pureungil Park.

Jjuksam hot plate: baby octopus and pork belly at basic spice

Luckily a table opened up right as we arrived, so we got in with no wait! I thought we might have to wait given how busy it was, but the timing worked out haha. Looking at the menu, there were so many jjukkumi options that I spent a while deciding, and in the end I went with the jjuksam hot plate.

Among mild, basic, and spicy, I went back and forth but landed on basic, the middle option. I figured going too spicy would drown out the actual flavor of the food, so basic felt right. While waiting for the order, I tried the banchan (side dishes) that came out one by one, and they were way better than expected!

The self-serve banchan bar and soybean sprout soup

Of the banchan at Jjukkumi Sinnara, the soybean sprout soup stuck with me the most. It came out hot, and it was a real treat — a spoonful before eating the jjukkumi warmed me right up, and I kept going back for more.

There's a self-bar for extra banchan, so I could grab more of anything I ran low on myself. Plus, alongside the hot soybean sprout soup there was a cold version too, so you could pick whichever suited your taste — a nice touch.

How to eat jjuksam: perilla leaf with mayonnaise

Our jjuksam hot plate arrived 🔥 It's a dish where the octopus and pork belly get stir-fried right on the hot plate, so just watching it made my mouth water. I'd debated between the hot plate version and the regular version, but figured jjukkumi has to be hot plate haha — and I think I chose right.

After stir-frying the octopus and pork belly on the hot plate, we wrapped it with mayo in a perilla leaf, and the combo was really good.

The spicy jjukkumi with the perilla leaf's aroma and the mayo's mellow, savory richness made me keep wrapping bite after bite. Jjukkumi really does go so well with perilla leaves haha. And eating jjukkumi alone felt like it wasn't quite enough, so partway through we added fried rice too.

Finishing with fried rice on the hot plate

Of course, the ending of any hot plate dish is fried rice haha! We added rice to the leftover sauce and pressed it down firmly to fry it up, and even scraping up the crispy bits stuck to the bottom was genuinely delicious.

A day where I ate a hearty meal before heading to a pretty café, complete with tasty jjukkumi and fried rice! A good spot to stop by in Dong-gu whenever you're craving something spicy. If you especially love hot plate jjukkumi, I'd recommend the full course — jjuksam hot plate plus fried rice 💗