Three-building Korean restaurant in Sangmu, Gwangju: Misikga Imokase

• Address l 114 Sangmupyeonghwa-ro, Seo-gu, Gwangju, South Korea
• Hours l Mon–Sat 16:00–24:00 (closed Sundays)
• Parking l Roadside in front of the restaurant
• Main menu l Korean set menu
• Restroom l Outside the building, separated by gender
• Meal time l About 2 hours

Is Misikga Imokase still worth a fourth visit?

Today I'm back again — not after a long gap, but yet another visit! Here's my fourth-visit review of Misikga Imokase Sangmu Main Branch, a Korean restaurant everyone in Gwangju raves about.

A place you really love doesn't stop at one visit, right? It keeps pulling you back haha. This is my fourth time here, and even after all these visits, the moment the food started coming out I got just as excited as the first time.

So, is it still good on visit number four? Short answer: yes. Still delicious. 😋 Let me show you what came out this time, dish by dish!

Main, new and annex: how big the Sangmu branch is and where to sit

Misikga Imokase Sangmu Main Branch has grown into three separate buildings — main, new, and annex — so the scale is really generous. It looks like they've been expanding every year haha.

In order: the main building, new building, and annex. The halls are spacious and there are private rooms too, and each building has plenty of seating, which I really appreciated.

Every time I visit it's so crowded that I get a bit self-conscious taking photos, so I went around 8pm this time — even then it was nearly full, though a few first-round guests were leaving as we arrived. A lot of people seemed to be there for drinks with good food, and honestly, with how varied the dishes are here, it really does pair perfectly with alcohol!

What's on the 17-dish set table and what it costs

Here's the menu board. Simple is best — they only serve the set menu.

This place is fundamentally an imokase — an aunt's-choice set course — with a whopping 17 dishes prepared. The price is ₩35,000 per person for two people, or ₩30,000 per person for three or more.

They're also running a Naver Misikga coupon event! Just sit down per person and the set menu comes out automatically.

First round: yukhoe, raw skate with bean powder, acorn jelly salad

Japchae (glass noodles), Korean native beef yukhoe (raw beef tartare), acorn jelly salad, and bean-powder raw skate (with perilla leaves) and potatoes came out.

The fresh yukhoe and raw skate were so good I ate without even thinking. The acorn jelly salad was delicious too — gone in no time!

Dried pollack hangover soup, simmered 10 minutes on the burner

There's a pollack hangover soup on one of the burners. You just let it bubble away for about 10 minutes. Eat it whenever the owner tells you to!

I wasn't expecting much, but it was so good. And it's not bean sprouts — it's mung bean sprouts. Mild, savory, and really delicious. It has that classic hangover-soup feeling, the kind that makes everything settle.

Hongeo sam-hap bossam, kimchi pancake, braised pomfret and Yeonggwang gulbi

Next came skate sam-hap bossam (fermented skate, pork belly, and kimchi combo), kimchi pancake, braised pomfret, and Yeonggwang dried yellow croaker. The color on the sam-hap bossam was incredible. The bossam (boiled pork) came out piping hot in thick slices — really delicious. And the mustard-leaf kimchi in the middle... it really is mustard leaf. Wrapped up with the sam-hap combo, it's genuinely amazing.

My body's been feeling run down lately so I ate a lot of the skate for the health boost. They seemed to have picked really tender parts for us. Aside from skate's signature sharp tang, it felt just like eating regular sashimi — with a nice crunchy texture. If you're new to skate, pile on the kimchi and eat it with the bossam — you'll barely notice the skate flavor haha.

Spicy octopus, beef jeon and the cheese fried rice that follows

Spicy stir-fried octopus, beef jeon (pan-fried beef), and a fried egg came out.

The spicy octopus tasted exactly like the original branch's version. The beef jeon was insane. It looked slightly smaller than last time, but the flavor was every bit as good — heavenly with the shredded scallions.

After finishing off the octopus, they use the same pan to make fried rice right on the spot. Add a sprinkle of cheese and seaweed on top and there's no way it could taste bad. The octopus sauce had soaked all through the rice, so I scraped the pan clean to the last bite haha.

Ending with ramyeon and injeolmi snow ice

The pure ramyeon (instant noodles) came out. The noodles were cooked just right, and it was so good. It looked like they just boiled up a plain packet, but sometimes the simplest thing is the best? You know what I mean. If you've been drinking, this settles everything down and feels like the perfect finale.

For dessert, fruit, pumpkin injeolmi (rice cake), and injeolmi snow ice came out. Five kinds of fruit, all fresh. With such a variety of fruit, my friend went wild pairing it all with the snow ice haha. We ate through dessert down to the very last bite.

In the new building, the door to the outside restroom is inside. The restroom itself is located outside the restaurant.

Final verdict on Misikga Imokase Sangmu Main Branch

There's a wait even on weekdays in Gwangju, which tells you how much of a locals' favorite this is — every dish is made with care and tastes great, the portions are generous, and the owner and staff are kind.

No matter how many times I visit, the variety of dishes keeps things interesting every single time. It's one of those places that makes you think, 'I have to come back here.' Will I be writing a fifth-visit review? Haha, who knows — but I'm sure I'll be craving this food again soon and heading back. Another great meal today! 😋