Cheongna monkfish stew with extra flat dumplings: Haemul Teukbyeolsi

A great agu-jjim (spicy braised monkfish) spot in Cheongna: Haemul Teukbyeolsi 🦑🔥 Instead of a regular plate of seafood jjim, it comes bubbling and steaming, so you can enjoy it hot down to the last bite. The special combo of spicy monkfish wrapped in flat dumplings was so good ::>_<::

Haemul Teukbyeolsi Cheongna Direct Branch: location, hours and parking

Haemul Teukbyeolsi Cheongna Direct Branch (해물특별시 청라직영점) is on the 1st floor at 23 Cheongna Emerald-ro 41beon-gil, Seohae-gu, Incheon. It opens at 11:30 and closes at 22:00, with a break from 15:00 to 16:30. It is closed every Thursday, but it can open for group reservations on Thursdays, so just call the restaurant.

If you come by public transport, get off at a stop near Cheongna Canalway and walk toward Cheongna Emerald-ro 41beon-gil. If you drive, there is parking for up to 6 cars in front of the restaurant, and when it's full you can use parking spots in the nearby alley.

Private rooms, group gatherings, up to 60 seats

Following the Bucheon Station main branch, this newly opened Cheongna agu-jjim restaurant has a spacious interior and even private rooms. It looked great for a family dinner or a date, and also for group gatherings, company dinners and wedding-invitation get-togethers.

Book on Naver and get 1 fried shrimp per person

We booked through Naver Reservation before visiting, and our table was already prepared. 🍤 Booking gets you 1 fried shrimp per person, so if you reserve ahead you get fried shrimp too \^o^/ It's a new place, but word seems to have spread already and it was quite busy, so I recommend reserving if you're coming with a group.

Haemul Teukbyeolsi Cheongna menu and prices

Seafood jjim you can keep boiling to the very end

Here is the menu of this Cheongna agu-jjim restaurant.

• 🦑[Lunch special] Seafood hand-cut kalguksu (noodle soup) ₩11,000 (order for 2 or more): seafood broth with clams, shrimp and one squid, plus hand-cut noodles
• 🦑[Lunch special] Seafood hand-cut kalguksu set ₩16,000 (order for 2 or more): seafood kalguksu plus a tasting portion of boneless agu-jjim, a good-value set
• 🦑Whole squid hot-plate seafood jjim set (small) ₩58,000 (recommended for 2–3): can be changed to monkfish seafood jjim! Comes with clam soup, hot-plate corn cheese, flat dumplings and 3 side dishes
• 🦑Whole squid seafood tang (spicy seafood stew) set ₩58,000: a full seafood stew set with one whole squid
• 🦑Handmade fried monkfish (one plate) ₩18,000: boneless fried monkfish made by hand, not frozen
• 🦑Hot-plate monkfish seafood jjim (small) ₩58,000: comes with a tasting clam soup, hot-plate corn cheese, flat dumplings and side dishes
• 🦑Hot-plate monkfish jjim set (small) ₩43,000 (recommended for 2–3): comes with a tasting clam soup, hot-plate corn cheese, flat dumplings and 3 side dishes
• 🦑Hot-plate algonii (fish roe) jjim set (small) ₩43,000: comes with a tasting clam soup, hot-plate corn cheese, flat dumplings and side dishes

There was everything from agu-jjim to tang (stews), seafood jjim and seafood tang, and the lunch specials were well put together too.

You can choose the spice level, and also bone-in or boneless monkfish ~~>_<~~ I wanted plenty of monkfish meat, so I chose boneless.

Clam soup and side dishes that arrive before the main

A warm clam soup comes out even before the main dish

Before the main dish arrives, Haemul Teukbyeolsi Cheongna Direct Branch brings out a clam soup, and for a free starter the quality was really good. I think it beats the clam soup at most drinking spots. The broth was very refreshing and rich in umami. I cracked open a soju right away {{{(>_<)}}}

Both the scallops and the mussels were cool and tasty.

The neat side dishes were all good too. The cool pickles and white kimchi went well with the red sauce, and the scallion kimchi, which adds red heat on top of red heat, went surprisingly well with the agu-jjim, so I got a refill. The corn cheese was delicious too \(@^0^@)/ And today's highlight: the flat dumplings 🥟. I had only ever eaten flat dumplings with tteokbokki or jjimdak (braised chicken), but at this Cheongna agu-jjim restaurant they serve flat dumplings specially with the monkfish.

How big is the small hot-plate agu-jjim?

"Is this really the small size?"

Even though I ordered the small, the agu-jjim was generous. It isn't just bean sprouts making it look like a lot; it was really full of monkfish. It comes on an iron plate rather than a regular dish, with a burner underneath, so you can keep eating it sizzling hot. I really felt how much food temperature matters: when it started to cool, I turned the heat back on and warmed it up, and the flavor shot right up `(*>﹏<*)′

What happens when you wrap agu-jjim in a flat dumpling?

Not just a meal, but an experience you remember

A staff member kindly showed us how to wrap it. Honestly, I don't usually like dumplings much, so I wasn't expecting anything from the flat dumplings, but wrapped around spicy agu-jjim they were so good /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~

On top of chewy monkfish

Popping mideodeok (sea squirts)

Soft algonii (fish roe)

Monkfish packed with meat

Crunchy bean sprouts. They kept their crunch while still soaking up the sauce well. This agu-jjim had no watery sprout taste, just rich, tasty seasoning.

After eagerly working through the monkfish, I ended up ordering more flat dumplings. The monkfish and flat dumpling combo was good enough that I ordered extra. There was a lot of monkfish, I had more dumplings, and the sauce was so good that I cleaned up even the sauce-soaked bean sprouts, so I was too full and gave up on the fried rice ㅠ_ㅠ

Hot-plate food you can keep boiling to the end, plus a new combo of wrapping it in flat dumplings: I loved this Cheongna agu-jjim restaurant, Haemul Teukbyeolsi. I had a hot, hearty meal and went home happy :-D