Choryang hagfish grill for two couples' second round: Gyeongbuksan

What is Gyeongbuksan Kkomjangeo?

Gyeongbuksan Kkomjangeo (경북산꼼장어) is an old-school hagfish grill on Choryang-ro in Busan, and it got a Blue Ribbon in 2026. You all know how much I love kkomjangeo (grilled hagfish), right? I'd always only eaten it at Jagalchi or Bujeon Market, so this time I finally went to Gyeongbuksan, the Choryang favorite ~~

There's always a wait on weekends! It has been run since 1963 and is now on its third generation, so think of it as a real Busan locals' spot!! This Choryang street used to be a hagfish alley, apparently! One by one the other places disappeared, but this old-timer has kept going for ages ~!

Gyeongbuksan Kkomjangeo menu and sizes by group

The menu is hagfish and nothing but hagfish!! Small is the base size, medium is for 2 people, large for 3 and XL for 4. It was also featured in an essay book about great drinking spots called 『Anyway, Bars』 (아무튼, 술집), I heard. It's loved by serious drinkers, so we drinkers had to come too ^_^ hehe

There were 4 of us, so we ordered the XL!! ♥ If you want a generous amount, just order by the number of people written under the menu.

How to get there from Busan Station, and where to park

It's easy to reach by coming up Exit 7 of Busan Station or Exit 1 of Choryang Station, and the nearby Sintaeyang parking lot gives 1 hour of parking support (₩2,000 in cash)! The seats next to ours also belonged to Gyeongbuksan ~~ and it was completely full. It's close to Busan Station too, so it's handy if you're visiting Busan as a traveler.

Gyeongbuksan Kkomjangeo side dishes and self-serve bar

The basic table setting is perilla leaves, onion, chili peppers, carrot, sea snails, quail eggs and silkworm pupae! They go nicely with the hagfish.

There's also a separate self-serve corner, so help yourself to Korean mint leaves and other vegetables there. For refills of sea snails, quail eggs or silkworm pupae, just ask the staff.

A second round with two soju-loving couples

My husband peeling quail eggs and our lovely unnie (older sister figure) ~~~ ♡ my favorite combo. Back when we were dating I barely met any of my husband's friends' couples, but this is the one couple we've seen often both before and after getting married!!!! We've traveled together a few times and we've planned another trip. When we meet, we drink a ton, a true drinkers' combo ^_^

A glass of soju with the basic side dishes first!!

Gyeongbuksan Kkomjangeo grills the hagfish right out front

As soon as you order, they cook the hagfish over fire in front of the restaurant, so we went out to watch the smoky grilling ~! I always end up watching at hagfish places. So much fire flavor!

Hagfish is said to be rich in protein and to contain vitamins and minerals, a healthy food with lots of nutrients ♥

The XL for 75,000 won, half sauce and half salt

The XL at Gyeongbuksan is ₩75,000, and we ordered it half sauce, half salt! Hagfish contains fat, but part of it is unsaturated fatty acids, and it's packed with protein and vitamin B, so it's supposedly good for recovering from fatigue too!!! And it's said to be a superfood for eye health as well ~

But then we add alcohol, so it's health plus, health minus, a net-zero life, haha ^^ Still, if the snack is good for you, it feels like you're drinking a bit healthier, hehe

How do you eat salt-grilled and sauce-grilled hagfish?

We dipped the salt hagfish in sesame oil and ate the sauce hagfish in wraps >,<

Gyeongbuksan was our second round. We were full, so we switched from somaek (soju-beer mix) to plain soju, and just crushed the soju ~~

They stir-fried onion along with it, and the onion stayed crunchy, which made it even better with the hagfish.

Some people just dropped in and left quickly, I see ^^

Leave sauce and onion for the best Gyeongbuksan fried rice

The sauce was so good that we ordered the fried rice, our "K-dessert" ~~ It tastes better when some sauce and onion are left on the plate.

The seaweed arrived, so we wrapped the fried rice in it and gobbled it up, hehe

After hagfish in Choryang, off to the sea at Songdo

We polished off five bottles of soju at Gyeongbuksan and now we're heading to round three ~~ no wait, we're going to see the sea ~~~ The great thing about being from Busan: if you get the urge to see the ocean while drinking, you can just hop in a taxi!!!! We had a blast in Choryang, and now we're off to Songdo, hehe

Visitors to Busan mostly go to Haeundae and Gwangalli, but I love the sea on the western side of Busan too! Get off at Busan Station, eat hagfish at Gyeongbuksan, then head to Taejongdae or Songdo for grilled clams, that'd be great ^^ I'm going again ~~~ ♥