Gyeongsan Korean restaurant abalone set meal: Haenyeo Sotbap

While looking for a place for a family meal in Gyeongsan, I visited Haenyeo Sotbap Gyeongsan (해녀솥밥 경산점), a Korean restaurant many people go to for Korean set meals in the city.

We went there for pot rice, but once the full spread arrived, I was impressed by how generous it was—more like a Korean set meal than a typical pot-rice restaurant.

That day, we ordered the ₩60,000 Haenyeo Set for Two.

A place with a lovely atmosphere from the outside

When we arrived at Haenyeo Sotbap Gyeongsan, the building was much larger than I had expected. With its tiled-roof feel, glass-front exterior, and a little garden-like arrangement of stone and lighting, it was nicely done. We went around sunset, and as the lights gradually came on, the atmosphere was really quite nice.

Rather than somewhere to just pop in for a quick meal, it felt well suited to a family meal or bringing your parents out for dinner.

What comes with the Haenyeo Set for Two?

The menu we chose was the ₩60,000 Haenyeo Set for Two.

It includes a choice of two pot rice dishes or seafood stews, four butter-grilled abalones, and a 13-dish Korean side-dish spread. As pictured, we chose one abalone pot rice and one seafood stew.

Instead of both having the same thing, choosing one pot rice and one soup dish meant we could enjoy two different mains in one meal.

The table fills up with side dishes before the mains arrive

After ordering, all the side dishes are laid out at once.

The Haenyeo Set for Two includes a 13-dish Korean side-dish spread, and seeing it in person, there really were a lot of dishes.

Cucumber, acorn jelly, stir-fried anchovies, kimchi, seasoned vegetables, roasted seaweed, and other side dishes arrive in brass bowls. Add the grilled fish and sweet-and-sour mushrooms in the photo, and the table was already beginning to fill up before the mains even arrived, haha.

With grilled fish and sweet-and-sour mushrooms, too

What I like about this kind of set is that it is not just a lone pot of rice.

It also comes with grilled fish and sauce-coated sweet-and-sour mushrooms.

It is not simply a meal centered on vegetable side dishes; there are different things to eat throughout, so even in photos it looks quite different from an ordinary bowl of pot rice.

Four pieces of butter-grilled abalone are included

Then came the butter-grilled abalone. The Haenyeo Set for Two includes four pieces.

The abalones arrive trimmed into easy-to-eat pieces in their shells, with sauce in the middle. There is abalone on the pot rice as well, and with grilled abalone served separately too,

abalone is clearly at the center of the meal, fitting for a place called Haenyeo Sotbap.

Wando haenyeo abalone pot rice

Our first choice was Wando haenyeo abalone pot rice. When you open the pot, large pieces of abalone and scallions sit on top of the rice.

Ordered on its own, the abalone pot rice is currently ₩22,000. Since the set lets each person choose either pot rice or seafood stew,

if two people are visiting, choosing different dishes as we did could be a good idea.

A steaming earthenware pot full of abalone and seafood

Our second choice was the abalone-filled seafood stew. It came in a large ttukbaegi (Korean earthenware pot) with seafood and vegetables, and it kept bubbling away even while I was taking photos, haha.

Its current à la carte price is also ₩22,000. Choosing one pot rice and one steaming stew was nice because the dishes did not overlap.

Especially if you enjoy soup dishes, adding one seafood stew to the set seems like a good choice.

For ₩60,000, the table is completely full

Once all the food had arrived, the table was so full it was hard to fit everything into one photo: abalone pot rice, seafood stew, four butter-grilled abalones, grilled fish, sweet-and-sour mushrooms, and all the side dishes.

At ₩60,000 for two, or ₩30,000 per person, it is not an inexpensive meal based on price alone. But it makes more sense to see it as the price of a full set meal with various side dishes and grilled abalone, rather than simply the price of one pot of rice.

There is a coffee machine after the meal, too

As we were leaving after our meal, I noticed there was also a coffee machine on one side of the restaurant.

Looking at not only the food but also the exterior and interior setup, it definitely felt like a place focused on family meals and dining with older relatives.

If you are looking for a Korean restaurant for a family meal in Gyeongsan

At first, I thought of it as simply a place to say, “Let’s go eat abalone pot rice,” but the real feature of Haenyeo Sotbap was the set: a 13-dish side-dish spread, butter-grilled abalone, and a choice of pot rice or seafood stew. The Haenyeo Set for Two we ordered was ₩60,000.

By choosing one abalone pot rice and one seafood stew, we could enjoy both dishes, and the entire meal was very generous.

If you are looking for somewhere to eat with your parents in Gyeongsan, or a place for a proper Korean meal with family, this is worth a look. 😊

Things to know before visiting

The address is 73-5 Baekcheon-gil, Gyeongsan-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do. The currently listed hours are 11:30–21:00, with a break time of 15:30–17:00; last orders are 14:30 for lunch and 20:00 for dinner. Menu prices and hours can change, so check the latest information before visiting.