Magok octopus grill after a workout: dinner with Mom, Jju Baksa

After my workout I went to Jju Baksa Magok Branch (쭈박사 마곡점), a well-known spot near Yangcheonhyanggyo Station, for dinner with my mom. I'd worked out hard for the first time in a while and wanted some protein, and while I was wondering what to eat, spicy stir-fried baby octopus (jjukkumi) suddenly popped into my head..! I remembered enjoying it on an earlier visit, so this time I brought Mom along. It was her first time here, and she liked it much more than expected, which made me so proud 💛

Where is Jju Baksa Magok Branch, and where do you park?

Jju Baksa Magok Branch is at 23 Magokdong-ro 10-gil, Gangseo-gu, Seoul (Daebang DMC 2nd Officetel, 1st floor, Unit 130), near Yangcheonhyanggyo Station. It's open daily from 11:00 to 01:00, and if you park in the Daebang DMC 2nd Officetel lot, they apply up to 2 hours 30 minutes of free parking :)

Atmosphere and outdoor tables at Jju Baksa Magok Branch

The place felt comfortable overall, with indoor tables and more tables outside. The outdoor tables each have a portable gas burner, so on a nice day it would be great to eat out there.

We went quite late, yet I was surprised that both the inside and the outdoor tables were almost full. So many customers that late at night, it must really be a famous spot :)

Jju Baksa fried rice set for 2: price and what's included

We ordered the fried rice set for 2 at ₩36,000. It comes with the basic octopus and pork belly (jjusamgyeop) for 2, plus a service dish and fried rice.

• Octopus and pork belly for 2
• Choice of one service dish
• Fried rice
• Corn butter
• Flying fish roe

You can also swap items or add more. We switched to jjusamsae, which adds pork belly and shrimp to the octopus (+₩5,000), and to cheese and flying fish roe fried rice (+₩1,000), so the set came to ₩42,000 in total.

How to choose your octopus combo, spice level and free side dish

For the octopus you can choose jjusamgyeop, jjuusam (octopus with beef) or jjusamsae, and the spice level is mild, medium or hot; mild is said to be about as spicy as Shin Ramyun. The service dish can be cheese steamed egg, crab stick steamed egg, soft steamed egg or cream spaghetti, and we picked the cheese steamed egg. The fried rice can be flying fish roe, cheese, or both, and we chose the one with both.

Griddle rosé octopus and the ₩11,000 lunch special

I looked at the other dishes too, and there's a griddle rosé octopus as an à la carte item! I'm so curious what it tastes like that I might try it next time +_+

Oh, and the lunch special here is really cheap, so I want to recommend it: for ₩11,000 per person you get octopus or octopus with pork belly, cheese steamed egg and griddle fried rice..! 🙊 (orders until 3 p.m.) My first time at Jju Baksa was actually the lunch special, and I was surprised at how well it was put together for the price. If you're wondering what to eat for lunch in Magok, I gently recommend Jju Baksa Magok!!! 🤍

What does jjusamsae (octopus, pork belly and shrimp) look like?

Jjusamsae is Jju Baksa Magok Branch's griddle dish of octopus plus pork belly and shrimp, and it was the star of the night 🦐 Pork belly was laid around the edge of a big griddle, with a generous heap of seasoned octopus and shrimp in the middle. It's shrimp season and I'd been craving grilled shrimp, so I was so happy to get to eat some like this!!!

It also came with perilla leaves, bean sprouts, corn butter and flying fish roe. The jjusamsae bubbled away on the griddle, and a staff member kept coming over to look after it, so we had nothing to do :) The red sauce soaked evenly into everything and it looked more and more appetizing. Octopus alone is tasty, but eating it with pork belly and shrimp made it fun to pick and choose.

Jjusamsae shrimp that come already peeled

And here's something I personally loved! They peeled the shrimp in the jjusamsae for us so it was easy to eat. I love shrimp, but peeling them while eating is secretly such a hassle 🤣 Thanks to that, I could enjoy them without any fuss.

Wrapping octopus in perilla leaves with roe and bean sprouts

Octopus is fine on its own, but I really prefer it wrapped in a perilla leaf. Put the octopus on a leaf, add flying fish roe and sauce, and it's heaven,,, The roe adds a popping texture, and if you add bean sprouts too, you get a crunch as well.

How was the free side dish, the cheese steamed egg?

What I really enjoyed this time was the cheese steamed egg I picked as the set's service dish!! As you can see in the photo, the cheese flowed down like a waterfall! 🤤 The cheese completely covered the steamed egg, so it looked amazing from the moment it arrived, and the egg underneath was soft; scooping it up together with the cheese on top doubled the savoriness.

I like cheese, so this dish especially won me over 🧀 It was also nice to alternate with the stir-fried octopus, and I liked that it was included in the set.

When even mild is spicy: make-your-own rice balls

Even though we ordered the jjusamsae mild, it was a little spicy for us, so we ordered the self-made rice balls (jumeokbap) to eat with the octopus. The rice comes mixed with seaweed flakes and other ingredients, and you shape it yourself into bite-size balls. We rolled ours into little rounds and ate them with the jjusamsae. The rice went well with the spicy octopus sauce, and it was a nice side especially until the fried rice came out.

Finishing with cheese and flying fish roe fried rice

After stir-fried octopus, the finish has to be fried rice! We were already pretty full from the jjusamsae, steamed egg and rice balls, but I couldn't give up the fried rice ㅎ_ㅎ We chose the one with both flying fish roe and cheese.

They stir-fry rice, seaweed flakes, flying fish roe and more in the leftover octopus sauce, and watching it spread evenly across the griddle made any talk of being full vanish 🤣

At the end they topped it with cheese, which made it look even more appetizing. I was definitely full, but strangely the fried rice still went down..! It really feels like you haven't properly eaten until you've had the fried rice 👍

Verdict: dinner with Mom at Jju Baksa Magok Branch

It was my first return visit to Jju Baksa Magok Branch in a while, and it was still so good that I left completely satisfied. Mom said it was delicious too, which made me so proud :) If you want a generous plate of stir-fried octopus near Yangcheonhyanggyo Station, or you're looking for somewhere to have dinner with family, I recommend putting Jju Baksa Magok Branch on your list! I'll be back next time I crave octopus too!!!

Oh, and at the entrance they provide toothpicks, plus hair ties and even dental floss, so I left touched by the owner's thoughtfulness 👍