Gapyeong octopus grill: 5 servings and black tiger shrimp, Paldang

What is Paldang Jikhwa Bul Jjukkumi in Gapyeong like?

Paldang Jikhwa Bul Jjukkumi (팔당직화불쭈꾸미) is a restaurant specializing in jjukkumi (baby octopus) and flame-grilled dishes at 150 Hanseo-ro, Seorak-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi, South Korea (1st floor). It's open daily 11:00 to 21:00, last order is at 20:00, and parking is available.

We were on a trip to Gapyeong and were craving something spicy, so we stopped by 😊 The menu has everything from combos of octopus with thin-sliced pork belly or Korean beef intestine to pork cutlets and shrimp fry 🦐 We wanted to try a bit of everything, so we ordered quite a lot.

The place is spacious, and with a self-bar and baby chairs it's also described as a good spot for families 👍

How much does it cost to switch to pot rice?

You can switch the regular rice to pot rice (solbap) for an extra ₩3,000, I heard. Regular rice is fine, but if you like freshly cooked rice, I bet pot rice with the octopus sauce would be really good.

The octopus sauce goes so well with rice that you really want to finish with a proper bowl of it to feel full 😆

What's on the Paldang Jikhwa Bul Jjukkumi self-bar?

The self-bar has the usual side dishes, plus fried snacks, tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) and sundae (Korean blood sausage). The self-bar made me like the place even more.

It's nice to grab a few things while waiting for the main dishes, and when you're tired of spicy octopus you can go get something else 😋 With tteokbokki and sundae there, kids who can't really eat octopus have something to eat too, so it seemed fine for a family meal.

⬆️Grilled octopus with beef intestine (jjukkumi + grilled daechang)⬆️ ⬇️Grilled octopus with pork belly (jjukkumi + thin-sliced pork belly)⬇️

Grilled octopus with pork belly vs beef intestine: how do they taste?

We ordered 2 servings of the grilled octopus with thin-sliced pork belly and 3 servings of the grilled octopus with beef intestine. The pork belly one was a bit milder thanks to the richness of the pork, while the beef intestine one had a nutty richness that went well as drinking food.

Rather than just octopus, I figured eating it with pork belly or intestine would give a different flavor, so we picked those two. Octopus really is best flame-grilled: the smoky aroma hit us the moment the food arrived and got our appetites going 🔥

The octopus was springy and chewy, and the spicy sauce blended well. It was good with rice and I kept picking at it on its own. The pork belly version felt a little smoother with the pork's richness added to the spice, and the intestine version, with chewy octopus plus rich intestine, was a great match for drinks.

Is Paldang Jikhwa Bul Jjukkumi a good stop on a Gapyeong trip?

Paldang Jikhwa Bul Jjukkumi is in Seorak-myeon, Gapyeong, fairly close to Seorak IC (the highway interchange), so it was easy to stop by for a meal during our trip. It's on Hanseo-ro in Seorak-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, and has parking, so it was convenient to come by car.

If you're like us and want to eat a bit of everything, you could order the two grilled octopus dishes plus steamed egg, shrimp fry and a pork cutlet.

Spicy grilled octopus with steamed egg

We ordered steamed egg (gyeran-jjim) along with the octopus. When you're eating spicy food, a soft steamed egg is great for soothing your mouth between bites.

Alternating fluffy, soft egg with the octopus was just right. If you like spicy food, I'd recommend ordering the steamed egg too 😊

Head-on black tiger shrimp fry, huge in size

The dish I enjoyed more than expected was the shrimp fry. It's black tiger shrimp fried whole, head and all, and the size was something else the moment it arrived.

I ordered it thinking of ordinary shrimp fry and was shocked by the size 👀 It's crispy from head to tail, so eating it whole is fun, and the shrimp meat was plump and got nuttier the more I chewed. After nonstop octopus, having a shrimp now and then was a nice combination. The menu info also describes it as black tiger shrimp fried whole, head and all.

Handmade pork loin cutlet to round it out

The handmade pork loin cutlet (donkatsu) is a good thing to order if you're going with someone who can't eat octopus well or doesn't like spicy food. We came for the octopus, but we couldn't skip the cutlet either.

Maybe because it's handmade, the crispy coating and the thick cut of meat went well together. Taking a bite of cutlet in between octopus and then going back to the octopus made me glad we ordered a variety.

Is Paldang Jikhwa Bul Jjukkumi worth a return visit?

With sides as varied as the octopus itself, I thought Paldang Jikhwa Bul Jjukkumi is a good place to visit with several people. If you're looking for a Gapyeong jjukkumi restaurant, the appeal is smoky flame-grilled octopus that you can enjoy with pork belly and beef intestine.

We left really full, yet I think the taste will cross our minds the next time we're in Gapyeong 😊 If you're craving something spicy on a Gapyeong trip, give the grilled dishes at Paldang Jikhwa Bul Jjukkumi a try. And if you're wondering where to go with a child, the cutlet and self-bar items should make it fine for a meal together 💛