Haeundae Market hagfish and steamed clams for a first try: Hyejane San

Today I'm posting about a hagfish and steamed clam spot in Haeundae, Busan: Hyejane San Gomjangeo Main Branch (혜자네 산곰장어 본점)! It's famous in Haeundae for gomjangeo (hagfish, often called "grilled eel" in casual English), steamed clams and grilled clams, and I had never eaten hagfish once in my entire life. Everyone called it a Haeundae must-eat, so I wanted to try it and paid a visit!

Hyejane San Gomjangeo Main Branch: location, hours and parking

Hyejane San Gomjangeo Main Branch is at 18 Gunam-ro 41beon-gil, Haeundae-gu, Busan, on the 1st floor, inside Haeundae Traditional Market. It's open from 3 PM to 1 AM with last order at 12:30 AM, and there's no regular closing day. I'd recommend the Haeundae public parking lot, and for details on days off, check their Naver updates.

Why I picked Hyejane among the hagfish places in Haeundae Market

There are a ton of hagfish places once you walk into Haeundae Traditional Market, and Hyejane looked the freshest to me, so that's why I chose it. I can't eat anything fishy at all, so I was hunting for somewhere that was absolutely fresh and not fishy, and Hyejane looked the freshest, so in I went!

All kinds of seafood really were in the tanks at the entrance, so I could watch them catch it with my own eyes before eating. Loved that!

A shop inside a traditional market: is the interior clean?

Despite my worry about it being a shop inside a market, the inside of Hyejane San Gomjangeo Main Branch was super tidy and clean. Since it's in Haeundae Traditional Market I was afraid it would be shabby, so I was surprised at how clean it was. The seats near the entrance are decorated with a bit of a Hawaii concept, and

further inside there are neat table seats and even a large private space that can hold a group dinner, so it looked great for company dinners or get-togethers too!

Hyejane set menu prices and what we ordered

At Hyejane San Gomjangeo Main Branch you order what you want on a tablet. For the full menu and prices, check the menu photo below.

We ordered the most popular set, the Hyejane set menu (small ₩78,000 / medium ₩98,000 / large ₩128,000). It's a "pick 2" setup, so you choose any 2 of 7 dishes.

• Grilled live hagfish
• Sashimi
• Grilled clams
• Live octopus (sannakji)
• Seafood stew
• Steamed clams
• Grilled abalone

We chose the seasoned grilled live hagfish and the steamed clams. With 2 adults, the staff said the small size would be enough, so we went with small!

Side dishes and complimentary seafood

The standard spread at Hyejane San Gomjangeo Main Branch came with lettuce wraps, ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), corn salad, pickled onions, freshwater snails, silkworm pupae (beondegi) and peas. The owner also gave us some freebies to nibble on while we waited: shrimp, live octopus and sea squirt 🦐🥹🤍

While we snacked on the sides and freebies, the staff prepared the hagfish on the spot and showed it to us before grilling. Seeing it caught and grilled right there was fascinating and also felt trustworthy, hahaha.

Before I'd even gotten over the shock of the live hagfish, our order arrived, and for both the steamed clams and the hagfish the staff did everything for us, so we had nothing to do and could eat super comfortably.

What does hagfish taste like the first time?

The seasoned grilled live hagfish at Hyejane San Gomjangeo Main Branch comes out after a first and second round of pre-grilling. It was my first time, but I'm fairly okay with fish, so I took a bite without worry, and it was kind of like a small, chewy mini eel...? The seasoning was spicy-sweet, and eaten with onions it was really delicious.

My mom, who eats hagfish often and has been to just about every well-known place, said it's rare to find a place that does it fresh on the spot like this. She said that because Hyejane does everything in front of you, it's definitely a lot tastier than other places!

Hyejane's steamed clams: fishy smell and portion

The steamed clams at Hyejane San Gomjangeo Main Branch had no fishy taste and no sand at all, and the small size was quite a lot for two women. There was a really wide variety of clams, and the staff prepared everything for us, so it was very easy to eat.

It had bean sprouts, minari (water dropwort), mushrooms, blue crab, littleneck clams, scallops, pen shells, shrimp, octopus, hard clams and more, a really huge variety of seafood. I loved that there was no fishy taste, and I never bit into any sand. It was just so, so good 🥹🤍 The portion was quite big for two women and I couldn't finish it and left some, so for a group of women I think it would easily work for up to 3 people.

Haeundae Market roulette event with our receipt

If you take your Hyejane San Gomjangeo Main Branch receipt, you can join the Haeundae Market roulette event, and I won an ₩8,000 market gift voucher. On top of that, the staff were really kind: just as we were paying and about to leave, a staff member told us we could join a roulette event in Haeundae with the receipt, so I went right over and played. Lucky Vicky! 🥹🤍

When I got the voucher, they asked me to plant a flag in whichever restaurant or shop in the market I liked, so like a hornet-man (말벌 아저씨, a Korean meme), I dashed back to Hyejane San Gomjangeo Main Branch and handed the flag to the staff member who had told us about it, and she was so happy, aww. I swapped the voucher for 4 pairs of socks at a shop in the market . . ♡

If you're looking for a Haeundae restaurant, or a Haeundae spot for hagfish, steamed clams and grilled clams, I think you'll love Hyejane San Gomjangeo Main Branch, where they catch and grill it right in front of you!