Salt-grilled king shrimp set for 3 with seaweed soup in Wolsan-dong

Strongly recommending this to anyone in Gwangju who loves raw fish and seafood ✨ This time I'm introducing a Wolsan-dong restaurant I visited: Hwanggeum Hoe Pocha Gwangju Wolsan Branch.

Hwanggeum Hoe Pocha Gwangju Wolsan Branch

Location, hours, and the fish tank out front

📍 104 Gunbun-ro, Nam-gu, Gwangju 🕖 12:00 – 23:00 The neatly kept fish tank out front had my expectations up even before I ate any seafood ❤️

A spacious place for group dinners — is there a wait?

The interior is large with lots of tables, making this a Wolsan-dong restaurant that's perfect for group dinners and gatherings ✨ I visited early in the evening so I could take photos inside 🤓 Between 6 and 7pm it gets busy enough that there's a wait!

Overall it has that comfortable pocha (street tent bar) vibe, which is great for a drink with friends, and it also seemed like a good place to visit as a bigger group and order a bunch of things! ❤️

The menu and what we ordered this time

This is a place where you can try a wide range of seafood, and since they sell whatever's in season, everything was fresh and delicious — very satisfying! Salt-grilled king shrimp, raw shrimp, live fish sashimi, hamo shabu-shabu, and more — there's something for every taste ✨❤️ This time my friends and I demolished the salt-grilled king shrimp and raw shrimp sashimi!

A full table of banchan — seaweed soup and grilled herring included

The basic table they set us up with ✨ This was just the base banchan, and it filled the table so much there was barely room left for the main dishes 🥹❤️ Seaweed soup, grilled herring, and all kinds of side dishes were laid out, so it was fun to pick through them while waiting for the main course! The warm seaweed soup especially felt like it settled my stomach before the seafood, so I ended up finishing the whole bowl haha.

The aged kimchi and special sauce are the real highlight

This aged kimchi and special sauce are the real highlight ✨ It's the kind of sauce that makes anything you dip in it taste good — I wanted to take it home. It was also great with the rice and raw shrimp that came alongside! If you order the live fish sashimi, making your own little sushi bites would be really good too (nice touch from the owner 👍).

Raw shrimp sashimi for 3 — how was the portion and texture?

We ordered raw shrimp sashimi plus salt-grilled king shrimp for 3, and the portion turned out to be pretty generous! I was worried it wouldn't be enough, but we ate until we were full! The raw shrimp sashimi came fully cleaned and ready, and along with the huge grilled shrimp I was really looking forward to it 🥹🧡🧡

Popping one raw shrimp in my mouth first, I loved the springy, crunchy texture that was still very alive! You could taste the shrimp's subtle natural sweetness, and dipping it in wasabi soy sauce or vinegar-chili sauce gave it a whole different appeal. I'd also recommend putting the shrimp on the rice they provide and eating it like sushi 👍👍 Rice and shrimp together worked better than I expected haha.

The self-serve pancake zone

There's a self-serve pancake (jeon) zone set up, so we could eat as much pancake as we wanted! The self-serve station was kept clean, so there was no discomfort using it.

Being able to make the pancakes as crispy as we liked made them even tastier haha.

Salt-grilled king shrimp and butter-grilled shrimp heads

While we waited, the salt-grilled king shrimp finished cooking! If you cut off the shrimp heads and hand them to the staff, they'll grill them up deliciously with butter for you. You all know butter-grilled shrimp heads are a must-eat, right?

The plump salt-grilled king shrimp made it clear why this place is known as a top Wolsan-dong sashimi restaurant — plump, delicious shrimp piled high, and we really enjoyed every bite.

Alternating between grilled shrimp and raw shrimp sashimi, it never got old and was so, so good! Wrapping a piece of raw shrimp, aged kimchi, and sauce together in a perilla leaf all at once is seriously delicious ㅠ

The butter-grilled shrimp heads came out at the perfect time — no matter how full you are, you have to eat the shrimp heads! Crispy shrimp heads grilled up perfectly — this Wolsan-dong sashimi restaurant, Hwanggeum Hoe Pocha, is a genuine favorite I'll definitely be back to, and I highly recommend it.

Who is this place good for

A Wolsan-dong restaurant where you can enjoy seasonal seafood! Along with hamo shabu-shabu, the current menu includes raw shrimp sashimi, grilled prawns, mixed sashimi, mixed seafood, and more — highly recommended for anyone looking for a good seafood restaurant in Wolsan-dong.

It's a great spot for drinks with delicious seafood among friends, and it also works well as a place for a family meal out or a group dinner — I'd recommend it as a top seafood restaurant in Wolsan-dong, Gwangju.