Lobster lunch course with kids in Jisan-dong, Gwangju: Tams Badaetgaja

Why Tams Badaetgaja in Jisan-dong, Gwangju for a taekwondo promotion lunch?

To celebrate our son passing his 2nd poom taekwondo promotion test, we went out on Sunday for lunch to eat lobster, which he loves! Our son is into crustaceans like king crab, snow crab and lobster — we've caught and eaten live king crab and snow crab before — but somehow our lobster experiences had always been at hotel buffets, restaurants, or the pre-cooked lobster tails you get from home shopping channels. So while looking for a place to eat fresh, live lobster, I found Tams Badaetgaja, a Jisan-dong restaurant in Gwangju specializing in live lobster course meals!!

It's a genuine lobster specialty restaurant that opened in 2003 and was even selected as a Gwangju city notable restaurant in 2016, so we arrived with high expectations. Ooh? The building itself already had a fresh, distinctive vibe, and the parking lot was huge, so parking was really easy.

Right at the entrance of Tams Badaetgaja, we saw a sign for the lobster lunch special, the Tams Half Course, that we had already decided we wanted. Honestly, this lunch special was exactly why we chose Tams Badaetgaja that day — even though it's a half size, you can enjoy a lunch course made with live, Grade A lobster instead of frozen or dead ones, so we just had to check it out.

Tams Badaetgaja private rooms: floor seating, tables and space for up to 38

Tams Badaetgaja was just as spacious inside as it looked from outside. With the feel of a traditional Korean restaurant, there are only a few tables in the open hall and most seating is in private rooms — perfect for family meals or gatherings and events!

On the day we visited, there was actually a family gathering happening in one of the rooms, and it looked really comfortable. There isn't just one type of room either — there are floor-seating rooms with drop-down table legs, rooms with regular tables, and plain floor-seating rooms, so you can choose based on your group size and situation. Some rooms are divided by sliding doors, and when you open them all up, the rooms connect into one large room that seats up to 38 people — ooh?

Since this place is well known in Gwangju for its live lobster course and you can eat actual live lobster here, it seems to draw a lot of people celebrating things — family gatherings, meetings between in-laws, first birthdays (doljanchi), or birthdays — so the seating felt well set up for that.

Canadian live lobster: 10 years to reach 1kg

The Grade A live lobsters were as well prepared as the seating..!!!! As soon as our son saw the live lobsters, he got interested and started taking pictures.. haha As we looked around, the owner came out himself to explain,

The lobsters at Tams Badaetgaja in Jisan-dong aren't the fast-growing lobsters from Southeast Asia — they're Canadian lobsters that fly in on about a 22-hour flight. Unlike the ones that grow quickly in warm Southeast Asian waters, it takes about 10 years for these to reach 1kg, which is amazing!!!

I hadn't really paid attention to lobster origin before, but apparently Canadian lobsters that grow slowly in cold, deep water have much firmer, springier meat — good good!! I was so happy to hear that the lunch special half course we were about to eat would also be made with this kind of live Canadian lobster. All the lobsters sold at Tams Badaetgaja are fresh and alive with good meat yield, Grade A — completely different from Grade B live lobster with poor yield or missing legs, or from pre-cooked and quick-frozen lobster, or lobster that died and gets sold cheaply. It was really surprising to learn all this!

They also told us that lobsters at buffets or regular restaurants are usually either pre-cooked or lobster that died and got sold off cheaply.. another ooh moment? The lobster we'd had at buffets and restaurants was tasty too!! But now we were really looking forward to how good live Canadian lobster would be.

Tams Badaetgaja course menu: Tams Course and Couple Course

After settling into our room with a table, I looked over the Tams Badaetgaja menu and found there were various lobster course options besides the lunch special we planned to order. The lobster in the Tams Course is 600-700g, aged 7-8 years, while the lobster in the Couple Course is 1.6-2.0kg, aged 16-20 years!!!

We had come this time for the Tams Half Course, but my husband and I talked about trying the Couple Course next time we get the chance. It seemed like a great option for an anniversary.

