High chairs at a Deokdong BBQ restaurant in Masan: Shashlik Masan

Trying to figure out where to take our 3-year-old for dinner, we landed on Shashlik Masan Branch! When you're eating out with a toddler, taste matters, but so does whether parking is easy, whether there's a high chair, and whether there's anything on the menu your kid can actually eat.

So with all those things in mind, we gave it a try — and it turned out to be a better fit for eating with a kid than we expected, haha.

Why Shashlik Masan Branch works with a toddler: big parking lot and high chairs

First off, it's easy to drive here — Shashlik Masan Branch has a big parking lot, so parking was no hassle.

Sometimes eating out with a kid drains you before the meal even starts just because of parking, so it was nice not to have to worry about that here.

There was also a high chair ready, so we could sit our kid down and start our own meal in peace. Kind of a big deal when you're going to a meat restaurant with a toddler!

Charcoal-fired skewers you don't have to grill yourself

There's one thing I quietly care about when we go to a meat restaurant with our kid: whether I have to grill the meat myself! 😂 Keeping an eye on the kid while also grilling meat, worrying about it burning, and feeding the kid at the same time — it's genuinely chaotic.

But shashlik comes already grilled over charcoal, so you can dig in the moment it's served — much easier than I expected. That day we ordered pork shoulder shashlik and chicken thigh shashlik.

🥩 Pork belly and shoulder shashlik

First up, the pork shoulder shashlik! The meat came out already cut into easy-to-eat pieces, so there was no need to grill anything at the table — we could just eat. Maybe because it's charcoal-grilled, the meat had a subtle smoky aroma, nicely browned on the outside and juicy inside.

We ate some pieces plain and some with sides, trying it a few different ways, and that charcoal smell kept us reaching for more, haha.

🍗 Chicken thigh shashlik

The one I felt worked best for eating with our kid was the chicken thigh shashlik. Since it's thigh meat, it was relatively tender, and when feeding our kid we cut it into small pieces.

At 3 years old she can't yet eat meat in big adult-sized bites, so we cut it small — and she ate it better than expected. 👶🏻

Rice has to be ordered separately, and it came as packaged instant rice (Hetbahn)!

Trying it ourselves, the chicken was more tender and moist than the usual dry chicken breast feeling, so it was easy to eat. The pork shoulder gives you that solid meaty bite, while the chicken thigh shashlik is a bit softer, so ordering both together meant we could switch back and forth.

We ordered one regular size and one add-on size, and that was enough for our family of three.

Fried rice to finish the meal

After the meat, we also ordered fried rice.

Meat alone would've felt like something was missing, but the fried rice rounded out the meal and left us properly full, haha.

Campfire and marshmallows after dinner 🔥

Shashlik Masan Branch's campfire runs weekday evenings and weekend afternoons, with marshmallows as this month's event.

And it doesn't stop there! What I remember most about Shashlik Masan Branch was actually what came after the meal. There's an outdoor space for a campfire, so we got to roast marshmallows ourselves.

Our 3-year-old thought roasting marshmallows herself was fascinating and fun, so we just stood by and watched, haha.

Carefully roasting them near the fire, then eating the golden, toasted marshmallows 🔥 — with dinner flowing right into the campfire, it made for great quality time with our kid.

Honest review of visiting Shashlik Masan Branch with a 3-year-old

Eating out with a kid, I honestly wondered at first whether she'd sit still long enough — but she ate well and had a blast roasting marshmallows, so we ended up having a relaxed meal ourselves, haha.

Not having to head straight home after eating, but instead getting to hang around the campfire outside for a bit, meant our kid never got bored. If you're looking for a place to eat with a 3-year-old in Changwon, or somewhere you can enjoy a comfortable meat meal with your kid, Shashlik Masan Branch is worth considering.

Shashlik Masan Branch: address, hours and closing day

• 📍 2F, 7 Deokdongnam 1-gil, Masanhappo-gu, Changwon, Gyeongnam, South Korea
• ⏰ 11:00 - 22:00
• ※ Closed every Tuesday