Nampo-dong Japanese restaurant with a shark kids curry: Daidokoro

Why Daidokoro at Lotte Gwangbok works with small kids

Daidokoro Gwangbok Branch is a Japanese home-style restaurant on the 10th floor of Lotte Department Store Gwangbok Branch in Jung-gu, Busan. Since it was raining, we wanted to spend the day indoors with the kids, so we stopped by the Busan Museum of Modern History around 4:30pm. We left the museum around 6pm and headed to Lotte Department Store Gwangbok Branch for dinner with the kids.

That evening we ate at Daidokoro Gwangbok, a place I'd visited a few times before on my own dime.

This actually wasn't my first visit. I'd been a few times before with my kid, and while the food was always good, one reason I liked this place was how genuinely kind the staff were. Even with a kid in tow, it never felt like they were fussing over us excessively — more like they naturally checked in on what we needed, which made every meal feel relaxed. This time too we arrived around 6:30pm, dinner time, and there were quite a few customers. Still, the space didn't feel cramped, and eating with two kids wasn't much of a hassle.

What two moms ordered: the family set for a 3- and 4-year-old

That day it was two moms and two kids, aged 3 and 4. Since the kids were still small and adult portions are pretty large, we didn't plan on ordering multiple kids' dishes from the start. We figured sharing adult dishes with the kids would be plenty, so we got the family set plus two adult dishes, one kids' menu, and added an udon.

At the time of ordering, though, we really thought this would be enough.

But the kids' appetite that day completely defied our expectations.

They ate like crazy, seriously. The kids' menu was almost gone right after it arrived, and the two kids shared the one udon between them.

Then they asked for more, which honestly caught us off guard. They ate their rice well too, and liked the quail egg side dish so much we got a refill. They're usually picky eaters, so we don't often see them eat this much, but that day they just kept going. My friend and I must have said 'why are the kids eating so well today?' about five times.

Which dishes did the kids finish fastest?

What the kids liked best at Daidokoro Gwangbok was the kids' curry. It came out shaped like a cute shark, and they got interested the moment they saw it.

The curry and rice came topped with egg, and chicken nuggets came alongside it — a kid-friendly combination.

I thought it'd be enough for the two kids to share, but it disappeared in a flash. We were mid-photo, chatting a little, and it was basically gone — pretty funny to watch.

The kids also ate the udon really well. They shared one bowl, and not only did they eat the noodles well, they drank the broth too. They finished it and still asked for more, and by the end we were honestly wondering just how much room their stomachs had. They liked the quail egg side dish too, so we got another refill.

The kids were pretty tired that day, so we let them watch a bit of TV while eating, but honestly they spent more time focused on the food than the screen. The adult dishes were also easy to share with the kids. The tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet) was fried crisp on the outside, and the karaage (Japanese fried chicken) was nicely crunchy outside and juicy inside — really tasty.

When we cut things into kid-sized pieces, they ate everything without picking and choosing. In the end, the food disappeared faster than we expected, which surprised us too.

Kids' aprons, tableware and scissors brought without asking

One reason I've been back to Daidokoro a few times is exactly this kind of thoughtfulness. When you visit with a child, the staff check what's needed and bring things like a kid's apron and dishes.

When you go to a restaurant with a young child, there's always a moment you need small dishes or scissors to cut up food, and it was nice that they brought what we needed without us having to ask multiple times.

It was dinner time again so there were quite a few customers, but the staff naturally checked each table to see if anything was needed. When the kids needed something mid-meal, they'd bring it right away. I think this kind of thing quietly matters a lot when dining out with kids. It wasn't that we got special treatment for having a child — it just felt easy to get help naturally whenever we needed it. The food also came out faster than expected, so the kids didn't have to wait hungry for long.

Is Daidokoro worth it for dinner with kids in Nampo-dong?

After spending the afternoon at the Busan Museum of Modern History, moving to the 10th floor of Lotte Department Store Gwangbok for dinner at Daidokoro turned out to be a surprisingly convenient route. If you're wondering where to take kids on a rainy day, spending time at the museum and then moving to the department store lets you flow naturally into dinner too. Being inside Lotte Department Store Gwangbok Branch also meant we were less affected by the weather, which felt like a real plus when moving around with kids. If you're looking for a restaurant to visit with kids at Lotte Gwangbok, it matters whether there's a menu both kids and adults can enjoy together.

On that front, Daidokoro worked well for us since you can order kids' and adult menus together, which made it manageable even with two young kids in tow.

Personally, I'd visited a few times before, and this time again I left having had a comfortable meal with the kids, which was satisfying. When eating out with kids, how relaxed the mom can be matters just as much as how the food tastes, and on that front, I'd happily come back again.