Haeundae Chinese restaurant for a first meal in Busan: Bueokgan

Hello haha! Today I'm sharing my review of Bueokgan Chinese Haeundae Branch, which I ate at for the first meal of my Busan trip :)

Bueokgan Chinese Haeundae Branch hours and address

• Hours: Daily 11:00 - 21:00 (break time 15:00 - 16:30, last order 20:30)
• See parking info below
• Free corkage available
• Address: 200 Dalmaji-gil117beon-na-gil, Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea, 1st floor

Exterior, location, and parking info

This Haeundae Chinese restaurant favorite, Bueokgan Chinese, sits in a clean standalone building right on the roadside, so you don't need to wind through complicated alleys to get there. It's famous not just as a Jungdong, Busan favorite but as a spot locals travel to from all over Busan — Gwangalli, Marine City, Nampo-dong, and more.

For parking, you can use the basement lot behind the building, roadside spots in front or across the street, or the space next to the restaurant, so I didn't have to worry about parking at all, which was nice.

The whole building is run by Bueokgan — the 1st floor is a café and Chinese restaurant, while the 2nd floor is a restaurant. I went in through the 1st floor entrance.

Once I opened the door there was a hallway, and I had to walk a bit further to reach the actual entrance — but the Chinese characters on the wall already gave off that proper Chinese restaurant feel.

Interior

The interior of this Haeundae Chinese restaurant favorite has this kind of vibe — at over 50 pyeong (about 165 square meters) it felt spacious and comfortable. Rather than going for an overtly 'Chinese' look, the interior and furniture choices gave off an Eastern-inspired sensibility.

I thought the lighting mood felt special too, and it turns out they used George Nelson bubble lamps.

I visited at an off-peak time but there were still plenty of guests, and there were reserved tables too, which made me even more excited as a Busan Chinese food favorite, Haeundae Chinese food favorite haha.

Inside there were baby chairs ready, gender-separated restrooms, and I checked off the country-of-origin labeling board and Wi-Fi info too.

Menu and meal review

At this Haeundae Chinese restaurant favorite, side plates and cups were already set, basic side dishes of pickled radish and jjajangmyeon-style black pickled cabbage were given, and when I asked for a disposable apron it was provided neatly.

You check the menu and order through a tablet at the table, and every single menu item looked distinctive and delicious, so it was hard to decide what to choose haha.

There's also a Naver receipt review event running — participate and you get complimentary yuxiang dumplings, so dumpling lovers should definitely join in!

Poached-egg pork belly ganjjajang 10,000 won / Shrimp fried rice 10,000 won / Black vinegar tangsuyuk 28,000 won

Poached-egg pork belly ganjjajang, 10,000 won

The first dish was poached-egg pork belly ganjjajang (black bean noodles) — they told me to pop the poached egg and mix it in.

They also piled on plenty of julienned cucumber as a topping, which cucumber lovers would appreciate, and then came the poached egg!

Jiggle jiggle, pop the poached egg, and mix mix

True to a proper ganjjajang, it was packed with crunchy onions, and the pork belly had great texture too, so it was really delicious. The color looked dark at first but it wasn't salty, which was another plus — packed full of ingredients, it felt hearty, and you could taste that smoky wok-fired flavor too. A very satisfying dish haha.

Shrimp fried rice, 10,000 won

The second dish was shrimp fried rice, which came with an egg drop soup on the side.

The rice came out fluffy and separate, paired with a jjajang sauce, and it had plenty of plump shrimp in it.

At Chinese restaurants that aren't great at fried rice, you often get something greasy with no savory depth, but here the seasoning was just right and not overly greasy, so pairing it with the jjajang sauce and egg drop soup made it delicious!

Black vinegar tangsuyuk, 28,000 won

The last dish was black vinegar tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) — note that it comes sauce-on by default :)

Personally I loved that it was piled high with julienned onion, and it also came with wood ear mushrooms!

The sauce was sweet and tangy, unlike other places, because they use black vinegar sourced directly from China, giving it an even deeper flavor.

The cross-section looked like this — packed full of meat, so it had a great chewy bite too.

Is Bueokgan Chinese Haeundae Branch okay to visit with kids?

Another meal finished, full and happy

I liked that the restaurant's atmosphere was clean and calm, the menu was varied and distinctive with everything tasting great, and the seasoning wasn't overly strong, so it seems like a good place for families with kids to visit! If you're looking for a Chinese restaurant near Haeundae, a Chinese restaurant near Haeundae, give this one a try~~