Korea’s must-queue dish: popular spicy stir-fried baby octopus with rich sauce that goes perfectly with rice

Text and photos byLittle Dot Paine

This Spicy Stir-Fried Baby Octopus at Hyojidong Gajok (?遲裳), located near Exit 2 of Hongik University Station, is a place I discovered when staying nearby. I had noticed its consistently bustling business for about a year, so one day I decided to bring Miao along to try it with me. We were both extremely satisfied. It was my third time trying spicy stir-fried baby octopus. Compared to the previous two places, I actually liked this one better. Although the price isn’t cheap, the fact that the business remains so good shows that the taste really stands out.

During meal times, you can see the place packed with people from far away.

There are seats on both the first and second floors, but the outdoor seating at the entrance is the most popular—usually it’s all taken, and then you’ll be directed upstairs. So we ended up at the last available table on the second floor.

Let me explain how ordering works here: you have to order spicy stir-fried baby octopus in sets of two, so the minimum spend is 24,000 KRW. Pork belly is optional—one portion is 10,000 KRW. The staff says this amount is just right for two people. Rice is 1,000 KRW, and fried rice is 2,000 KRW.

It doesn’t take long before your table is full of food, but it still needs a little time to cook through.

First, they serve side dishes. I personally really like this salad, although it can get a bit tiresome if you eat too much—but it’s great for cutting the spiciness when paired with spicy food.

Perilla leaves are essential for eating spicy stir-fried baby octopus. They don’t use “lettuce.” Some places serve it with fish roe, but this Hyojidong Gajok doesn’t. I’m not a big fan of perilla leaves, but I find them quite acceptable when eating spicy stir-fried octopus—a curious thing.

This portion is just right for two people.

Then comes the long wait…

Take note—the spicy stir-fried octopus here isn’t made with tiny baby octopuses one by one, but rather cut pieces from larger octopuses.

It’s important to time the cooking just right—you need to eat the octopus as soon as it’s perfectly cooked, because if you wait even slightly longer, it will shrink and get tough.

At first, we didn’t want to order rice, but in the end, we added some—because the sauce on the spicy stir-fried octopus is just too incredible, super duper rice-friendly. It naturally makes you want to eat rice. Although the sauces at different places might seem similar, what’s impressive here is that even among the similarities, you can clearly tell which one is your favorite. This place’s sauce is truly thick and fragrant—we both couldn’t stop praising it.

As for the ingredients, the octopus is really good. Personally, I prefer these cut pieces over single whole baby octopuses. The pork belly, however, I found to be pretty average. But what this place wins at is definitely the sauce—the kind of sauce that makes any ingredient taste appetizing.

I absolutely love these big mushrooms.

Be sure to leave a bit of the sauce at the end.

Then add a portion of fried rice—it’s simply perfect.

The fried rice is also top-notch and highly recommended.

Near the end of our meal, birthday songs started playing at the next table over. It turned out to be a celebration for a company manager or something. They warmly shared their cake with us. At first glance, it didn’t look like anything special, more like an ordinary cake, but it turned out to be unexpectedly tasty. We were already full but still ended up polishing off nearly half the cake—and felt really satisfied!!

It was delicious—so here’s a big thumbs up. I recommend everyone to come and give it a try. Also, if possible, try to sit on the first floor or outside, because upstairs there’s only one front-of-house staff member whose gender we couldn’t quite figure out, while downstairs outside there’s a very friendly auntie who’s especially nice to foreigners. How do I know? Because I pass by this shop every day, and it’s obvious how warmly she treats people sitting outside—I naturally noticed.

Hyojidong Spicy Stir-Fried Baby Octopus ?遲裳賽?圾
Address: ?聘夜寄萝 谷屿? 迟?杠 208
Korean Map
02-337-3663
Business Hours: Weekdays 10:00–01:00 / Weekends 12:00–01:00
Latitude and Longitude:37.558513, 126.923627

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