Seobu-ro Suwon grilled fish, extra mackerel at 53,000 won: Godeungeo

My husband and I wanted a really hearty meal, so we went to Godeungeo Myeongpumi Doeda (고등어명품이되다), a Korean restaurant in Suwon. It's a grilled fish specialist, but I'd heard they do braised fish properly too, haha.

The delicious smell hits you right at the entrance, so my expectations were high before we even walked in!

Location and opening hours of the Suwon branch

• 📍 Location: 1731 Seobu-ro, 1st floor, Gwonseon-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi, South Korea
• ⏰ Hours: daily 10:40-22:00 / last order 20:50 / open until 22:00 in summer
• 🚗 Parking: outdoor lot
• ✔️ Reservations and group seating available

A comfortable restaurant with plenty of parking

Pretty big from the outside, right? It's a large building you can spot from far away.

No need to worry about parking at all. There's a big lot, and even I, a beginner driver, parked easily, haha.

Inside, the ceilings are high and the space is wide, so it feels really open~

The tables are nicely spaced too, so I think it's perfect for a family get-together!

The appeal of fish fresh from the wood-fired oven

When I peeked into the kitchen, a huge wood-fired oven (hwadeok) sat there majestically! Grilled at such high heat, the fish must come out crispy outside and moist inside, right? You can taste that smoky fire flavor you could never get at home, and my mouth was already watering!

Neat table setting and the self-serve bar

Once we sat down and ordered, tidy side dishes were set out in no time. They come in brass bowls, so it felt like we were being treated to something special, haha.

The steaming seaweed soup (miyeokguk) is full of soft seaweed, so it's great for pouring over rice for kids. It's mild and clean-tasting, and gently balances out the salty flavor of the grilled fish, haha.

If you run out of side dishes, you can help yourself at the self-serve bar as much as you like. They also have seaweed soup and nurungji tea (sungnyung, scorched-rice tea), which was lovely to have before and after the meal!

From basic kimchi to a really wide variety of crunchy seasoned vegetables, there's a lot to choose from!

The cucumber salad is spicy, sweet and refreshing, and I kept reaching for it. The seasoned bellflower root (doraji) had no bitterness and the flavor soaked right in, which was perfect for whetting the appetite, haha.

There's also plenty of japchae (glass noodle stir-fry) and gungchae namul (seasoned stem vegetable), which kids and adults alike would enjoy. The japchae noodles were springy and seasoned just right, so I went back for refills twice!

Spicy-sweet braised cutlassfish

We ordered braised cutlassfish for two and added one grilled mackerel.

The cutlassfish in the pot was much plumper than I expected, with really full flesh!

Just a light touch with chopsticks and the white flesh broke apart, melting in my mouth.

The radish soaked in the sauce was crisp yet sweet, a real highlight.

My husband said the sauce was so good that he even snipped some kimchi into the pot, haha.

Eating well-fermented kimchi together with the cutlassfish, a bowl of rice disappeared in an instant.

Mix rice into that spicy sauce and top it with plump cutlassfish. Isn't that what they call a "rice thief" (a dish that makes you eat tons of rice)?

Rich and nutty grilled mackerel

The grilled mackerel, which we ordered because we didn't want to stop at the braised dish, came out beautifully golden.

Crispy outside, moist inside, with no fishy smell and a rich, nutty flavor! The flesh is so thick that eating it between bites of the braised fish was a perfect match.

Okay, secret confession: the mackerel was so good that we ordered one more, haha. The total came to about ₩53,000, and it was a generous spread that didn't feel like a waste of money.

A perfect match of main dishes and sides

Godeungeo Myeongpumi Doeda is most famous for grilled fish, but you can't skip this jeyuk-bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork) either! It comes on a hot iron plate so it stays warm to the very end, and the scallion shreds on top bring out the flavor!

The spicy sauce is soaked right into the meat, so it's a total rice thief, haha. Eating it with the crunchy kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi) and cool radish namul made the textures even richer.

I picked up a nicely cooked piece of pork with a big bunch of scallion shreds, and the spicy and sweet flavors filled my mouth. The meat isn't tough but chewy, and the nutty juices burst out the more you chew. It was art!

Cafeteria service and final thoughts

On the way out after your meal, there's a separate cafeteria area. The waiting seats are well arranged, and it's a really neat flow for having a cup of coffee to finish off the meal! The staff were kind throughout, so we ended the meal in a great mood.

Godeungeo Myeongpumi Doeda is the place I'd think of first when I'm craving proper fish dishes.

It's great for bringing your parents, and the menu works well for kids too. The one catch: at weekend mealtimes there are lots of customers, so you may have a bit of a wait! Still, parking is easy and the food is clean and tasty, so I plan to come back soon, haha. I sincerely recommend it to anyone looking for a hearty, healthy Korean meal!