Gwangalli restaurant sharing abalone, salmon, cheese dak-galbi pot

Today I went to Busan for a wedding invitation get-together. It's been forever since I've been to Busan, and especially to Gwangalli — I got to see the sea I never get to see in Suwon, and ate a ton of good food too.

My friend only had time for lunch, so I was looking for something that felt clean and a little special even for a midday meal. Pot rice seemed neat, tidy, and just right, so I went to Solsot Gwangalli (솔솥 광안리점).

Solsot Gwangalli: location, hours, parking

• Location: 78 Gwangnam-ro, Suyeong-gu, Busan — 313m from Geumnyeonsan Station Exit 1
• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:00 (last order 20:30)
• Reservations: Available via Naver Reservation; a coupon for a small yurinki given as a review-event gift with reservation
• Parking: No on-site restaurant parking; use nearby public lots. The closest is the Eonyang Bulgogi parking lot

I parked at the Gwangmyeong Building paid parking lot about a 3-minute walk away — the spaces are wide and the rate is cheap at ₩1,500 per 30 minutes, plus ₩500 per extra 5 minutes, so I went with that.

Exterior, interior vibe, and a Monday lunch wait

The exterior is clean from the start. Just looking at the standing sign outside already made me hungry haha. Everything looked so good visually!!

The interior is clean too. There are quite a lot of tables, but even though we went on a Monday for lunch, there was already a wait once it passed noon.

What we ordered

Here's the menu. There were so many pot rice dishes that all looked delicious, it was really hard to choose. From the reviews, everything sounded good, so we each ordered whatever we wanted. Abalone pot rice, salmon pot rice, cheese dak-galbi pot rice, and yurinki too haha — that's what we got.

Everything came out looking really clean and tidy.

Abalone pot rice

I ordered the abalone pot rice. It's packed with abalone, plus butter and chives mixed in, so it was tasty even without seasoning it further — just eating the rice on its own was good.

Salmon pot rice

This is the salmon pot rice. The salmon comes grilled, and there's a huge amount of it. The side dishes vary slightly by menu item — this one comes with pickled ginger.

Cheese dak-galbi pot rice

This is the cheese dak-galbi (stir-fried chicken) pot rice. There's a huge amount of cheese on top, plus an egg yolk, so it felt exactly like eating cheese dak-galbi fried rice. It's delicious if you mix in the shredded perilla leaf that comes with it and add a bit of wasabi on top.

How to eat pot rice the right way

Here's how to enjoy pot rice properly!! Mix the rice and scoop it into the bowl on the side, then pour in the broth that comes with it. After you finish the rice, eat the nurungji (scorched rice) as dessert.

I'll wait and eat it later haha.

Looks even better zoomed in, right?? 😋 Eat the pot rice first — the abalone pot rice was great wrapped in seaweed and dipped in soy sauce! The cheese dak-galbi pot rice had a good amount of cheese, so it was rich and savory. The salmon pot rice had no fishy taste at all, and there was some kind of soy sauce on top, so it was tasty even without adding extra seasoning!!

The ₩8,500 yurinki

We also ordered the yurinki, and for only ₩8,500 the portion was quite generous and it was delicious!! With the spicy-tangy sauce and the lettuce underneath, it was crisp and refreshingly good haha.

Finishing with nurungji, and steak pot rice next time

After finishing the pot rice, when I opened the lid the broth had gotten rich and concentrated. Mixed together, it was savory and delicious haha. I agonized a lot between the steak pot rice and the abalone pot rice before ordering, and since the abalone was so good this time, next time I definitely have to go back for the steak pot rice!!!!

After eating, we went out and got to see the sea for the first time in a while~!! Such a refreshing, wide-open view, so good haha.