Gwanggyo, Suwon deli: braised kodari, baby anchovies at Gukaechan

What kind of place is Gukaechan, a banchan shop in Gwanggyo?

Gukaechan Banchan Gwanggyo Main Store is a side dish shop on the first floor of iFlex on Centraltown-ro in Gwanggyo, Suwon. It's open Monday to Saturday 09:30–20:00 and closed Sundays, so it's easy to stop by in the morning to stock up on side dishes for home cooking, or pick up what you need before dinner.

When you're eating home-cooked meals every day, sometimes prepping all the little side dishes is more of a hassle than the main dish itself — especially when you also need separate dishes for a kid. So this time I stopped by Gukaechan, a banchan (side dish) shop in Gwanggyo.

Where is Gukaechan, and where do you park?

The Gukaechan store is on the first floor, and you can park in the building's parking lot — you pay for however long you park. The lot was pretty spacious, for reference.

What side dishes fill Gukaechan's display case?

Overall there were a lot of dishes that would work for kids, plus crowd-pleasers that pretty much any adult would like too.

The soups, like the seaweed soup, looked like the kind of thing that would get grabbed often since basically everyone likes them.

All the other side dishes were neatly made and cleanly packaged too, in just about 1–2 serving portions — perfect for roughly two simple meals.

Honestly, even as someone raising a kid, I don't cook side dishes every day, so I buy them often. Since I'm not making them myself, it's just a lot less effort, and that's really nice. Gukaechan is a great spot for dual-income couples like us, or for people living alone.

Baby anchovies: the side dish picked for the child

Gukaechan has everything from various side dishes to soups and braised dishes that are great for eating at home. When there are so many options at a banchan shop, it can be hard to decide what to get — this time, with the kid in mind, I picked baby anchovies and braised kodari (dried pollack).

First, the baby anchovies, which were great as a kids' side. For kids, you naturally look for dishes that aren't too strongly seasoned and go easily with rice. Anchovies are something I make at home often too, but prepping and stir-frying them from scratch is honestly a lot of work. Being able to just grab them ready-made from a banchan shop made setting the table way easier — especially handy when I want to serve anchovies for the kid without the fuss.

My kid usually isn't that into anchovies, but even I could tell from tasting them that they were crispy and nutty — figured the kid would like them, and sure enough, loved them. Picked out only the anchovies from the tray, that's how much.

Braised kodari: the side dish picked for the adults

And the one I picked for myself: braised kodari (dried pollack). The chewy texture unique to kodari, well soaked in sauce, made it a great match with warm rice. Making braised kodari at home is kind of a hassle from prepping the ingredients to the seasoning, so buying it ready-made was genuinely convenient. Just keep it in the fridge and pull it out at mealtime — great for busy days when you still want a home-cooked feel.

How to use Gukaechan when you can't decide what to cook

On days when you can't decide what to eat, making just one main dish and picking up a few sides from a banchan shop seems like a smart move. It's especially handy for households with kids, where you'd otherwise need to prep separate dishes for kids and adults — grab one kid-friendly side like the baby anchovies and one adult-friendly side like the braised kodari, and the whole meal comes together much more easily.

If you cook at home often like me but some days just don't feel like making side dishes, this is worth a visit. If you're looking for a good banchan spot in Gwanggyo, picking up a few side dishes for the day at Gukaechan isn't a bad idea at all.

The braised kodari tastes even better with the radish, and the sauce itself is so sweet and savory it's basically a rice thief.

Not many bones to worry about either, and braised kodari isn't exactly an easy dish to make at home, so I was glad I picked it — turned out really tasty. Next time I'd love to bring home even more and different sides.