Bucheon Station monkfish stew, bone-in, level 4 & minari: Haemul

Where is Haemul Teukbyeolsi Bucheon Station branch?

Haemul Teukbyeolsi Bucheon Station branch is on the 1st floor of 440-6 Buil-ro, Wonmi-gu, Bucheon, Gyeonggi, South Korea, about a 10-minute walk from Bucheon Station.

It's a place near Bucheon Station where you can enjoy monkfish stew (agujjim) and seafood stew! They use seafood and monkfish prepped the same day, and I heard it may close early once the prepared ingredients run out.

With monkfish stew and seafood stew on the menu, it works as a meal spot and also for a drink. It feels perfect for an evening drink haha. The menu is also a good fit for group gatherings.

Collagen monkfish stew price and what I ordered

At Haemul Teukbyeolsi Bucheon Station branch, I ordered the collagen monkfish stew for ₩43,000, plus spice level 4 (₩1,000) and instant rice (₩2,000).

• Collagen monkfish stew ₩43,000
• Spice level 4 ₩1,000
• Instant rice ₩2,000

Side dishes: white kimchi, corn cheese, seaweed soup, steamed egg

Of the side dishes, the white kimchi (baek-kimchi) is seriously good!! The monkfish sauce is rich, so the white kimchi felt clean and refreshing alongside it.

Corn cheese, seaweed soup and steamed egg come as standard. The corn cheese was properly charred and nutty, and the seaweed soup was clean-tasting, a nice match for the spicy monkfish stew.

The steamed egg was so soft and silky that I couldn't resist and finished it before the monkfish stew even arrived haha. It's nice that even the free sides are tasty.

Collagen monkfish stew: boneless or bone-in?

You can choose boneless or bone-in for the collagen monkfish stew, and since I like monkfish with the skin attached, I went bone-in! Loads and loads of monkfish, with plump meat and chewy skin, that's the appeal of this stew.

When I ate it, the meat was really generous and plump, which satisfied me. There's plenty of meat on it, so picking it off the bone is fun, and above all the skin isn't fishy and is nicely chewy. I loved it.

If you like the springy texture of monkfish skin, I think you'll enjoy the bone-in version. The meat was tender and the skin chewy, so the textures were varied.

How spicy is level 4?

By my standards, level 4 of the collagen monkfish stew was less spicy than Buldak noodles, so it was fairly easy to eat. I worried it'd be very hot, but it wasn't as bad as I feared.

Spicy, rich sauce and crunchy bean sprouts! Not many places put in minari (water dropwort), so... yes, it smells fragrant and tastes great haha. The sauce was distinctive: it felt like the deep flavor of seafood stew combined with the sweet-spicy feel of tteokbokki sauce.

Lots of bean sprouts, and a sauce that thickens on the burner

The sauce is rich and well absorbed even into the meaty chunks and the roe (gon-i), and as you warm it gently on the burner it gets thicker and thicker. I especially liked that there were plenty of bean sprouts.

Quickly searing the sprouts on top of the boiling stew and eating them with the sauce, the crunch and the strong seasoning went really well together haha. Put sprouts on a plump piece of monkfish and coat it in sauce, and you get the spice and the crunch at once.

Fried dumplings on top of the stew

On top of the collagen monkfish stew there were also crispy, chewy fried dumplings. Dumplings on monkfish stew felt a little unfamiliar at first, but this combination turned out to be good too!

They're unfilled dumplings, crispy outside and chewy inside. They're good on their own, but dipped in the stew sauce and wrapped with monkfish meat, they had another charm. The spicy, rich sauce goes well with the nutty flavor of the dumplings!!

Is the collagen monkfish stew portion generous?

The portion was far bigger than I expected, so I couldn't even finish the instant rice I ordered and didn't even try the fried rice I'd been looking forward to 😂 I'd planned to eat a bowl of rice with the stew and then fried rice too, but... sob.

The stew had roe and sea squirt (or maybe it was oman-dung? not sure..) and they were really chewy and fresh, so good 🤤 From the monkfish meat to the chewy skin, crunchy sprouts and crispy-chewy fried dumplings, this collagen monkfish stew had a lot to enjoy!

Short review

Haemul Teukbyeolsi Bucheon Station branch is near Bucheon Station. The collagen monkfish stew had plump monkfish meat and chewy skin with no fishiness, and it was delicious with the rich seasoning, crunchy bean sprouts and fried dumplings. The portion was generous too, so it makes for a filling meal!