Tams Half Course starters: salad, 2 canapés and 6 side dishes

The Tams Half Course we ordered that day was clean and not too heavy for lunch!!

As the basic spread, we got a salad with black sesame sauce, two kinds of canapés, and six side dishes,

With lettuce, red cabbage, cherry tomatoes and nutty sliced almonds on top, drizzled generously with the black sesame dressing, it was crunchy and nutty and delicious,

There were two kinds of canapés, and both were mild and not too sweet or intense, so they were perfect for light nibbling.

On top of that, six clean side dishes — stir-fried anchovies, seasoned chives, dongchimi (water kimchi), diced radish kimchi, pickles, and seasoned greens — were neatly laid out, and I kept reaching for them throughout the meal.

Lobster soup, chilled jellyfish salad and lobster-broth noodles

While we were eating the salad and canapés, lobster soup arrived, followed by a jellyfish salad — the rich, savory soup paired surprisingly well with the tangy-sweet, punchy jellyfish salad!

It was a combination I'd never seen before, but both were good on their own, and eating the soup followed by the jellyfish salad felt clean and well matched.

Next came noodles made with lobster broth!! The clear broth was spicier than I expected, but since it was made from lobster, it had a rich, savory depth — it was just plain thin wheat noodles, but they were surprisingly good and we finished them quickly.

The main grilled lobster half: meat yield a child can shell alone

As we finished the noodles and the rest of the salad, the main dish of the Tams Half Course arrived — grilled lobster half 🦞 Half-size grilled lobster, fried rice, and broth made from the lobster all came out, smelling amazing and looking so delicious that we wanted to dig in right away, but click!!! We took a photo first..haha

There was also lemon water on the table for eating lobster, so we washed our hands first!! The grilled lobster was well prepared, but since it's shellfish, you still have to grab and pull the meat out, so we washed our hands with the water provided.

And then we really dug in.. even though it was half size, the meat was packed full, and you could really feel the good yield — the texture of the meat felt different from pre-cooked lobster or the kind you get at buffets??? haha

My husband and I aren't picky eaters and usually enjoy most things, but even we thought this was definitely good, and our son said the texture was really different from the lobster he'd had at hotels..haha The way he described it, saying it was delicious, was so cute. (He's actually the picky one in the family)

The meat came out of the shell more easily than expected, so our son was able to eat it by himself, which was nice,

In between, he ate some fried rice and broth too, and played with the claws — since he was eating food he loves, he really dug in, and it was amazing that even the tips of the claws he was playing with were packed with meat. You could really tell it was quality lobster.

Is the Tams Half Course enough food? Plus sujeonggwa for dessert

At first, I wondered if the portion might be a little small, but eating slowly, we ended up full and satisfied, so it didn't feel lacking at all. When we pressed the bell after finishing, they brought out either sujeonggwa (cinnamon-persimmon punch) or coffee, and we chose sujeonggwa!!!

Since we planned to go to a café after lunch, we drank the sujeonggwa, which wasn't too sweet and tasted homemade — really nice. Our son was in such a good mood after eating well that he chattered away happily, and since we were in a private room by ourselves, no one told us to quiet down — we could just enjoy the conversation and wrap up the meal happily.

How Tams Badaetgaja works for a family lunch with a child

Lobster tastes good wherever you eat it — hotel buffets are great, restaurants are great, it's all delicious..!! But still, being able to enjoy live, Grade A Canadian lobster comfortably as a course in a private room was what made Tams Badaetgaja in Jisan-dong so nice!!

It seemed like a great spot for a cozy family meal or a family gathering. The lunch special that let us enjoy fresh lobster with our kid without much burden was also satisfying. It was a fun and delicious lunch!!!

Tams Badaetgaja hours, parking and rooms

• Address: 10-1 Jihoro124beon-gil, Dong-gu, Gwangju, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:30-22:00 (last order 20:30)
• Lunch special Tams Half Course until 2pm, lunch menu lobster hot pot until 2pm
• Parking for 30 cars
• Rooms for 38 people, plus rooms for 2-16 (floor-seating table rooms, table rooms, plain floor-seating rooms)
• 100% Canadian Grade A live lobster only