Jjukkumi buffet dinner with a kid in Duam-dong, Gwangju: Sin Jjukkumi

Where is Sin Jjukkumi Duam Branch, and where do you park?

Sin Jjukkumi Duam Branch is on the 1st floor at 4 Bamsil-ro 181beon-gil, Buk-gu, Gwangju, South Korea, near the Duam 3-dong Community Center. It's open daily from 16:00 to 23:00, closed every Monday. Takeout and delivery are also available.

🅿 You can park along the roadside in front of Sin Jjukkumi Duam Branch or in the nearby alleys. Parking is NOT allowed at the anglerfish stew restaurant lot across the street!

Is the jjukkumi any good at an all-you-can-eat place?

Tonight I finally went to Sin Jjukkumi Duam Branch, a place I'd been curious about for a while!! It's an all-you-can-eat spot where you can have jjukkumi (spicy stir-fried baby octopus) along with thin-sliced pork belly and regular pork belly, and I'd always wanted to check it out whenever I passed by — so today I finally made it happen ><

I did worry a bit that the octopus or the meat quality might be disappointing since it's all-you-can-eat, but I walked out having had such a delicious, filling dinner 🤍

Refill prices and the self-serve bar at Sin Jjukkumi Duam Branch

Sin Jjukkumi Duam Branch has two buffet options: ✅ Jjukkumi only, ₩21,500 ✅ Jjukkumi + pork belly + thin-sliced pork belly, ₩23,500! It felt like just jjukkumi alone might leave us wanting more, so we went with the jjukkumi + pork belly + thin-sliced pork belly buffet haha.

At the self-serve bar you can freely help yourself to scallion salad, lettuce wraps, and more, all free~ And unlimited drinks are available too, for ₩10,000 per person!!!

We visited during dinner hours and there were plenty of other customers too, but the staff kept refilling the thin-sliced pork belly and regular pork belly without ever letting it run low, which I really appreciated.

And here's the dish I was looking forward to most — jjukkumi!!! So much for worrying about the all-you-can-eat format — the octopus pieces were big and plump. Even though it's unlimited, the owner kept walking around checking whether we needed more and keeping an eye on the hygiene of the self-serve bar, so there was nothing to worry about!

And here's the spread we brought back 🤍 It looked appetizing even before grilling, and there was no need to worry about running out — you can also help yourself as much as you want to mayonnaise and corn kernels, my favorite pairing with jjukkumi.

The half-and-half grill: eating jjukkumi with a child

Not a half-and-half jjajangmyeon-and-jjamppong combo, but a half-and-half grill✨ First they grilled the thin-sliced pork belly and regular pork belly on one side,

then sizzled the jjukkumi down on the other side. We visited with our child, and being able to grill them separately made it much easier to serve the meat to our little one — great for dining with kids!

Wrap combinations we tried, and the verdict on dinner

Here's my wrap collection again today ☺ Jjukkumi with pickled radish + corn kernels + mayonnaise is a combination that just can't miss, and the thin-sliced pork belly with scallion salad (plus scallion sauce) from the self-serve bar was also incredibly good,,!!! Neither the jjukkumi nor the pork belly fell short in any way — it was a fully satisfying meal.

Before eating I did wonder a little, 'It's all-you-can-eat, but will it actually taste good?' — but after trying it, the pork belly was solid and the jjukkumi was plump and generously sized, with a spicy-sweet sauce that made it absolutely delicious!!

Being able to eat jjukkumi together with thin-sliced pork belly and regular pork belly, and enjoying the meat and octopus separately thanks to the split grill, were both great points haha. And best of all, since you can take as much as you like, I think I'll keep coming back to Sin Jjukkumi Duam Branch whenever I want a hearty dinner at a solid restaurant 🤍