Seomyeon pufferfish course, garlic fried fugu to hot pot: Busan Bokjip

Where is Busan Bokjip in Seomyeon?

Busan Bokjip (부산복집) is a pufferfish course restaurant on the Yeongkwang Books street in Seomyeon. I just made a quick trip down to Busan, and there were so many pufferfish restaurants on this street!

Among them, I went to Busan Bokjip, because its courses come out really well and with lots of different dishes, so you get to properly enjoy eating!

It's a short walk from Seomyeon Station (서면역) Exit 9, on the street with Yeongkwang Books, which every Busan local knows! It was right next to my friend's office, so it was easy to visit haha. There are quite a few companies around here, so it would be a good pick for a company dinner too!

Inside Busan Bokjip: can it handle a group dinner?

Busan Bokjip in Seomyeon is split into a 1st and 2nd floor. The 2nd floor has private rooms too, so it looked good for anyone who wants more privacy with their group. We sat in the 2nd-floor hall, and it's spacious enough for a big group dinner.

It seemed like you could rent the whole 1st floor too, so I thought both floors would be perfect for a company dinner.

Busan Bokjip menu and the pufferfish B course we ordered

Busan Bokjip also has plain pufferfish soup and rice meals, but we wanted a pufferfish course, so we ordered the B course! A lot of dishes come out. We waited with high expectations.

First table of the B course: porridge, steamed egg, pufferfish skin salad and sashimi

The first table of the Busan Bokjip B course came with side dishes plus swordfish belly, salmon sashimi, salmon sushi, pufferfish skin salad, steamed egg and porridge.

Porridge with crab meat

I hadn't had porridge in ages, and it was really nutty and warm, perfect for settling your stomach before the course starts. There's crab meat inside too!

Crab steamed egg

The steamed egg (gyeran-jjim) also had crab meat in it, so you taste egg and crab together, and it was soft and seasoned just right.

Pufferfish skin salad

Think of the pufferfish skin salad as a spicy raw-fish salad with pufferfish skin instead of fish. The skin was really chewy and tasty, a perfect soju snack, and it went great with the minari (water dropwort).

Swordfish belly, salmon sashimi and salmon sushi

The swordfish belly had a nice firm, springy texture, and the salmon was soft with that classic salmon flavor I like.

The salmon sushi was soft with no fishy smell, and delicious too!

How do you eat the boiled pufferfish?

For the boiled pufferfish (bokeo suyuk) at Busan Bokjip, I recommend dipping it in chojang (sweet chili vinegar sauce). Since it's boiled-style, it isn't kept at a rolling boil; they lit a single-use burner to keep it warm!

It comes with minari, bean sprouts and enoki mushrooms, which were tasty eaten together, and chojang suited it much better than soy sauce. I'd recommend dipping the pufferfish in chojang!

The pufferfish was chewy yet tender, totally my taste. A perfect soju snack.

Fried pufferfish, pufferfish sweet-and-sour, garlic fried pufferfish and grilled merou

While we were eating the boiled pufferfish, the fried dishes of the B course arrived: pufferfish sweet-and-sour (tangsuyuk), fried pufferfish, garlic fried pufferfish and grilled merou. The garlic fried pufferfish was my favorite.

Fried pufferfish

I started with the fried pufferfish, and the coating was salty enough to be tasty on its own. It was also good with soy sauce and wasabi, and best while hot.

Pufferfish sweet-and-sour

Chewy batter, chewy and tender pufferfish meat, and a tangy-sweet tangsuyuk sauce on top: how could it not be good!! I wanted more.

Garlic fried pufferfish

The garlic fried pufferfish was tossed in garlic sauce like garlic chicken, and it's a real treat. If you like garlic chicken, you'll definitely love it. It was totally my taste.

Grilled merou

The grilled merou (a type of sea bass) was plump with lots of meat, rich and nutty, and had a great texture. Everything that came out was perfect with soju.

Skate comes out too

Skate (hongeo, fermented ray) came out as well. Neither of us can eat it, so we didn't try it, but people who like it would probably enjoy it. It isn't fermented too strongly, just moderately, so even beginners might be able to take the challenge.

Finishing with pufferfish hot pot and rice

The B course at Busan Bokjip ends with pufferfish hot pot (jeongol). They put the leftovers from the boiled pufferfish into the pot, and a burner was brought over so we could keep simmering it.

There was vinegar on the side, and wanting a crisper taste, I drizzled it around the pot twice. It gave a fresher, cleaner flavor. We got two bowls of rice separately, and pufferfish soup and rice really are inseparable. Pufferfish soup without rice just feels incomplete, so be sure to have it with rice.

The broth was really refreshing and piping hot, and the pufferfish was chewy, firm and soft, so good.

The broth makes you want a drink and cures a hangover at the same time. Quite a few people have never had pufferfish soup in their lives, and I hope you'll try it. If you like clear fish soup or jiri (clear fish stew), you'll like this.

Who should you go to Busan Bokjip with?

This time I visited Busan Bokjip, a pufferfish course restaurant in Seomyeon, Busan, with great pufferfish soup. I went with a friend, but it's also good for company dinners, and for a family meal out with your parents, so keep it in mind.