Seongsa-dong fish restaurant for a 5-person in-law meal: Min Cook

This time my in-laws came to visit, kids and all, so I was racking my brain for a menu everyone could eat comfortably together — and we ended up at Min Cook Apbadang Seongsa, a seasonal grilled fish restaurant near home in Seongsa-dong 🤍

When eating out with kids, what really matters is whether there's a menu everyone can share, right? Grilled fish is easy for kids once someone picks out the bones, and it's filling enough for adults too — so it seemed like a great family-outing menu.

Is Min Cook Apbadang Seongsa comfortable for a group of five with kids?

Min Cook Apbadang Seongsa's interior is clean and roomy, with plenty of spacious seating, so even a big group doesn't feel cramped. What I was especially looking forward to was that Min Cook Apbadang centers on seasonal fish, so you get to try a variety of fish that's hard to cook through at home in one go. There's also parking in front of and behind the restaurant, so no need to worry about that 🤍

• 📍 Location: 60-1 Heungdo-ro 415beon-gil, Deogyang-gu, Goyang-si
• 🚗 Parking: Available in front of and behind the restaurant
• 🍚 Menu: Seasonal grilled fish set, mixed braised fish set, and more

A Seongsa-dong fish restaurant whose menu changes with the season

Min Cook Apbadang is run by Min Cook, who's specialized in fish for a long time! It's earned a Blue Ribbon rating every year from 2024 through this year — a genuine local favorite 💎

They source fresh fish from all over the country, so the lineup changes with the seasons — flounder, red-eyed fish, salted mackerel, cutlassfish, sea bream, red eelpout, deep-sea cod, and more. Where else could you try this much variety... So instead of the same one or two fish showing up every time, you get to sample whatever's in season and delicious.

Banchan (side dishes) can be topped up at the self-serve bar whenever you run low, which made things really convenient.

They also sell grilled fish to go — the kind that's a hassle to grill at home! Great for those days when you're stuck for a side dish for the kids 🤍

Three seasonal grilled fish sets and two mixed braised fish sets

Since there were a lot of us that day, we ordered 3 seasonal grilled fish sets and 2 mixed braised fish sets 🤍

The rice comes out as warm sotbap (pot rice), and you can even get nurungji (scorched rice) from it later — the adults especially loved that part.

The three grilled fish sets that day came with croaker gulbi, flounder, deep-sea cod, gurnard, and cutlassfish. I'd had croaker and gulbi separately before, but croaker gulbi?....... I was so curious — and with so many kinds of fish on one table, it looked pretty impressive from the start!

Normally when we eat fish at home it's the familiar ones like mackerel or cutlassfish, but this time we got to try gurnard and deep-sea cod, which we don't usually come across — fun to try one by one.

For the kids, I picked out the easy parts and carefully deboned them to serve with rice, and they ate it up well.

And for the adults, ordering the mixed braised fish alongside the grilled fish made the combo even better — spicy spicy 🤍

Going from mild grilled fish to fish soaked in braising sauce completely changes the mood of the meal, and the rice just kept disappearing..... diet postponed.....

Self-serve banchan bar and sikhye for dessert

The banchan served alongside the fish dishes fit well into a Korean spread. I was especially happy to see japchae (stir-fried glass noodles), which I love..... anyone who likes japchae knows that little burst of joy when it shows up as a side dish, right?

There's also salad, napa cabbage buckwheat pancake, and two kinds of leafy greens for wraps served together, and eating them alongside the fish made the meal feel more varied and refreshing 🤍

Any banchan we ran low on, we could just grab more of at the self-serve bar, so we could add exactly what we needed with no fuss. And what stuck with me most till the very end that day was the dessert — sikhye!

After eating a filling Korean meal, a cold glass of sikhye felt like it cleaned up the palate — such a nice way to wrap things up 🤍

They also sell various banchan to go, so we could take home the ones we liked and enjoy them again later — an extra nice touch ❣️

Would we come back to Min Cook Apbadang Seongsa for a family meal?

What impressed me most about Min Cook Apbadang Seongsa was getting to try several kinds of seasonal fish in one sitting. With a group our size, ordering the grilled fish set alongside the braised fish set let us switch between the two, which worked really well as a combination! And that day especially, with croaker gulbi, flounder, deep-sea cod, gurnard, and cutlassfish all on the table, it was great to try fish we don't usually eat.

From banchan to dessert, the whole meal flowed naturally, so this is a place I'd think of again when looking for fish-centered Korean food in Seongsa-dong 🤍 If you're looking for a Korean restaurant near the Goyang IKEA, or you like grilled fish for lunch near Hwajeong Station, this one's worth keeping in mind.

Frequently asked questions

Is Min Cook Apbadang Seongsa okay for children?

Yes! As long as someone debones the fish, grilled fish is easy to serve with rice, so it worked well eating with the kids.

Is the fish lineup in the seasonal grilled fish set always the same?

No. The lineup changes depending on the season and what's available. On the day I visited, it was croaker gulbi, flounder, deep-sea cod, gurnard, and cutlassfish.

Can you get extra banchan?

Yes! Any banchan you run low on can be topped up as much as you like at the self-serve bar, which was really convenient.

Can a family order several different sets together?

We ordered 3 seasonal grilled fish sets and 2 mixed braised fish sets together, and switching between the mild grilled fish and the seasoned braised fish made for a great combination.