Flounder vs sea god soup sets in Gwacheon: Haenon Miyeok

Remembering a tough commute this morning..

These days, with fall setting in, the sky and clouds are gorgeous and the weather's been so nice ⛅️

On a friend's recommendation for a Gwacheon Korean restaurant, we drove a full hour round trip (on the way back we even ended up on the highway, haha). This spot, good for a family gathering in Munwon-dong, Gwacheon, is

Haenon Miyeok Gwacheon Direct Branch: basic info

• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:00
• Reservations: Naver Reservations
• Parking: Large space right in front
• Restroom: Indoor

Haenon Miyeok has quite a few branches. Seaweed soup is usually the kind of thing your mom makes — I'd only ever eaten it at home, never ordered it out.

This was my first time having seaweed soup here, and with its distinctive flavors, generous portions and the kind of atmosphere fit for treating someone, it seemed like a great spot to bring a friend on their birthday or your parents.

At Haenon Miyeok, the soup apparently isn't pre-boiled — it's cooked to order with seaweed that's been soaked and ready to go.

Is parking easy here?

The lot right in front is large and can hold plenty of cars. Even as we were leaving after our meal, more cars kept pulling in — the turnover was fast.

A wall covered in fabric art: inside the restaurant

Maybe because it was built in March of '26, the interior felt clean, and the first thing that caught my eye was the huge artwork covering the wall. At first it looked like media art or a giant LED screen, and I wondered how they could afford to run something like that — I even looked up at the ceiling for a projector, but there wasn't one. Up close, it turned out to be a painting printed on fabric.

I figured they went with black-and-white so the colors wouldn't fade over time. Since it's LED lit from behind the fabric rather than a cold, sharp digital screen, it gave the whole space a warm, soft feeling — the whole meal felt like eating inside a gallery.

There's also a restroom inside the restaurant, so you can go comfortably :)

Free abalone for pregnant guests and birthdays

When you walk in, they offer one abalone free of charge for pregnant guests and anyone celebrating a birthday.

Since these are foods traditionally eaten around childbirth and birthdays, it felt like a cute touch. Other guests can also get jeon (savory pancake) and a drink through the promotion, so worth keeping in mind.

Picking a menu: so many kinds of seafood seaweed soup

Looking at the menu, there were so many seafood options for the seaweed soup. I once saw on a drama that Jeju Island eats seaweed soup with hairtail in it — fish in soup? I'd never tried anything like that, so out of curiosity I went straight for the flounder option this time.

One corner of the restaurant also had baby chairs and aprons on hand.

How much do the basic banchan add up to?

The banchan (side dishes) that came out first were seriously generous (the pork stir-fry was something we ordered).

Two pieces of flounder, chicken breast with seasoned egg, and japchae (stir-fried glass noodles).

Refillable fried eggplant and muk (jelly).

Fried eggplant, seasoned scallops, flounder — the fried eggplant was my favorite! All of these banchan can be refilled at a corner of the restaurant, which was one of the reasons my parents loved this place.

The banchan refill corner

The neatly arranged side dish corner just made me feel good looking at it.

Fried eggplant kept warm, plus a wide variety of banchan to enjoy in this one spot.

The 3 dishes we ordered, and prices

Finally, the food arrived! We ordered three items:

• Sea God (Haesin) seafood seaweed soup set — ₩29,000
• Boneless flounder seaweed soup set with abalone — ₩26,000
• Pork stir-fry 500g — ₩26,000

Ordering all this, my parents said they wanted to visit lots of places and eat good food from now on. They don't usually say things like that, so I've been trying to make a conscious effort to make it happen.

Boneless flounder seaweed soup set

The portion of seaweed soup that came out first was huge!! The earthenware bowl (ttukbaegi) was so large that most people around us were packing leftovers to go. There's a sign saying takeout containers cost ₩1,000 and the process seemed well organized, suggesting plenty of people take food home.

Inside was one whole abalone and boneless flounder! Regular flounder seaweed soup often comes with bones still in, which can be a hassle to eat, but Haenon Miyeok's 'boneless flounder seaweed soup' had the bones perfectly removed, packed with plump flounder that felt like there was even more fish than seaweed.

The seaweed inside was soft and fully cooked down rather than chewy, going down very smoothly and settling my stomach nicely, and the broth had zero fishy taste — just the deep, savory flavor of flounder. A genuine Gwacheon seaweed soup gem.

Sea God (Haesin) seafood seaweed soup set: the broth is a completely different story

Next up was the Sea God seaweed soup set, packed with seafood from the ocean.

First, there was a big baby octopus, along with tender, never-chewy scallops and shrimp to fish out and eat.

For a seaweed soup, haha, the pale broth made it incredibly refreshing to drink! I could clearly taste the difference between the flounder soup and this one just from the broth.

Where the flounder soup was savory and rich, the Sea God soup leaned more toward clean and refreshing. I loved both, honestly, but personally I liked the Sea God soup a bit more, haha. I feel like which one you'd pick really depends on your mood that day.

Pork stir-fry 500g

The last thing we ordered was pork stir-fry — after reading reviews about the generous soup portions, we figured we should get some meat too. Haenon Miyeok clearly covers everything from seafood to meat.

The pork here was tender with just the right seasoning, very enjoyable. The portion was bigger than expected too, so the price didn't feel burdensome at all.

We tucked into the pork alongside the hijeok (seaweed) rice that came with it, and mixed rice into the seaweed soup too. Rice refills are available, so keep that in mind!!

How was it as a family gathering spot in Munwon-dong, Gwacheon?

Today's meal at Haenon Miyeok felt like a full traditional Korean course — a great restaurant for treating family on special occasions or someone's birthday. With such variety in flavors and menu items, I'd definitely recommend giving it a try!!