Gwacheon seaweed soup restaurant, oyster set before Pony Land: Haenon

Our family heads out to Gwacheon with the kids most weekends. Today we decided to take the twins to Let's Run Park Pony Land. Since there wouldn't really be anywhere good to eat once we got inside the park, we figured we'd fuel up properly with an early lunch at 11am before heading out! While looking for somewhere kid-friendly, we found Haenon Miyeok Gwacheon Direct Branch.

It's a standalone gray building so it caught my eye right away, and there was plenty of parking.

When you're out and about with two kids, easy parking really matters. Haha.

Inside Haenon Miyeok: a dining room that feels like Jeju Island

Inside Haenon Miyeok Gwacheon Direct Branch, the walls are covered with images of haenyeo (female divers) and ocean scenery. We walked in right at the 11am opening, so at first the place was nice and roomy.

Once inside, the walls opened up into scenes of haenyeo and the sea. Since it's a seaweed soup place, seeing the diver artwork almost made it feel like eating a meal on a trip to Jeju. ^^ We visited right when it opened so it was still fairly quiet at first.

Looking back at the photos, there were quite a lot of mom customers. Is it just me who finds that kind of place extra trustworthy? Haha. Guests kept steadily coming in, and by around noon when we left, the place was pretty packed.

What to order at this Gwacheon seaweed soup restaurant

Haenon Miyeok Gwacheon Direct Branch centers its menu around seaweed soup set meals. The variety ranged from flounder, beef, and pollack to oyster and sea urchin roe.

I thought about ordering three sets, but since the soup portions are generous, we decided the kids would share, and I picked two slightly more special menus instead.

• Sea urchin roe seaweed soup set ₩30,000
• Oyster seaweed soup set ₩25,000

This was the first time in my life I've ordered a ₩30,000 bowl of seaweed soup. Haha.

Ordering rules at Haenon Miyeok when you come with young kids

At Haenon Miyeok, one menu per person is required starting from age 8 (elementary school age), and rice refills are free when you order one menu per person. If a child 7 or under doesn't order their own menu, you just add ₩2,000 for rice. Our twins are still 4, so they shared the two seaweed soups together and we added rice.

Why one seaweed soup set arrives like a full Korean spread

At first I thought, ₩30,000 for a bowl of seaweed soup? But once the set arrived, the spread was actually really substantial. Grilled flounder, salad, japchae (stir-fried glass noodles), fried eggplant, mung bean jelly, seasoned scallops, napa cabbage kimchi, seasoned greens — with so many side dishes, it felt less like seaweed soup and more like a full Korean set meal!

The side dishes were set out first, and our little princess immediately spotted her favorite japchae and mung bean jelly. Did you catch her fork already moving before I could even take the photo? Haha. In the end we refilled the japchae and mung bean jelly three times.🤣

It was nice being able to grab more side dishes easily from the self-serve bar whenever we ran low.

How does the oyster seaweed soup taste?

Haenon Miyeok's oyster seaweed soup comes bubbling in a full ttukbaegi (stone pot). The cool, briny flavor of the oysters combined with the nutty perilla powder made it one of the best seaweed soups I've had.

Our son isn't really a fan of seaweed but he loves seafood. The moment he saw the oyster soup, he asked for some — even though it was hot, he went straight for the oysters... Haha. He even mixed in rice and polished off a whole bowl with the oysters.

Wow... this is really good.

Sea urchin roe seaweed soup, packed with roe

The sea urchin roe seaweed soup set is ₩30,000, and it came with way more sea urchin roe than I expected.

And then the sea urchin roe seaweed soup I was curious about! I wondered why it was ₩30,000, but it turned out to have a surprising amount of roe in it. Maybe because we ate the oyster soup first, the sea urchin roe soup felt a bit milder in comparison, but with that much roe packed in, anyone who loves sea urchin should be satisfied. Our little princess, who loves roe-type foods, finished a whole bowl of rice loaded with sea urchin roe, plus she ate up the mung bean jelly and japchae like a pro. 🤣

Seaweed soup really does need kimchi. The well-fermented napa cabbage kimchi and seasoned scallops paired perfectly, and since we came right at opening, every one of the side dishes tasted fresh too. If the soup portion is too much, they said you can pack the leftovers to go.

A filling meal before Pony Land with 4-year-old twins

With a baby chair on hand and kid-friendly side dishes like japchae, mung bean jelly, and fried eggplant alongside the seaweed soup, it was an easy place to eat with our 4-year-old twins.

During our visit, there was also a sign for an event offering one abalone to pregnant guests and birthday guests. If that applies to you, it's worth checking when you visit. :)

We ate a solid lunch at 11am and then headed straight to Let's Run Park Pony Land. We did pony riding, rode the electric horse ride, and even watched a real horse race at the track — a really fun day! Gwacheon has plenty of spots for a full day out with kids beyond Pony Land, like Seoul Grand Park, Seoul Land, and the National Gwacheon Science Museum. To spend a whole day running around with the kids, mom and dad need to eat well first. Haha. If you're looking for somewhere to eat with kids before a Gwacheon outing, or just craving a hearty Korean meal, Haenon Miyeok Gwacheon Direct Branch is a good pick. :)

Haenon Miyeok Gwacheon Direct Branch: address, parking and visit info

• Parking available
• Baby chair available
• One menu per person required from age 8 (elementary school age)
• Free rice refills with one menu ordered per person
• ₩2,000 extra for rice for kids 7 and under without their own menu
• Leftover seaweed soup can be packed to go