Salmon rice bowl near Sinjungdong Station, Bucheon: Haehwagaban

I visited Haehwagaban (해화개반), a Japanese restaurant near Sinjungdong Station. It's located in the basement food court of Lotte Department Store, connected directly to the station, so as someone who gets around on foot, it was super easy for me to get to.

Where is Haehwagaban in Bucheon, and what are its hours?

📍 Address: 300 Gilju-ro, Wonmi-gu, Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, B1 (Lotte Department Store food court), 67m from Sinjungdong Station Exit 3

📍 Hours: 10:30 AM – 8:30 PM, last order 7:30 PM. Closed on department store holidays!

📍 Other things to know

• Group seating available
• Takeout and reservations possible
• High chairs set up
• Wi-Fi available
• Separate men's/women's restrooms
• Parking available (via Lotte Department Store)

Haehwagaban menu and prices: what does a rice bowl cost?

Haehwagaban's menu is simplicity itself.

The ochazuke (rice with broth) options are eel rice bowl, salmon rice bowl, and cod roe rice bowl. Haehwagaban's best-seller is the grilled eel rice bowl (ochazuke) set.

A whole eel, a dish meant to restore your energy. Exactly what I was in the mood for! Freshwater eel brushed with the chef's special sauce, carefully grilled crisp on the outside and tender inside — or so it's advertised.

Besides the rice bowls, there are also buckwheat noodle dishes like sweet shrimp buckwheat soba. Sides include shiitake and abalone porridge, assorted tempura, and karaage. As for prices, the eel rice bowl is ₩19,500, and the rest of the rice bowls range from ₩12,000 to ₩17,000 — not too heavy on the wallet.

Allergy notice and country-of-origin labeling at Haehwagaban

There's also a notice about allergens in the ingredients used at Haehwagaban. A restaurant where you get the sense of care — just mention your allergies ahead of time and they'll handle it.

You can also check the country-of-origin labeling, so you know which ingredients are domestic and which are imported. If you have allergies or are particular about sourcing, it's worth reading closely when choosing your order.

Tasting the salmon rice bowl and eel rice bowl

At Haehwagaban, a Japanese restaurant near Sinjungdong Station, we ordered the eel rice bowl and the salmon rice bowl. The dishes came out in under 10 minutes.

First, the salmon rice bowl. Served on an individual tray, it looked clean and appetizing.

The salmon itself was thick and hearty, grilled to a nice golden brown. It tasted light and clean, not greasy at all. Plenty of flying fish roe and pickled onion were piled on too, perfect to eat alongside the salmon.

The eel rice bowl was also huge in portion. The eel was thicker than I expected, and a whole one was laid over the rice — a hearty, healthy meal in a bowl.

If it feels a bit rich, there's a side of light broth to help — mild, not salty at all, and just right! Since it's a rice bowl, mixing everything together and wrapping bites in the mini dried seaweed made it even more delicious.

I ordered the salmon rice bowl, but I was curious about the eel on the other bowl, so I stole a bite — the sauce was sweet, and the whole bowl disappeared fast!

Paired with julienned ginger, it was a healthy meal I could really enjoy — a Japanese restaurant near Sinjungdong Station. What makes Haehwagaban special is that it's not just a rice bowl place, but somewhere you can enjoy ochazuke.

How to finish the rice as ochazuke with furikake and broth

Once the rice is down to about a third left, mix in the furikake (rice seasoning), then pour in the provided broth, wait a moment, and enjoy every last bite cleanly. I also had one more bite of the leftover salmon.

Slurping down the remaining rice with the broth poured over it — huh? It's better than I expected.

Rather than feeling like leftover rice soaked in water, it felt more like eating a whole different dish.

It went down so smoothly that even though I thought the portion was too much to finish, I ended up properly enjoying the full ochazuke experience.