Tomato broth beef set for two at J's Pot, a Magok hot pot restaurant

My Chinese-food buddy Gani and I heard a hot pot spot opened up near COEX Magok, so we rushed over haha! Attention, tomato broth lovers!! There are a whopping 8 broths to choose from, so you're bound to find one that fits your taste!

Where is J's Pot Magok Branch, and what about parking and hours?

• 📍 Location: 143 Magok-jungang-ro, COEX Magok Tower A, B2, Gangseo-gu, Seoul
• ⏰ Hours: Mon–Fri 11:00–22:00 (break 15:00–17:00) / Sat–Sun 11:00–22:00 (no break)
• 🚗 Parking: 2 hours free inside the COEX building
• ✔️ Lunch set available
• ✔️ Bar table available｜solo dining okay
• ✔️ Customize your own sauce at the sauce bar
• ✔️ Recommended for weekday lunch team dinners

Outside J's Pot Magok Branch at COEX Magok

It's in COEX Magok Tower A! Take the elevator down to the basement parking lot in Tower A and you'll see J's Pot right there.

There's a lunch hot pot set too, so it's great for an affordable lunch! When I visited during lunchtime, there were actually office workers having a team meal there — seems like it's popular as a lunch team dinner spot for people working near Magongnaru. Is lunch team dining a trend these days!?

Inside J's Pot Magok Branch: bar seats and group tables

The place is spacious! It really looked great for group visits too.

And there's a bar table like this, so it's perfect for solo dining too! (Added it to my solo dining list.)

What we ordered at J's Pot Magok Branch

(Source: Naver Map) We ordered the hot pot set — beef set for two (broths: mala, tomato) — plus egg fried rice!!!

How to mix peanut sauce at the J's Pot sauce bar

There's a sauce bar on one side of the restaurant. You can make whatever combination you want, and the recommended sauces are all clearly listed, so no worries!

Cilantro isn't set out separately, so just ask a staff member and they'll give you some!

There are lots of sauce options, and the basic side dish, pickled mustard greens, is here too.

The sauce tips posted are worth checking out haha. We're peanut sauce lovers, so we scooped up a generous heap.

Ready to eat the classic hot pot peanut sauce. Done.

There's also an apron, tissue tongs, and scissors up front — worth grabbing those too!

What comes in the beef set for two

After making our sauces, this is how it was set up when we came back!

The set includes not just meat but vegetables, mushroom or tofu assortment, glass noodles (varies by set), and shrimp balls — solidly packed!

My tomato broth came with a tofu assortment! Gani's mala broth came with a mushroom assortment!

They really give you a lavish, generous spread..! Could we actually finish all this!? (We did, very thoroughly, haha.)

When I eat hot pot, I usually go for tomato broth! The combination of tomato broth and peanut sauce is great. There's a tangy, slightly sweet flavor unique to tomato broth that isn't too intense, so you just keep eating it haha.

There's a variety of vegetables too — bean sprouts, bok choy, cabbage, mushrooms, and more!

The mala broth Gani chose had that numbing tingle and a strong spice aroma, perfect for someone like Gani who loves mala! And most importantly, it wasn't just spicy for the sake of being spicy!

The meat and shrimp balls came out clean too.

Why the egg fried rice is a must at J's Pot Magok

Egg fried rice came out too! We always must have egg fried rice when eating Chinese food!!

As expected, it had that fluffy texture and wasn't over-seasoned!

Egg fried rice is really best eaten with hot pot broth — classic rule.

Now mix in the sauce carefully, and you're ready to eat for real!!!

Ta-da....!! Hot pot together with egg fried rice and peanut sauce — a perfect, can't-go-wrong combo for eating hot pot.

One burner each: tomato broth vs mala broth

Having your own personal burner made eating so comfortable at J's Pot Magok!

Each of us showed off our own broth with our own burner, mala and tomato.

Once the vegetables have cooked a bit, in goes the beef too haha. The meat quality was fresh and not tough either, which I liked.

First I ate the vegetables with peanut sauce, and as expected, the tanginess of the tomato broth and the nuttiness of the peanut sauce maximized the flavor..!!!

Then I dug in with vegetables and beef together, chowing down. White broth and red broth are tasty of course, but personally I think tomato broth really shows off hot pot's flavor best! If you haven't tried tomato broth yet, I really recommend giving it a shot haha. You might fall for the charm of tomato broth...! Haha.

There might be people who've never tried tomato broth, but I doubt there's anyone who's tried it just once, haha.

Gani's mala hot pot looked super intense and spicy on the surface, but it turned out not to be just about the heat! You get that numbing tingle unique to mala along with the aroma of spices, plus a subtle savory depth that keeps you spooning more haha. Recommended for mala lovers!

Then the tofu, mushrooms, and fried tofu pockets that had soaked up all that tomato broth!! The broth had really seeped in, so it was fun fishing them out one by one haha. The fried tofu pockets especially, soaked in broth, were truly the best bite...

Springy shrimp balls in the hot pot

The shrimp balls in particular were among the springiest I've had at any hot pot restaurant! You could feel little bits of shrimp popping with every bite, and it's a flavor that kept crossing my mind afterward, haha.

Truly bouncy through and through.

The balls themselves were packed full, so the more you chew, the more you really taste that clean, savory shrimp flavor.

Glass noodles in each broth, and dandan-style with peanut sauce

And now sharing noodles amicably haha. The mala broth came with flat glass noodles, tomato broth with thin glass noodles! Since we had different broths, the set contents differed slightly, which made sharing even more fun!

Finally we cleared even the glass noodles, finishing off a solid hot pot feast haha.

Gani's tip: dip the glass noodles from the mala broth in the peanut sauce!!!!! It's exactly like dandan noodles!! Absolutely the best bite...!!!

Final verdict on J's Pot Magok Branch

J's Pot, a hot pot spot near Magongnaru! With 8 broths to choose from and a sauce bar where you can make your own combination, it's a place hot pot lovers can have quite a fun time at, haha. I'm voting for the tomato broth plus peanut sauce combo, of course. Gani's mala broth was delicious too, and we thoroughly cleared everything from shrimp balls to glass noodles. Definitely revisiting when I'm craving hot pot near Magongnaru!!!!!