Gwangalli BBQ restaurant, Friday waitlist and kids' meal: Haean Sutbul

I went to Gwangalli on a Friday night! This place was so hot haha. Today I'm bringing you a review of Haean Sutbul Galbi Gwangalli Main Branch, known as a top pork BBQ spot in Namcheon-dong!

Why we waited on a Friday night in Gwangalli

Haean Sutbul Galbi Gwangalli Main Branch is the kind of place with a line out front on Friday evenings. We put our name down on the Catch Table waitlist and got in as the 3rd group.

Friday evening in Gwangalli is packed, seriously ㅜㅜ so I went in braced for a wait no matter where we went. Sure enough, there were people waiting when we arrived. Was the wait worth it? Do I even need to say it, of course it was haha!

Haean Sutbul Galbi Gwangalli: location and opening hours

• 📍 Address: 35 Namcheonbada-ro, Suyeong-gu, Busan, South Korea, 1st floor
• 🚇 380m from Geumnyeonsan Station Exit 1
• ⏰ Hours: Daily 17:00–01:00
• 🍽️ Last order: 24:00
• 🅿️ Parking: No lot, use nearby paid parking
• 📲 Reservations: Naver reservations available, Catch Table waitlist

The sign outside says opening is 5pm and closing is 1am in big letters. It also noted they'll open at 17:00 during this Chuseok holiday (Sep 24–25), so if you're visiting over the holidays, keep that in mind!

What the name 'Haean' means, and the interior

There's a framed Chinese character hanging on the counter wall — since the restaurant's name is 'Haean,' I was curious what it meant. There was a note on the table explaining it.

It's made of the characters for 'resolve' (解) and 'face' (顔), meaning to let go of worries and smile brightly. Reading that while eating made me randomly happy 😊 I also read all the notices posted on the wall!

How the charcoal heat control lever works

There's a small green round lever next to the table that controls the heat. From left it goes 0, 1, 2, 3, and even at level 1 it gets hotter over time, so they warned us to be careful with levels 2 and 3. Also, they said seasoned galbi tastes best grilled slowly over low heat!

If you run low on charcoal, just tell the staff, and if flames flare up on the grill, the sign said to cover them with lettuce or perilla leaves to put them out. We followed the instructions and grilled slowly over low heat haha.

The menu comes in Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese. Maybe that's why there were so many foreign customers. There were also lots of families, so it was as lively as you'd expect from a popular Gwangalli spot!

Haean Sutbul Galbi menu and prices

🥩 Meat

• Traditional seasoned beef galbi (200g) ₩23,900
• Grade-1 seasoned pork galbi (200g) ₩14,900
• Premium fresh pork galbi (150g) ₩14,900
• Specialty pork tail skewers (200g) ₩11,900

🍚 Meals

• Beef kimchi fried rice ₩11,000
• Blue crab doenjang stew ₩7,000
• Pork kimchi stew ₩7,000
• Potato noodle add-on ₩2,000
• Cold/spicy milmyeon noodles, each ₩7,000
• Rice ₩1,000
• Kids' meal ₩3,000 (rice, doenjang stew, laver)

🥂 Others

• Korean beef yukhoe (raw beef) ₩25,000
• Makgeolli highball ₩6,000
• Suntory highball ₩8,000
• Jim Beam highball ₩8,000
• Corkage: wine ₩10,000, whisky ₩20,000

Pork galbi at ₩14,900 for 200g felt fairly priced. All the galbi here is grade-1 domestic chilled meat. The seasoned galbi is marinated for 72 hours at low temperature in a special sauce made with pear, bellflower root, and fresh vegetables. I also liked that there's a separate kids' meal!

What we ordered at Haean Sutbul Galbi

Here's what we ordered!

• Seasoned pork galbi, 3 servings
• Pork tail skewers, 1 serving
• Kimchi stew + potato noodle add-on
• Kids' meal (rice, doenjang stew, laver)

Grade-1 seasoned pork galbi, 14,900 won

We grilled the seasoned galbi slowly over low heat. The sweet, savory sauce soaked right into the meat, and the rice kept disappearing ㅜㅜ There was even a recommended pairing written on the table paper — they suggest eating the seasoned galbi with spicy mustard leaf pickles or radish salad.

Put a bit of angelica on a perilla leaf, top with galbi and pickles, add a dab of ssamjang, and pop it in your mouth! It's honestly amazing 🤤

Grilled pork tail: what does it taste like?

I've had pork skin before, but this was my first time trying pork tail! It's chewy and moist, with a different appeal from pork skin or galbi.

I got an extra 120g tasting portion of pork tail free through a review event haha. You scan the QR code on the wall, ask staff for your receipt, and write a Naver review with a photo attached to get it. So we ended up eating a generous amount of pork tail!

Pork kimchi stew with a potato noodle add-on

You can't skip the stew while eating meat! We added potato noodles to the pork kimchi stew — can you see the noodles pulling up long? The broth is spicy enough to cut through the richness completely. The potato noodle add-on is ₩2,000, and you absolutely should add it, no question 👍

The 3,000 won kids' meal

The kids had rice, doenjang stew, and laver from the kids' meal. At ₩3,000 the portions were generous, making it easy to bring children along. It even came with a kid-sized fork and spoon, which was convenient!

Chaechae Mom's verdict on Haean Sutbul Galbi

The basic side dishes were tangy pickled onions and japchae (glass noodle stir-fry). The pickled onions were perfect when things got greasy from all the meat. There were plenty of vegetables and wraps too, so it was fun making ssam wraps!

What I liked best was the taste of the meat. The seasoning wasn't too sweet or too salty, just right, so the kids ate well too, and the adults could pair it nicely with a beer or highball haha.

That said, it's so popular there's a wait. Gwangalli on a Friday or weekend night is genuinely packed, so I'd recommend making a Naver reservation before you go! With lots of foreign customers and families, this is a great spot for a Gwangalli family dinner or a work dinner. I think I'll come back whenever I'm craving Busan pork ribs!

There was a reason Gwangalli was so hot on a Friday! Seasoned galbi, pork tail, and kimchi stew — all delicious at this popular Gwangalli BBQ spot, you have to go 🐷