Hairtail set and marinated crab at a Cheonan seafood restaurant

I visited Hwadeuro-ganggodeungeo (화덕으로간고등어), a well-known spot in Baekseok-dong, Cheonan.

Where is Hwadeuro-ganggodeungeo Cheonan Main Branch, and is there parking?

Hwadeuro-ganggodeungeo Cheonan Main Branch sits right near the Baekseok I-Park 2nd apartments. There's parking right in front of the restaurant, so no worries about that :)

I went with my parents to enjoy a grilled fish set meal 🥰✨

Opening hours and break time

• Open 11:00–21:30
• Break time 15:30–16:50 (no break on Sat/Sun)
• Last order 14:50, 20:50
• Closed for Chuseok holiday (Sep 24–25)

A dining room big enough for family meals and group dinners

It's a clean, comfortable, spacious place — great for a family outing or a group work dinner 👥

What's on the menu at Hwadeuro-ganggodeungeo

The boyang (health-boosting) set for two, featured prominently on one wall, looks like a substantial, special order ✨ Beyond that, the menu ranges from various grilled fish sets to sweet-and-spicy marinated crab, jeyuk (spicy stir-fried pork), tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patties) and even gorgonzola pizza — plenty to choose from depending on your mood.

Side dishes and what the self bar holds

You can order easily using the kiosk at each table 😊

After ordering, the basic table setting came out quickly! Six side dishes plus a hearty napa cabbage doenjang soup, all neatly arranged. If you want more of anything, you can help yourself at the self bar. The banchan (side dishes) weren't overly seasoned — mild and savory, letting the natural flavor of the ingredients shine, and easy to pair with everything 😋

Choose white rice, brown rice or gondre rice

The brown rice I ordered came out too. You can choose white rice, brown rice, or gondre rice (Korean thistle rice) depending on taste — I went with brown rice. It was nutty with a proper brown-rice aroma, very satisfying.

The self bar also had bibimbap ingredients ready, so you could pick what you liked and mix it into your rice. Sesame oil and gochujang (red pepper paste) were both available too, so you could mix it exactly to your taste — perfect as a little appetizer before the main dishes arrived.

Every dish at the self bar had a lid on it, which gave a nice sense of hygiene. There was also noodle tteokbokki (Korean stir-fried rice cake with noodles) — not spicy at all, a flavor kids would like too. This place seemed like an even better pick for a family outing with children 😆

What we ordered: oven-grilled mackerel and hairtail sets

• Oven-grilled mackerel set ₩16,000
• Oven-grilled hairtail set ₩24,000

Grilled in a 500°C oven, crispy outside, moist inside. Comes with 12 seasonal side dishes and rice with the germ intact / 🌟A 500°C oven that grills moist and fast🌟

Maybe because it's grilled in the oven, the fish came out beautifully browned on the outside — the visuals alone were fantastic! Just looking at it, you could almost smell the nutty aroma, and the golden, well-cooked flesh was so tempting my hand reached for it on its own 🤤

The hairtail had a nice plump thickness to it, so every bite was clean-tasting yet nutty.

A total rice thief — a bowl of rice disappeared in no time! The mackerel had that distinctive nutty flavor that went perfectly with rice.

Jeju yellow crab spicy marinated crab set, 18,000 won

Addictive marinated crab made with domestic Jeju yellow crab in a sweet-spicy sauce!

The sweet marinade really soaked into the crab, and once you tried it you kept reaching for more — addictive. The sauce was less spicy than I expected and leaned sweet, so it was easy for anyone, young or old, to enjoy. There was barely any fishy taste, so it felt clean to eat. Best of all, the crab meat was plump and firm, so piling it generously on rice was just right.

Finishing with nurungji from the self bar

We finished things off simply with nurungji (scorched rice) from the self bar. A bowl of savory, mild nurungji was a comforting way to end the meal 🤍

Is Hwadeuro-ganggodeungeo worth it for a family meal in Cheonan?

If you're looking for a good restaurant in Baekseok-dong, Cheonan, I recommend Hwadeuro-ganggodeungeo. It's great for a family meal or a group gathering, and you'll leave satisfied with a generous self bar and delicious grilled fish.