Solo dining at a Hyeopjae braised fish restaurant: Onjeong Jorim

I spent my last day in Jeju at Hyeopjae Beach. I was planning to grab lunch and then hit the beach when I found out there's a good-value hairtail stew restaurant right there!!! I've been to Jeju plenty of times but had never once had hairtail stew here — and going solo, there was no way I was skipping a good-value hairtail stew in Hyeopjae.

Walking over from the Hyeopjae Beach public parking lot

Right across from Onjeong Jorim Jeju Hyeopjae Branch is the Hyeopjae Beach public parking lot. It's free, the spaces are spacious, and since I planned to eat and then enjoy the beach afterward, I used the public lot.

Onjeong Jorim Jeju Hyeopjae Branch / Address: 328 Hallim-ro, Hallim-eup, Jeju-si, Jeju, South Korea, 1st floor / Hours: 10 AM – 10 PM

There's also parking space right in front of the restaurant.

Inside Onjeong Jorim: palm trees through the window

This place gets a lot of families and groups, so there are tables well-suited for bigger parties too. It's not quite an ocean view out the window, but Hyeopjae Beach is right there just past the parking lot. With palm trees right by the sea, you really get that Jeju feeling.

Mixed jorim for two at 15,000 won per person

At Onjeong, stews can only be ordered starting at 2 servings, priced at ₩15,000 per person. I couldn't resist wanting both the hairtail jorim and the mackerel jorim, so I ordered the mixed jorim for two.

They also have aprons ready. What was I even wearing that day... Since I was heading home anyway, I was dressed comfortably in dark sweats, so I just went without the apron and dug in freely.

They bring out the basic side dishes for you, and any extras you need can be grabbed from the self-serve bar.

What is manong jorim? Braised fish topped with minced garlic

The mixed jorim for two arrived. Interestingly, this good-value hairtail and mackerel jorim at Hyeopjae isn't just your regular jorim. When I first looked at the menu I wondered, what's manong jorim? Turns out manong means garlic — it comes topped with minced garlic.

Rice isn't included in the stew price, it's ordered separately. Since the stew itself started at 2 servings, I probably should've ordered 2 rice bowls too, but I figured I'd load up on protein from the fish instead.

The best part of the jorim: well-braised radish

Isn't it true that a lot of people think the radish is the real star of a jorim?? It was so well-braised that it fell apart easily with just a spoon. Put it on top of a bowl of fresh white rice and it's incredible. Radish helps digestion too, so you can eat as much as you want haha.

How did the mackerel and hairtail taste?

The mackerel was plump and so fresh — moist, clean-tasting, absolutely delicious. It had just the right amount of oiliness and the fishy smell was noticeably tamed. Maybe that's because of the garlic jorim style? The garlic aroma blended perfectly with the stew. It went really well with the spicy chili in the sauce too.

Turns out I'm pretty good at deboning fish lol. I piled a generous chunk of hairtail flesh onto seaweed and wrapped it up — the flesh was so tender that I finally understood why Jeju hairtail stew is famous. Just the fish flesh alone, popped straight into your mouth, is delicious. Paired with the radish or the sauce it practically demands rice, but eating just the fish flesh on its own was mild, tender, and not too salty.

Self-serve side dish bar and bean sprout refills

Radish on top of rice, plenty of precious hairtail flesh added on — the hairtail flesh was incredibly tender, and whenever it felt a bit salty, the basic side dishes balanced it out perfectly. Maybe because it's a stew restaurant, the basic sides weren't salty and had a clean flavor. I refilled the bean sprouts once.

Hairtail roe in the pot too

While deboning the hairtail I spotted this. It's not quite in focus, but finding hairtail roe made me want to go buy a lottery ticket before heading home lol. The roe had a nutty, toasty flavor and was so good.

Can one person finish two servings at Onjeong Jorim?

I didn't think I'd be able to demolish 2 servings of jorim like this... I wanted to order one more bowl of rice, but to avoid a food coma I went straight out for two laps around Hyeopjae Beach instead. At this good-value hairtail stew spot in Hyeopjae, I got to fully enjoy the mackerel too thanks to the mixed jorim.