Poached-egg octopus rice bowl revisit at a Haeundae Chinese: Bueokgan

There's a Chinese restaurant in Haeundae, Busan that my husband and I really love the vibe of~ We visited on a date a while back and enjoyed it so much I thought, next time I have to bring our kid along. So this time, we went with our little one~

Bueokgan Chinese Haeundae Branch: hours, break time and address

• Address: 부산 해운대구 달맞이길117번나길 200 1층 (200 Dalmaji-gil 117beon-gagil, Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea)
• Hours: 11:00–21:00
• Break time: 15:00–16:30
• Last order: 20:30

The entrance on Dalmaji-gil: upscale from the first step

The entrance had that upscale feel right from the start~

Inside Bueokgan Chinese: seating and what's ready for kids

The place is clean and feels more like a proper restaurant. Even though we came for an early weekday lunch, it was packed with customers.

They had a baby chair and kids' tableware ready, so it's a good spot to visit with a child.

Side dishes served: jjasai and danmuji

The banchan (side dishes) were jjasai (pickled mustard tuber) and danmuji (pickled radish).

Bueokgan Chinese menu and what three of us ordered

We ordered the nakji junghwa deopbap (poached-egg octopus rice bowl), jjajangmyeon, and kkanpung shrimp!

Jjajangmyeon: the child nearly finished a whole bowl

Jjajangmyeon is one of those dishes you can't skip at a Chinese restaurant. We ordered it for our kid.

The glossy jjajangmyeon looked delicious just from the sight of it.

The noodles were nice and chewy and mixed well with the sauce. Our kid ate it really well — pretty much finished the whole bowl alone 😊

Poached-egg octopus rice bowl: why we came back to Bueokgan

The nakji junghwa deopbap! We came back specifically because we were craving this dish, haha

It's a rice bowl topped with octopus and beef brisket stir-fried in a spicy Chinese-style sauce. The chewy octopus paired with the savory beef brisket let us enjoy both textures and flavors at once.

The sauce was quite spicy, and the savory flavor really came alive once mixed with the rice.

The octopus wasn't tough at all, just nicely chewy, and the beef brisket added a rich, savory fattiness that went well with the spicy sauce. Breaking the poached egg over the rice, octopus, and brisket added a soft, creamy richness from the yolk that mellowed out the spice. The spicy seasoning was really addictive. My husband enjoyed it too, saying it was delicious.

Kkanpung shrimp: trying Bueokgan's version for the first time

Kkanpung shrimp was a first for us~

Big shrimp fried crispy and coated in kkanpung sauce — it looked delicious the moment it arrived.

One bite and you get a crispy outside with a chewy, springy shrimp inside. The kkanpung sauce had a sweet-and-sour taste with a bit of spice that cut through the richness of the fried batter nicely.

Verdict: which of the three dishes was the most generous

This time we tried a bunch of dishes together, from kkanpung shrimp to jjajangmyeon to the nakji junghwa deopbap. The crispy shrimp with its sweet-spicy sauce was great for perking up the appetite, and the jjajangmyeon mixed with its rich black bean sauce and noodles was a familiar, satisfying taste. The nakji junghwa deopbap, with chewy octopus and savory beef brisket in a spicy Chinese sauce plus the poached egg on top, was the spiciest and richest of the three. If you're looking for a nice-vibe Chinese restaurant in Busan, give Bueokgan Chinese a try~