Sangdong, Bucheon restaurant for spicy baby octopus and soju: Kkusam

Trying to figure out dinner in Sangdong, Bucheon, I found myself craving spicy stir-fried octopus and landed at Kkusam. If you're looking for a solid meal with a shot of soju on the side in the Sangdong food alley, this place is worth keeping in mind.

Kkusam in Sangdong, Bucheon: location and hours

• Address: 125 Gilju-ro, 1st floor, Wonmi-gu, Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do
• Hours: 11:30 AM – 10:00 PM
• Closed: None
• Parking: Basement parking available in the building

The bold yellow sign with the big letters 'Kkusam' was easy to spot even from a distance. It's on the 1st floor of Dasung Plaza and open from lunchtime, so you can drop in for a simple meal earlier in the day too.

What is the atmosphere like at Kkusam?

Walking into Kkusam, the interior had a comfortable feel with deep wood tones mixed with black. Every table has its own grill plate, and the spacing between tables wasn't cramped at all, making it a good spot for dinner with friends or a casual drinking session. Rather than a flashy, trendy restaurant, it felt more like a neighborhood spot you'd casually stop by after work for good food and a drink. Places like this somehow just taste better with soju, you know? What I loved most was that in this heat, the AC here was running at full blast... it was so cool I wanted to just lie down and nap after eating, haha.

Kkusam menu and lunch stew set prices

Kkusam uses table ordering, so it's easy to order. There's a separate lunch menu too — a kimchi stew set for ₩9,000 and a doenjang (soybean paste) stew set for ₩8,000 were listed, with lunch hours running from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM. Menu and prices may change depending on when you visit, so treat this as a reference.

In the evening, it's stir-fried octopus with a shot of soju; at lunch, a filling combo of stew and rice. Our order that day was stir-fried octopus, kimchi stew, rice, and soju! Spicy octopus and hearty kimchi stew — the combo was on point from the start.

On the wall, there were detailed instructions on how to properly grill pork belly, pork jowl, and pork neck — down to how to control the heat and how to slice the meat. Next time I visit, I definitely want to grill some meat instead of just octopus!

Self-serve lettuce and side dishes at Kkusam

Kkusam's basic side dishes included lettuce, kimchi, green onion kimchi, pickled radish, and ssamjang (dipping sauce). What I really liked was the self-serve corner! If you ran out of a side dish while eating, you could grab more without any hesitation. Lettuce, peppers, pickled radish, kimchi, and sauces were all neatly laid out, so whenever the lettuce ran low while eating the octopus, it was an instant refill! And when the octopus got a bit too spicy, a crunchy bite of pickled radish cleared the palate right up, sending chopsticks straight back to the octopus.

The main dish: Kkusam's spicy stir-fried baby octopus

And finally, the stir-fried octopus arrived! The glistening red sauce alone was enough to get the appetite going. Plump octopus was packed in generously between chunky pieces of onion and green onion, and just looking at it made me hungry. One bite in, and the springy, chewy texture unique to octopus was fully alive.

The spicy, savory sauce clung to the octopus so well it was delicious even on its own, but this dish really needs rice to go with it! Piling a piece of octopus and sauce-soaked onion on a bed of hot white rice and taking a big bite — total rice thief territory.

Stir-fried baby octopus with soju

There's no way you could pass on soju in front of this visual. A bite of octopus followed by a cold shot of soju paired cleanly with the spicy flavor — perfect. It was also just the right setting for clinking glasses with a friend and catching up over conversation.

The sweet-and-spicy stir-fried octopus in particular was a pretty compelling choice when looking for something simple to drink to in Sangdong, Bucheon.

There was also plenty of fresh lettuce, so I made lettuce wraps too. Put octopus and pickled radish on a lettuce leaf, add ssamjang or pepper to taste, and it's done! The lettuce cut through the spicy sauce nicely while adding crunch, so I kept going back for more. And somehow, with just one octopus leg on top, a spoonful of rice would vanish in an instant. With the sauce soaking into every grain of rice, my spoon kept getting busy.

Hot, spicy kimchi stew on the side

It felt like a waste to stop at just the stir-fried octopus, so we ordered kimchi stew and rice as well. The kimchi stew came bubbling in a stone pot, with a deep, rich color in the broth right from the start. Scooping up a good chunk of well-fermented kimchi and meat together, the very first spoonful felt hearty.

After eating spicy octopus, a spoonful of hot kimchi stew broth cleared the palate right up! Piling kimchi and meat on rice, that alone could finish off a whole bowl of rice. Ordering the stir-fried octopus alongside the kimchi stew turned out to be a pretty satisfying choice.

Is Kkusam worth a visit?

If you're looking for a great stir-fried octopus spot in Sangdong, Bucheon, Kkusam is worth trying for a spicy meal. The plump, chewy octopus soaked in thick sauce paired perfectly with rice, and eating it wrapped in lettuce was fun too. Adding hot kimchi stew and a shot of soju made for a dinner combo that lacked nothing. I also liked being able to grab lettuce and side dishes freely from the self-serve corner. Kkusam is a great Sangdong, Bucheon spot for days when you're craving spicy octopus and want to knock out both dinner and drinks in one place. A big piece of octopus over rice, a spoonful of kimchi stew broth — that was one properly hearty dinner.