Gyeongju family restaurant with a welcome kids zone: Handa Sot

A proper Korean meal on Hwangnidan-gil: Handa Sot Gyeongju

Handa Sot Gyeongju is a pot rice and open-hearth grilled fish restaurant at 111 Cheomseong-ro, Gyeongju, right on the Hwangnidan-gil street. My family loves Gyeongju — we go about twice a month — and every single time we go, Hwangnidan-gil is a must.

Hwangnidan-gil has plenty of desserts, bakeries, and snacks, but not many places for a proper meal, so we often end up going in circles looking for somewhere to eat. Especially places kids will actually eat well at — those are rare. This time, we went to a restaurant with dishes our kids always eat well, and we ate a hearty, home-cooked-style meal. Handa Sot.

It's a pot rice and open-hearth grilled fish place. Handa Sot Gyeongju is a two-story restaurant, and the stairs up to the second floor are outside the building.

Where is Handa Sot Gyeongju, and where do you park?

Handa Sot Gyeongju is right on the street rather than tucked into an alley off Hwangnidan-gil, which turned out to be a plus. Places in alleys can be hard to find, but this one is visible as you walk by and easy to spot right away.

Since it's not in an alley, parking is easier, and it's also close to Cheomseongdae, and to Gyochon Village, which honestly beats Hwangnidan-gil itself.

Is there a wait at Handa Sot Gyeongju?

Handa Sot is a well-known spot, so there's usually a long wait, and they have a whole row of chairs set up so you can sit comfortably while waiting. It's usually a long wait, but this time we arrived a bit before lunchtime, so luckily we got seated right away without waiting.

What we ordered: grilled fish set for two and short rib pot rice

Rice is strength!!! Koreans run on rice! Maybe because it's Gyeongju, but there were a lot of foreign tourists too. Handa Sot is a great spot for foreign visitors to experience a real Korean meal. Since they grill the fish in an open hearth, oddly there wasn't even a smell of grilled fish when we walked in.

We ordered the open-hearth grilled fish set for two, a short rib pot rice, and a bowl of rice. Handa Sot's pot rice options include short rib, soy-braised pork belly, abalone, charcoal-grilled eel, and cockle bibim. There were so many options it took a while to decide, but we went with the short rib pot rice since the kids could eat it too. The grilled fish set for two comes with 3 kinds of fish, seaweed soup, and white rice pot rice.

Is Handa Sot Gyeongju good with kids? Inside the welcome kids zone

They brought kids' spoons right away without us even asking. Handa Sot is a certified 'welcome kids zone' child-friendly restaurant.

The first floor where we sat was full, and guests kept heading up to the second floor, but the food still came out fast. (The second floor stairs are outside the building.)

The side dishes came out pretty and neatly arranged.

There was seaweed soup too, which was perfect for getting my picky-eater son to actually eat.

Short rib pot rice at Handa Sot Gyeongju

Short rib pot rice!!

Rib sauce came out with it too, so it was good for eating the ribs on their own as well.

Open-hearth grilled fish set for two: enough for a family of four?

The open-hearth grilled fish is cooked at 500°C and comes out deliciously charred. When ordering, I noticed there was no set for three or an add-a-fish option, so I worried the set for two wouldn't be enough — but the portion turned out to be huge! The fish were big and the flesh was packed full.

White rice pot rice included with the grilled fish set. They poured warm water in so we could scoop out the rice and make sungnyung (scorched rice tea) after.

These weren't thin, small fish — they were thick, plump, and big. Our kids are grilled fish fanatics and eat a lot of it, and this was plenty for four of us. The dipping sauce for the grilled fish was tasty too.

The foreign guests were eating happily too — I hope Handa Sot's Korean food gave them good memories, that Korean food is delicious. Pot rice, seaweed soup, grilled fish. Isn't that about as Korean as it gets? The absolute base of K-food!!

All the side dishes were tasty too, so we refilled several times. The gungchae (stem lettuce) side dish was especially good. The kids ate a lot of the bean sprouts and anchovies too.

Would we go back to Handa Sot Gyeongju?

The staff were all kind, the restaurant was clean, and it was perfect for eating with kids, so I think we'll be coming back often whenever we're in Gyeongju. Would I return? 1000% yes!!