Sokcho breakfast restaurant, octopus stew over rice: Deungdae Gotgan

I'm happy this week after eating so many Sokcho delights on last weekend's trip 🎵🤍💭🌊😋👍🏻💛 To start the trip, I was looking for a hearty breakfast spot and found an ocean-view octopus stew place. Deungdae Gotgan (등대곳간) is where I mixed spicy stir-fried octopus into rice and polished off a whole bowl.

Where can you eat breakfast near Deungdae Beach in Sokcho?

Deungdae Gotgan is a Korean rice restaurant in front of Deungdae Beach that opens early in the morning. Sokcho has so much good food that even three meals a day feel short, so a place that opens early was a big plus!

The next table was eating soothing octopus hangover soup, and we wondered whether to add a bowl of that too... then switched our order to octopus stew ❤️🔥

Deungdae Gotgan hours, closing day and parking

• Hours: daily 08:30-17:00
• Last order: 16:30
• Closed: every Wednesday
• Address: 109 Yeongnanghaean-gil, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea
• Parking: available in front of the restaurant

What's the atmosphere like? Deungdae Beach views through big windows

Deungdae Gotgan sits right in front of Deungdae Beach in Yeongnang-dong, Sokcho. With its white exterior and clean look, it's pretty enough that you might take it for a café at first glance! The big ocean-view windows open up the sight line, which I loved.

In Sokcho I'd seen plenty of raw fish and seafood places, but a homey restaurant where you can eat a proper meal of rice was a welcome sight ◡̈ It opens at 8 a.m., so it worked well for breakfast during the trip.

How many people do you need to order the octopus stew?

The octopus stew (jjagReul nakji, spicy braised octopus), the signature menu item here, can be ordered for 2 people or more ◡̈ It bubbles away and is ready to eat within 3-5 minutes.

The rich stir-fried octopus aroma rose as soon as it started to boil. Even my boyfriend, who'd said he wasn't that hungry, treated the side dishes that came out first as appetizers and kept picking at them, bite after bite.

Taste: savory heat, over seaweed flakes and rice

The octopus wasn't tough, with a nice plump chew. The sauce isn't just sharply hot; it's savory and spicy, so when you scoop it over rice with seaweed flakes (gimjaban), the spicy sauce soaks between the grains and it gets even better, you know it!!

It was cool and spicy first thing in the morning and settled my stomach, and I finished a whole bowl of rice 😋👍🏻💟

How is the octopus stew with a pork cutlet?

The pork cutlet was the perfect partner to calm the stew's heat. It arrived just as the octopus stew was bubbling and we started eating, and its homestyle look made it even more welcome.

When the stew felt a little spicy, a bite of crispy, nutty cutlet helped. Alternating a bite of spicy octopus and a bite of cutlet was so good that I emptied my rice bowl, haha. It's a menu kids would like too, and lots of families were there!

Deungdae Gotgan as a first meal in Sokcho: what to eat next time

I'd been wondering where to have breakfast at the start of the trip and came to Deungdae Gotgan, and the octopus stew made a hearty first meal. I hear the octopus hangover soup is a specialty too, so next Sokcho trip I'll come back for that and the octopus porridge!

A Sokcho spot right in front of Deungdae Beach where I had a good breakfast with an ocean view through big windows. The East Sea always opens up my heart, and the view I glimpsed now and then while eating is hard to forget, haha.