Bongdam grilled fish and sesame oil barley rice bibim: Hwadamga

What kind of restaurant is Hwadamga?

Hello! Today I want to introduce a Korean restaurant in Bongdam-eup, Hwaseong. This place is apparently famous in Bongdam for grilled fish, so let me show you around.

Hwadamga parking and opening hours in Bongdam

Hwadamga is open daily from 11:00 to 22:00, with a break time from 15:00 to 17:00 and last order at 21:30. The building was clean and it occupies the whole building, so there were plenty of parking spots too. Parking is free!

Walking inside, the clean interior stood out right away. It really had that classic Korean restaurant feel.

Inside, there's everything from private rooms to hall tables, and there were so many tables that we could sit comfortably even without a reservation.

There were also plenty of room-style tables like this. And I spotted whiskey decorations here and there, haha.

What is on Hwadamga's self-serve side dish bar?

Hwadamga is a hanjeongsik (Korean set meal) restaurant with a self-serve corner. You can pick and scoop your own namul (seasoned vegetable) side dishes, as well as dongrangttaeng (Korean-style meat patties), kimchi, japchae (stir-fried glass noodles), and miyeokguk (seaweed soup).

The self-serve corner had all kinds of tasty namul, dongrangttaeng, kimchi, japchae, and more, sorted by type. And there was warm miyeokguk too.

There was especially a huge variety of namul, so it was fun to pick and choose, and it felt like healthy eating too.

There was also a coffee and drinks corner at the end, which seemed perfect for dessert after the meal.

There were also wrapping vegetables, which would be great to eat wrapped around the pork or mackerel.

Wood-fired atka mackerel set and wood-fired mackerel set

That day, the two of us ordered the wood-fired atka mackerel set and the wood-fired mackerel set. The basic setup came with gang-doenjang (thick fermented soybean paste) and barley rice?! Eating barley rice before the meal really got our appetites going, and it was a nice touch, haha.

The barley rice came out along with mackerel and atka mackerel that were beautifully grilled in the wood-fired oven. You could tell they were properly cooked over the fire. The atka mackerel flaked apart so tenderly and had lots of meat, so it was delicious, and the mackerel was nice and plump with plenty to eat too, haha. The skin was especially crispy, so we picked it apart down to the last bite.

How to mix barley rice with namul, gangdoenjang and sesame oil

They give you a generous portion of barley rice, and you just bring over the namul from the self-serve bar and mix it however you like!

My husband and I piled on a variety of toppings and mixed it all together, and honestly any namul went well with it.

And this magic sesame oil in particular! It sits right on the table, and adding a spoonful makes everything even tastier, haha.

We drizzled it all around like this. We also added more gang-doenjang and namul partway through, and the gang-doenjang wasn't too heavy, so it really suited my taste.

Doenjang-jjigae (fermented soybean paste stew) came alongside the set, and the nutty aroma of the doenjang really got the appetite going. It was a rich, deep-flavored jjigae, which was totally my style, haha.

There were also quail eggs and dongrangttaeng, which kids would probably love too. The dongrangttaeng was so good that I kept reaching for more without realizing it, haha.

Is Hwadamga worth a second visit?

Overall, Hwadamga was a wood-fired grilled fish restaurant where every dish was satisfying. Even just the self-serve bar had a huge variety of side dishes, and being able to eat wood-fired grilled fish with barley rice meant we got both health and flavor at once. Thanks for the meal! It made me think I should bring my parents here sometime. If you're looking for a Bongdam wood-fired grilled fish restaurant that people of all ages would enjoy, I'd recommend Hwadamga. I'll be back!