Magok octopus restaurant patio lunch with 6-piece shrimp: Jju Baksa

I was trying to figure out what to eat in Magok when a craving for spicy webfoot octopus hit me out of nowhere, so I headed to Jju Baksa. If you're looking for a place to eat around Seoul Botanic Park or Yangcheon Hyanggyo Station, this one's worth checking out.

That day we went with the hot plate jjusamsae (webfoot octopus, pork belly, and shrimp) and added 6 more pieces of shrimp on top. We got to eat octopus, pork belly, and shrimp all at once, and finished it off properly with fried rice at the end.

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

Jju Baksa Magok Branch is located on the 1st floor, Unit 130, Daebang DMCity 2 Officetel, 23 Magokdongro 10-gil, Gangseo-gu, Seoul. It's a Magok lunch spot with really convenient parking — a big plus considering it's right in the middle of Seoul, you can get 2.5 hours free. Just use the parking lot at Daebang DMCity 2, basement floors 1 through 6. Heads up though: Daebang DMCity 1 doesn't offer parking support!

The Jju Baksa storefront and its outdoor tables

Since Jju Baksa is on the ground floor of the building, it wasn't hard to find. The red entrance and sign catch your eye even from a distance. There were quite a lot of outdoor tables set up in front of the restaurant too.

On days when the weather's neither too hot nor too cold, eating outside looked pretty appealing, and that's exactly where we sat. With spicy octopus and a cold beer in mind, this vibe actually beat sitting indoors.

Business hours run from 11 AM to 1 AM. Since it covers lunch through late dinner and drinks, it's a pretty versatile spot.

What is the indoor dining room like?

The interior of Jju Baksa Magok Branch was cleaner than I expected too. I took a look around inside — rows of hot plate tables lined up, overall pretty tidy. There are seats by the window and seats further in, so if the weather gets too hot or too cold, you can just eat comfortably indoors.

Jju Baksa menu and prices

The menu lets you combine base webfoot octopus with pork belly, beef brisket, shrimp, and more.

• Hot plate webfoot octopus ₩14,000
• Hot plate octopus + pork belly ₩14,000
• Hot plate octopus + beef brisket ₩15,000
• Hot plate octopus + pork belly + shrimp ₩16,000
• Rose sauce octopus ₩16,000

You can also choose your spice level — mild, regular, or spicy — so even people who can't handle heat well should be able to find something. We didn't even have to think about it, we went straight for the jjusamsae. Octopus, pork belly, and shrimp — we wanted all three, haha. And since we both love shrimp, we also added the 6-piece shrimp add-on for 6,000 won.

Side dishes and the complimentary crab egg custard

The basic side dishes were perilla leaves, radish wrap slices, cabbage salad, and bean sprouts — exactly what you'd want alongside a spicy hot plate octopus dish. The perilla leaves and radish wraps in particular went really well later when wrapping up octopus and pork belly together. The bean sprouts also got tossed into the hot plate near the end for a stir-fry, adding a nice crunchy texture.

The cellophane noodles and corn butter were the appetizers.

For the service menu, you could choose one of four options — cheese egg custard, crab egg custard, soft egg custard, or cream spaghetti — and we went with the crab egg custard! Egg custard is always the right call with spicy food. It came out bubbling and puffed up, soft and moist, so after a spicy bite of octopus, one spoonful of this kind of reset your mouth.

Since it was windy outside, they set up a partition and got the cooking started! No issue at all eating outdoors.

Hot plate jjusamsae with 6 extra pieces of shrimp

And finally, the hot plate jjusamsae arrived. In the center was octopus tossed in red sauce, surrounded by a ring of pork belly, and piled on top were whole shrimp — with our 6-piece add-on, the presentation was extra hearty.

You could pick your spice level from mild, regular, or spicy. Some octopus restaurants can be tough to eat if the spice is too intense, so I liked being able to choose according to taste. If you can't handle spice well, go mild; if you like it hot, regular or spicy should work. We ordered mild and it was plenty spicy for us — just so you know.

The moment it arrived, I thought, 'wow, good call adding the shrimp.' Getting to eat octopus, pork belly, and shrimp all off one hot plate — perfect dish for someone as greedy as me, haha.

Staff cook the octopus and pork belly at your table

Once the hot plate started heating up, a staff member came and cooked and prepped the ingredients directly. As the pork belly, octopus, and shrimp cooked one by one in the red sauce, the smell alone completely changed.

The octopus was plump and springy, the pork belly soaked up the spicy sauce, and with the shrimp cooking alongside, there was real fun in picking and choosing what to eat.

The whole shrimp in particular, once fully cooked and gathered together, turned out to be a decent amount. Since this was the base set plus our 6-piece add-on, if you love shrimp, adding more like we did seems like a good move. Plump shrimp meat coated in spicy sauce — you just keep reaching for it.

Adding bean sprouts to the hot plate

Once things were cooked enough, we tossed in the bean sprouts and stir-fried them together. The chewy texture of the octopus combined with the crunchy bean sprouts made it so much better. Mixed with the pork belly fat and octopus sauce, the flavor kept getting richer.

There was also cheese rice cake mixed in, so there was fun in picking that out here and there too. It felt like the flavor kept shifting on the same hot plate.

Why jjusamsae with perilla leaf is the best bite

This was personally my favorite combination. Put a radish wrap slice on a perilla leaf, add octopus, pork belly, and bean sprouts, throw in a little cabbage salad too, and take a bite. Eating it this way definitely cut through the spice and kept the crunchy texture alive, so it tasted even better than eating things separately. I especially liked putting octopus and pork belly together in the same wrap. The bite gets pretty huge, but this kind of food is best eaten in big wraps like that, haha.

Finishing with fried rice on the hot plate

And no matter how full you are, you can't leave without eating fried rice after hot plate octopus. Using the leftover octopus sauce, they add rice, seaweed flakes, and vegetables, spread it all across the hot plate, and stir-fry.

The spicy flavor of the octopus sauce combined with the savory taste of the seaweed flakes — this was a completely different flavor from the main dish.

You know the thin crispy bits stuck to the hot plate are the best part, right? Haha.

Putting the last piece of octopus we'd saved on top of the fried rice for the final bite made for a proper finish. Just a moment ago we were saying 'I'm so full' — and yet the fried rice still went right in, haha. There's definitely a separate stomach for fried rice when eating hot plate dishes.

One-line verdict on Jju Baksa Magok Branch

A satisfying meal — octopus, pork belly, and shrimp eaten to the fullest, properly finished off with crab egg custard and fried rice.