Gijang Korean restaurant for dried corvina with dad, 5pm entry: Kkomak

Today I went out for lunch with my dad. Whenever we eat together, we usually skip meat or spicy food and look for a place with a proper spread of rice and side dishes. This time we went to Kkomak Hansang, a Korean restaurant near Lotte Mall Dongbusan in Osiria, known for both cockles and dried corvina (boribulgul).

Kkomak Hansang Gijang Main Branch hours and parking

• Hours: 10:30–21:00
• Break time: 15:30–17:00
• Parking: free with underground parking

It's right across from Lotte Mall Dongbusan, so it's easy to get to, and Haedong Yonggungsa Temple is nearby too. The neatly arranged set meals made it a good spot to eat with parents, and I liked being able to try a little bit of a lot of different side dishes.

The entrance isn't right on the street — you go inside the building to find it.

Can you walk in at 5pm without waiting?

I arrived right at 5, just as the break time ended, and got seated right away. I'd heard this place usually has a wait, so I was a little worried when it looked empty — but by the time we left, it was almost fully booked haha. Turns out it really is a popular Osiria Korean restaurant, wait and all.

Kkomak Hansang menu and prices

Dried corvina set ₩27,000, beef pancake and cockle bibimbap set ₩24,000, cockle bibimbap set ₩21,000. Ordering any of the sets comes with 12 side dishes.

Beef pancake à la carte ₩15,000, seasoned cockles ₩11,000, sweet-and-sour eggplant ₩3,000, cockle sauce ₩3,000, bibimbap ₩11,000. You can order these individually too — the eggplant and cockle sauce seem to be ₩3,000 as refills when you're having the set.

Order: Dried corvina set x 2

The dried corvina set, 12 side dishes

So much came out that I filmed it. True to a family-friendly Osiria Korean restaurant, the side dishes were varied — seaweed soup, seasoned cockles, pollack pancake, salted squid, and more, 12 dishes in all!!

Each person gets a whole dried corvina, so it was a filling meal.

The perk of going with dad: whether it's fish or shellfish, he always debones and shells it for me haha.

Best of all, the dried corvina comes with green tea on the side. I poured the green tea over warm rice and topped it with corvina flesh, and the combination worked better than I expected. It's a totally different experience from just putting corvina on plain rice — the green tea cleanses your palate and somehow brings your appetite right back, haha, I finally get what people mean by that. If you like clean, mild flavors like dried corvina, Kkomak Hansang is a solid pick among Osiria Korean restaurants.

Pollack pancake, lotus root, fried eggplant

The pollack pancake was coated in egg and had a nutty, savory flavor. That distinctive mild, nutty taste of jeon (Korean pancake) made it a great side dish for rice.

The lotus root came with black sesame, which seems to be a popular style lately. Mild and clean — a flavor older folks tend to love! I have an older person's palate too, so it suited me well.

The fried eggplant had no meat inside, but anyone who likes eggplant would probably enjoy it. The crispy batter paired nicely with the soft eggplant inside. Personally I find meat-stuffed versions a bit heavy, so I preferred this simple fried style.

Seasoned cockles

Seasoned cockles are a must at Kkomak Hansang, and they went well with rice. I was worried that ordering the corvina set would mean missing out on cockles, but they came as a side dish, so it was like getting a taste of both — glad I went with the corvina set. The cockles kept their distinctive chewy texture, good as a side dish and great mixed into rice too — a bowl disappears fast, so if there's a bigger group, I'd recommend the cockle bibimbap set.

Final thoughts

The seasoned cockles, with their seasoning and texture, really wake up your appetite, while the dried corvina, eaten with green tea rice, felt like a clean, mild way to finish the meal. There are plenty of quick meal options out there, but sometimes you just crave a meal with a variety of side dishes neatly laid out. If that's what you're after in an Osiria Korean restaurant, the set at Kkomak Hansang is a solid choice.