Busan whale meat restaurant: 55,000-won Special A course, Gorae Gajok

Today I'm sharing my review of Gorae Gajok, a whale meat restaurant I ate at during a trip to Busan. Here I had the Special A (per person) for 55,000 won plus an extra bottle of Hwayo. Out of curiosity — let's try it once! — my boyfriend and I went to eat there together. It's located in Beomil-dong. Let's get right into it.

Gorae Gajok: address, hours and directions

• Location: 23-13 Busanjinseonggong-ro, Dong-gu, Busan, 1st floor
• 389m from Exit 2, Beomil Station, Line 1
• Hours: 3:00 PM – 5:00 AM
• Note: pets not allowed
• Parking: available

What we ordered at Gorae Gajok

• Hwayo
• Special A (per person) 55,000 won

1. Location, interior and private room

Gorae Gajok is located within Beomil-dong, close to the Joseon Tongsinsa Museum and Busanjinseong Park that I'd visited on a previous trip. The Place info says parking is available, but there's a no-parking sign right in front of the restaurant, so if you're driving you should probably call ahead and check.

Inside, the seating was made up of 4-top and 6-top tables, with the restroom at the very back of the restaurant.

In front of the restroom and kitchen area, there was also a separate private room where you could sit.

This place pre-sets every table ahead of time — Hwayo glasses, soju glasses, small plates, and chopsticks were all already laid out.

2. Gorae Gajok menu and prices

This is the menu at Gorae Gajok, the whale meat place in Beomil-dong, Busan. You order by pressing the buzzer and telling staff directly what food or drinks you want. The menu had whale meat in small/medium/large sizes, plus tuna, skate, sea urchin, and set menus too.

For drinks, there was sake like Junmai and Dassai, along with regular soju, and corkage was ₩20,000.

3. What comes with the Special A course (55,000 won per person)

What we ordered at Gorae Gajok in Beomil-dong, Busan was the Special A (per person), priced at 55,000 won each. Busan has so many great restaurants, but out of curiosity about whale meat, my boyfriend and I decided to try it once during our trip. The first thing to come out were the side dishes, including something with onions in it.

A while later, chawanmushi — Japanese-style steamed egg custard — arrived, served hot in a covered bowl that you open and scoop from yourself.

Each of us also got a tasting platter, where you could try small portions of things sold at the restaurant like sea urchin and tuna, plus salmon and grilled eel.

Then came what you could call the main event — the whale meat. Since it's the main dish, it wasn't served as an individual plate per person but as one shared plate in the middle of the table.

For drinks, we'd tried to order our favorite Good Day soju, but somehow ended up drinking Hwayo instead, poured into iced glasses! 🦧

No dipping sauce came out on its own, so when we asked, we were given a red sauce and wasabi.

The set menu at Gorae Gajok, the whale meat place in Beomil-dong, Busan, also came with a soup — a spicy broth packed with bean sprouts, and we were given two small bowls to eat from.

Digging in, there were noodles inside too. Only one pot of soup came per table, and that covers everything included in the Special A (per person) 55,000 won course, so keep that in mind if you visit! 🙄

That wraps up all the details on Gorae Gajok, the whale meat restaurant in Beomil-dong that I ate at during my Busan trip.