Spicy webfoot octopus lunch in Gangseo, Seoul: Jju Baksa

Today, I’m introducing Jju Baksa (쭈박사), which I visited while looking for a great lunch spot in Magok. Jju Baksa was already famous for jjukkumi (spicy webfoot octopus) in Magok, apparently?! We were planning to have lunch in Magok, and since we were craving jjukkumi, we decided to give it a try. It is especially close to Yangcheonghyanggyo Station, so it is easy to reach on foot from the station, and there is parking in the building, which made driving there convenient too. Today, I’ll show you in detail what I thought of Jju Baksa, a jjukkumi spot near Seoul Botanic Park that I tried myself!

Jju Baksa Magok menu and lunch specials

Jju Baksa, a Magok lunch spot, had not only individual dishes but also a range of set menus. There were various options including alcohol sets, drinks, and fried rice, so you could choose the combination you wanted. We wanted fried rice too, so we ordered the Jju Baksa Fried Rice Set. If you are visiting at lunchtime, they also have lunch specials, so I think it would be worth checking the menu.

As you would expect from a place already known in Magok for having a wait, there was a waiting list in the restaurant. Even though we visited early, there were already quite a few diners inside.

Jju Baksa in Magok had outdoor seating as well as indoor tables. At a time like this, when the weather is gradually getting cooler, I thought dining outside would have a nice atmosphere. On a lovely day, eating jjukkumi outdoors would feel quietly nice too.

Side dishes, corn butter, and crab meat steamed egg

The basic side dishes at Jju Baksa included bean sprouts, cold salad, perilla leaves, and pickled radish wraps. You can freely refill the side dishes at the self-serve bar. I love having perilla leaves or pickled radish wraps with jjukkumi, so I liked being able to take as much as I needed.

And, fitting for a Magok jjukkumi favorite, corn butter came as part of the basic spread too. I heard that this was also included in the set. With the popping corn and buttery aroma, it tasted so good that we had already eaten half of it before the jjukkumi even arrived.

Jju Baksa also serves steamed egg as a complimentary dish. There were no less than three kinds, and you could choose one yourself. You could choose cheese, crab meat, or plain steamed egg, and we picked the soft crab meat version. When I tried it, it was truly super soft and bouncy. I had a spoonful before eating the jjukkumi, and it was so tasty that I felt I could easily finish a whole bowl of rice with this alone.

Plump jjukkumi cooked for you

Finally, the main jjukkumi arrived! We ordered two servings of jjukkumi and added pork belly, plus one serving of beef brisket. It was quite a generous amount for two people. Eating it this way, we seriously felt like we were going to burst! There was another thing I liked about Jju Baksa, a good-value Magok restaurant: the staff cook it for you! The texture of jjukkumi can change if it is overcooked, so it was great that the staff prepared it and we could eat it at its most delicious moment.

And can you see the jjukkumi? They were really plump. The moment I took a bite, I could properly feel that springy jjukkumi texture. It can be disappointing when the jjukkumi is too small or chopped into tiny pieces, but these were plump, so their distinctive bouncy bite really came through. I was satisfied.

Cheese rice cakes and flying fish roe wraps

I’m a huge rice-cake lover, so I added cheese rice cakes too. If you like cheese rice cakes, I think they are worth adding. The regular rice cakes that come with the dish are tasty enough, though, so the basic serving is perfectly good even without the extra. But I am the leader of the rice-cake-lover club, so I always add extra rice cakes.

I also love making wraps with jjukkumi. I piled jjukkumi and corn onto a perilla leaf and made a big, full bite. And because I love flying fish roe, I added it to my wrap too. This is such a total game changer with jjukkumi!! The popping texture of the flying fish roe added another dimension to the spicy jjukkumi.

When it got too spicy, dipping it in the mayo sauce softened the heat a little.

Finishing with flying fish roe cheese fried rice

And the dish I had been looking forward to most today! We finished with flying fish roe cheese fried rice. I really love flying fish roe, and at Jju Baksa you can add extra flying fish roe. So, without a moment of hesitation, I added it right away. Thanks to that, we got to make fried rice absolutely loaded with flying fish roe! The fried rice had soaked up the jjukkumi sauce, then came cheese and all those popping roe pearls, so it felt like we ate properly right through to the end.

Today, we had a hearty meal at Jju Baksa, a Magok lunch spot, from jjukkumi through to fried rice. With plump jjukkumi, spicy seasoning, and all kinds of add-ons and wrap combinations, it was great for mixing and matching things to suit your taste. If you are wondering where to have lunch around Yangcheonghyanggyo Station, how about Jju Baksa? This has been Goguma Twigim!