Seongpo-dong, Ansan octopus restaurant: 48,000 won hot plate for two

Min Nakji Ansan Seongpo Main Branch

Min Nakji Ansan Seongpo Main Branch: hours and parking

Hours Tue – Sun 11:20 ~ 22:00 Break time (Tue, Wed, Thu) 15:00 ~ 17:00 Break time (Fri, Sat, Sun) none Closed every Monday

Group seating available / takeout available / delivery available Parking available (free — 8 spaces in the building's basement parking lot)

What's on the menu at Min Nakji

Menu at Min Nakji, an Ansan octopus stir-fry restaurant in Seongpo-dong Nakji-deopbap (octopus rice bowl) ₩13,000 Fire-grilled octopus stir-fry (2+ people) ₩14,000 Various live octopus dishes There were tang-tangi (chopped raw octopus), yeonpotang (octopus soup), chomuchim (spicy vinegar salad), sashimi, live octopus stir-fry, and more. Set menus included a 2-person set, stir-fry set, family set, Min set, Nak set, Ji set, and a special set. As an Ansan octopus specialty restaurant should, it seemed to have nearly every octopus dish imaginable.

Nakji-agu cheolpan 4.8 / 5.8 / 7.0 Add-on noodles: beef intestine / shrimp / glass noodles / wheat noodles

Inside the Seongpo-dong restaurant

Octopus stir-fry can splatter on your clothes, so a disposable apron is a must.

The interior of Min Nakji, the octopus stir-fry restaurant in Seongpo-dong, Ansan, wasn't very big. The gaps between tables were a bit tight.

There were tables of various sizes, from 2-seaters to 4-seaters to group tables, so it seemed suitable for work dinners or gatherings too. The day I went, there seemed to be a gathering happening — it was pretty lively. Each chair had a basket for storing bags or coats.

Each table had its own burner, which was nice — you could eat the octopus dish warm from start to finish.

There was even a small TV in the restaurant, so you could eat while watching. As it happened, there was a Korean national football match on that day.

Side dishes and seaweed soup with the order

The side dishes were kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi), cabbage salad, and yeolmu kimchi (young radish kimchi). The yeolmu kimchi was so good I think I ate half of it before the octopus even arrived. It was perfect for picking at whenever the octopus felt too spicy.

Seaweed soup came alongside it too, and they gave a really generous amount. There was so much of it that I enjoyed it happily until the very end.

Nakji-agu cheolpan (small), 48,000 won for two

At Min Nakji, the octopus stir-fry restaurant in Seongpo-dong, Ansan, the nakji-agu cheolpan stood out from the sauce color alone. The monkfish and octopus, which looked spicy, were piled with a generous amount of minari (water dropwort).

Ooh, it really looked delicious.

When they brought the dish, they cut the minari into bite-sized pieces for us. The octopus and monkfish were just spicy enough, and the minari was so plentiful that it was very satisfying.

How was the monkfish?

It tasted different from the usual agu-jjim (steamed monkfish) I'm used to. The deliciously spicy monkfish really woke up my appetite. The monkfish flesh was plump and substantial in every bite, and grilling it on the hot plate brought out a deep, savory aroma!

The sauce soaked well into the monkfish flesh, spicy but full of umami — not just harsh heat, but the kind of flavor that keeps you reaching for more. I'm someone who can't really handle spicy food, but it was so good I kept eating anyway.

Octopus with white wood ear mushrooms

The octopus at Min Nakji, the octopus stir-fry restaurant in Seongpo-dong, Ansan, was plump and springy — the more you chewed, the chewier it got!

Grilling it on the hot plate gave it a subtle smoky char, and the spicy sauce paired beautifully with the octopus for maximum umami.

The nakji-agu cheolpan also included white wood ear mushrooms. They had a crunchy yet springy texture that made the whole dish more satisfying when eaten with the octopus. The spicy sauce soaked subtly into the mushrooms, giving them a clean, savory flavor.

Look at that plump, springy octopus :-)

The steamed egg that comes with the hot plate

When you order the nakji-agu cheolpan, steamed egg (gyeranjjim) comes with it.

Its fluffy texture was a great combo right around when the octopus and monkfish started getting spicy. A bite of octopus, a bite of egg, a bite of monkfish — an amazing combination.

Eating the tender octopus and springy monkfish together with the crunchy vegetables gave it plenty of texture, and the spiciness really woke up my appetite.

There were also king oyster mushrooms, bean sprouts, and rice cakes, which were great to eat alongside the octopus and monkfish.

Coke 500ml, 2,000 won

Since it was a bit spicy, I ordered a Coke, and it turned out to be a 500ml bottle for ₩2,000. These days it's all chunky cans for ₩2,000, so getting a full 500ml here at Min Nakji, the octopus stir-fry restaurant in Seongpo-dong, Ansan, felt like a real bargain.

If you want to try the collaboration of plump octopus and springy monkfish, I highly recommend visiting Min Nakji, the octopus stir-fry restaurant in Seongpo-dong, Ansan. Even if it's not the nakji-agu cheolpan, they have all kinds of octopus dishes, so if you love octopus, this place comes highly recommended.

📍 Location 30 Seongpo-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea (Cyber Studio)