Pohang mulhoe restaurant for early lunch with self bar: Ppwang Mulhoe

Last time my husband and I went to Pohang for a weekend date and had mulhoe (cold raw seafood soup), and while looking for a good seafood restaurant near Yeongildae Beach, I spotted a sign for the Pohang Seolmeori mulhoe district! Did you know about this? No wonder there were so many mulhoe places around~ Cool mulhoe, a view of the sea from the Yeongildae observatory, and dessert after at a big-size café. If you order the Ppwang Ocean Squid Platter, you don't even have to think about a group menu anymore!

The pink-signed seafood restaurant near Yeongildae: parking and hours

I walked into Ppwang Mulhoe, a favorite spot near Yeongildae, after seeing the fresh squid in the tank out front. We drove a solid 1.5 hours from morning after dropping the kids at school, and even though it was an early lunch, the place was already packed with customers!

There's parking space right in front of the restaurant, and a large public parking lot up the road with fairly cheap rates, so you can just park there too.

• Location - 203-1 Haean-ro, Buk-gu, Pohang-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do
• Hours - Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Sun 10:30-22:00 / Fri, Sat 10:30-23:00

The vibe and the menu dilemma

The inside is clean and spacious. There are baby chairs, so it's good to bring kids along, and I thought the pink sign and store name were cute — the interior also has pink accents, which was fun to see. There's a table-order system, so we placed our order right away.

I thought about just ordering three mulhoe bowls for the three of us, but I wanted to try a bit of everything, so I went with a wider spread. Honestly, if you want variety, the Ppwang Ocean Squid Platter is the way to go — it covers the emperor's anju mulhoe, whole steamed squid, fried squid, pancake, and seasoned dishes, basically all of Ppwang Mulhoe's best menu items.

What three of us ordered and how much it cost

I figured a full set would be too much food for three people, and since the self bar here is stocked like a proper Korean buffet, I wanted to save room to try that too. So I kept the actual order modest.

• Ppwang emperor's anju mulhoe ₩40,000
• Whole steamed squid ₩15,000
• Squid pancake ₩15,000

(You can get fried squid for free if you leave a receipt review.)

What's on the self bar?

With the order in, we grabbed a cold beer and made sure to load up on side dishes from the self bar first. There was stir-fried zucchini, stir-fried fish cake, stir-fried eggplant, sausage jeon (pan-fried batter dish), braised potatoes, stir-fried seaweed stems, quail eggs, tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), nuggets, gimmari (fried seaweed rolls), macaroni salad, and seasoned radish — plus thin noodles for the mulhoe, all self-serve.

It's a busy spot for tourists near Yeongildae, but surprisingly there were a lot of solo diners too. Looking at the self bar, I got it — order one bowl of mulhoe and you still get to enjoy this whole spread of tasty side dishes. Hadn't had a thick slice of pan-fried pink sausage in ages, and honestly there's nothing better with beer.

How we ate the Ppwang emperor's anju mulhoe

Behold the Ppwang emperor's anju mulhoe! There's a specific way to eat Pohang-style mulhoe: mix it with the gochujang (red chili paste) sauce first, taste it, then add the cold broth to your liking. And don't forget the noodles and rice. The Ppwang emperor's anju mulhoe really captured the sea itself — packed full of fresh squid, abalone, sea cucumber, and sea squirt.

We poured on the icy broth, our usual style. They give a generous amount of broth, so it's easy to add more. It's also great to scoop out just a little broth to dip the noodles in. The chewy-crunchy sea cucumber and abalone were great, and the sea squirt was bursting with ocean flavor. The squid had a wonderfully sweet taste and texture. I showed my husband and he told me to bring some home to go, haha — apparently locals order this a lot too, since it was clearly a popular delivery spot with orders constantly going out.

Cold mulhoe and cold beer, gulp after gulp. I'd personally recommend the Ppwang emperor's anju mulhoe if you want to taste a variety of seafood beyond just squid. It's more varied than the basic mulhoe, and it really gave me that seaside feeling.

The squid pancake: crispy, not soggy

At ₩15,000, this squid pancake is great value. Dipped in vinegared chili sauce, it's not a soggy pancake but a crispy one. Squid piled generously on one side, with egg wash and some fried batter mixed in, giving it a nutty, crunchy taste. I went back and forth between fried squid and squid pancake, but as a drinking snack, this was a choice I didn't regret.

The taste of the whole steamed squid

The whole steamed squid came without the innards, so you could really enjoy the natural sweetness of the ingredient itself. The ear part of the squid was especially sweet and tender — I couldn't believe squid could taste this good. Not sure how many bottles of beer we went through~ We finished every dish we ordered without leaving anything behind. This favorite spot near Yeongildae is easy to remember — just look for the pink sign. If you're visiting Yeongildae, mulhoe means Ppwang Mulhoe.