Gwangju first birthday venue with no rental fee: Tams Badaetgaja

Why Tams Badaetgaja was scouted as a Gwangju first birthday venue

My youngest's first birthday is coming up soon, and I've been looking for a good restaurant for a small family-style first-birthday party in Gwangju. After checking out a few places, I went to Tams Badaetgaja (탐스바닷가재), and the menu felt like a proper lobster treat, everything came out neatly as a course, and the taste was amazing! After eating there myself, I started wondering if I should just hold the party here — Tams Badaetgaja really is a lobster spot worth it.

• Tams Badaetgaja
• 10-1 Jihoro124beon-gil, Dong-gu, Gwangju, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:30–22:00
• Parking: Private parking lot available
• Baby chairs: Available

Tams Badaetgaja sits on the Mudeungsan side of town, so the view is good and the air feels clean — it seems like a great spot for a family gathering.

The private parking lot is also pretty spacious, so you don't have to worry about parking even for a party! It's awkward inviting people to a celebration when parking is tight, but Tams Badaetgaja has plenty of room, so it's easy to invite guests.

Inside Tams Badaetgaja: private rooms, floor seating or table seating?

The inside of Tams Badaetgaja. There's a small hall area, but most of the space is made up of private rooms. I guess since king crab is a premium item, eating privately makes more sense than sitting in the open hall :)

The rooms offer both floor seating and table seating. Among the floor-seating rooms, there are ones where you sit cross-legged and ones with a sunken floor so it feels more like table seating — so you can pick a room based on your preference! Every room had a window with a lovely green view, which I think the older family members would really enjoy.

Lobster and menu prices at Tams Badaetgaja

At Tams Badaetgaja you can actually see the lobster they use with your own eyes, which felt trustworthy. And the origin is all Canadian, not Southeast Asian! Apparently it takes about 10 years for a Canadian lobster to grow to 1kg. That's how precious Canadian lobster really is.

On top of that, Tams Badaetgaja only uses fresh grade-A lobster, and you can really tell the difference once you taste it! If you want to treat your family to something special at a small first-birthday party, lobster — something you don't eat often — is a really good option.

Here's the course menu board at Tams Badaetgaja for reference! We picked the Tams Half Course from the lunch special. At ₩37,000 per person, the price felt pretty reasonable.

The owner personally explained the lobster grading to us, and I could really feel the pride in using such high-quality lobster!

How does the 37,000-won Tams Half Course lunch taste?

We'd booked ahead, and when we walked into our reserved room, everything was already set up. The neat, tidy table setting was an instant win before we even took a bite! It felt like being treated to something special, which put me in a good mood before eating even started.

A small first-birthday party is already a special occasion, and having everything prepped like this makes it feel even more like a real celebration! A small first-birthday party is great, but I think this place would also work really well as a spot for a pre-wedding family meeting.

While we were eating the salad and side dishes that came out first, a staff member brought over noodles — slightly spicy, the kind that wakes up your appetite. Since everything came out course by course, we got to eat each dish piping hot, which I really appreciated.

Next came soup and a jellyfish dish, both of which tasted great! I especially loved the soup — I could have gone for another bowl.

After enjoying all that, the main event finally arrived — lobster! Each person got their own plate with fried rice and lobster plated individually, so there was no need to divide the lobster — I loved that everyone could just enjoy their own portion.

The lunch-special Tams Half Course comes with half a lobster, and it looked seriously appetizing. Cooked in cheese and butter, the lobster was full of ocean flavor and aroma — it looked and smelled amazing.

The full course spread :) Even though it was a lunch special, nothing about it felt skimpy — the table was packed and it would've been perfectly suitable as first-birthday party food. Just visually, it was already a win!

I finally got to pick apart the lobster meat I'd been looking forward to, and it slid right out without any effort — so easy, I didn't even need to work for it. I popped the thick chunk of meat straight into my mouth and…

Whoa... this is insane... how is this so good?

I already know lobster is good, but the lobster cooked at Tams Badaetgaja was seriously, ridiculously good! The sauce was delicious without overpowering the lobster's natural flavor, and the meat was thick with a satisfying, chewy bite.

I also tried dipping it in the sauce that came alongside, but personally I'd recommend eating it plain! The Canadian lobster's natural flavor was so good on its own that every bite made me genuinely happy :)

I came to scout it as a possible party venue, but the food and the course lineup were both so good that I think I'd come back next time just because I'm craving lobster!

Room rental fee and group size: can you hold a small first birthday party here?

Once the meal wrapped up, they gave us a choice of sujeonggwa (cinnamon persimmon punch) or coffee as a palate-cleansing dessert drink. A place that takes care of you right down to the finish really does seem like a solid choice for a first-birthday party in Gwangju. Since the food was genuinely excellent, I asked the owner whether there was a fee for renting a room for a first-birthday party, and they said there's no separate rental fee — you just need to order food. Since the doors between rooms can be opened and connected, it seems like it can accommodate any group size, small or large! If you're looking for a place for a first-birthday party or family gathering in Gwangju, giving Tams Badaetgaja a try could be a great choice :)