Boneless agujjim in Jinju near Jinjuseong Fortress: Jjimgoeul

We checked into our lodging near Jinjuseong Fortress and came out for dinner haha. It happened to be the day of a festival at Jinjuseong! The location was perfect too, so we decided to eat agujjim (braised monkfish) nearby and go check out the fortress afterward haha.

Jjimgoeul location, hours, and parking

• Address: 경상남도 진주시 남강로659번길 12-4 1층 (12-4 Namgang-ro 659beon-gil, Jinju, Gyeongnam, South Korea)
• Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun 11:30 - 20:30
• Break time 14:30 - 17:00 / Last order 20:00
• Closed every Tuesday
• Use the parking lot near the restaurant — one parking voucher per table when you pay!

It was under a 10-minute walk from our lodging, so we walked over! It was also about 5 minutes from Jinjuseong Fortress, which was great haha. Jinju seems to be known for agujjim too. I love agujjim normally and order it delivery often, but it had been a while since I ate it at an actual restaurant.

Inside the restaurant

This is what it looks like inside. The place wasn't huge, but it felt clean and comfortable haha. Something about it, from the outside to the inside, gave off a real 'this must be a good agujjim spot' vibe lol. While we sat waiting, quite a few takeout customers came in too. Seeing that, it really does seem like a local favorite in Jinju!

Menu and choosing your spice level

Boneless agujjim, agujjim, braised cod cheek, mixed seafood jjim, crab jjim — there are 5 types of jjim (braised dishes). Rice is separate, so you have to order it apart from the jjim. Spice level is adjustable! You can choose from level 0 to level 5 depending on your taste, which is nice.

We went with the popular boneless agujjim in the small size, and after some thought, went with medium spice! And one order of rice topped with seaweed flakes for our kid haha.

Side dishes and bean sprout soup

The side dishes came out first. Salad, seasoned cucumber and pepper, stir-fried mushrooms, pickles, and seaweed stem. All the basic side dishes were tasty haha. My favorites were the seasoned cucumber and pepper and the seaweed stem — great!

Bean sprout soup comes out too. Every restaurant in Jinju seems to make delicious soup. It was clean and refreshing, and went well with the agujjim.

Rice piled high with seaweed flakes! This was ordered for our kid, and the portion was quite generous haha. Ordering the seaweed flake rice instead of plain rice would also be great to mix with the agujjim sauce.

Boneless agujjim

We ordered the small size, but the portion was massive lol. Mouthwatering just from the visuals... T_T Agujjim is so good every single time, I don't know why lol.

Boneless monkfish! Since it was boneless, it was easy to eat right away. No need to pick apart the bones — you just eat it as is, which was great, and the meat was firm and tender. The size was about bite-sized, which was perfect, and there didn't seem to be a separate dipping sauce for the monkfish.

Medium spice — how spicy was it, really?

Here's a cross-section of the firm monkfish haha. Normally when I eat agujjim I mostly go for the bean sprouts over the fish, but since it was boneless, it was easy to eat and I ate a lot of the fish too. The spice was spicier than I expected lol. As someone who can't handle spicy food well, I think I could've gone one level lower! Still, it was a good, tasty kind of spicy, so I kept eating bean sprouts whenever it got too hot haha.

The bean sprouts were nice and chunky too. It wasn't a heavy, muddled spiciness but a clean kind of spicy, which I liked. Even after eating quite a lot, this much was still left lol. We left full and satisfied after a good meal of our favorite agujjim haha.

To sum up

Jjimgoeul, an agujjim restaurant in Jinju, was great for being near Jinjuseong Fortress haha. The agujjim was delicious and it felt like a real local favorite. Having multiple spice levels to choose from was nice, and with several types of jjim on the menu, you can pick according to your taste. It was a bit disappointing that there wasn't much for our kid to eat, but thankfully there was the seaweed flake rice! Recommended if you're looking for agujjim in Jinju!