Grilled fish set with self bar at Hwadeuro-ganggodeungeo, Cheonan

Back at Hwadeuro-ganggodeungeo in Baekseok-dong, Cheonan, after years

Hwadeuro-ganggodeungeo is a well-known spot in Baekseok-dong, Cheonan. All the restaurants on this stretch do good business, but this one has stayed packed at both lunch and dinner ever since it opened.

I went once back when it first opened, and this was my first visit in years — still packed with customers, and honestly a little surprising how clean it's kept ^^

Parking at weekday 12pm lunch peak?

I went right at the noon lunch peak, and parking spots weren't plentiful. But if you drive all the way to the far end there's a big open lot, and it's actually the closest one to Hwadeuro-ganggodeungeo — so even during weekday lunch peak, parking was easy!!

Several TV appearance photos are displayed at the entrance. Song Ga-in~ SBS~ KBS~ It's really hitting me now how popular this place stayed even while I was away from Cheonan!! Wow.

A dining room where the wood-fire oven never stops

As soon as we walked in, the owner led us straight to a table, and the big wood-fired oven and hood were sparkling clean, like the place had just opened. What's even more surprising is that fish was being grilled there nonstop!! So clean!!! True to its reputation as a Baekseok-dong, Cheonan favorite, that oven was working hard nonstop haha.

Tables are arranged around a central self bar, and except for the group tables for 6+, every seat was full. It's honestly amazing that this many people come out for grilled fish at lunchtime~!!!!

Ordering the mackerel sets and the basic table setting

We ordered 1 grilled Spanish mackerel set and 1 spicy grilled mackerel set. Rice comes as brown rice or white rice by default, with an option to switch to gondre rice (short-fern rice) for an extra ₩3,000. We went with one brown rice and one white rice! ^^

The basic table setting was set up quickly too — Jeju deodeok (bellflower root), spicy radish salad, altari kimchi, lotus root salad, japchae (glass noodle stir-fry), gungchae, and napa cabbage doenjang soup! They come out in small portions first, and you can grab more from the self bar as needed~!

The fish came off the oven fast and the whole table filled up quickly — and I was shocked again by the size of the Spanish mackerel haha. That mackerel is huge~~~~~~ hehe.

What's at the self bar — nurungji soup, ssamjang, noodle-rice-cake tteokbokki

The self bar has bibimbap toppings, and since there's a jeyuk (pork stir-fry) set too, lettuce is also stocked. The ssamjang here is the real hook, so definitely try it!!

There's also nurungji soup (scorched rice soup) at the self bar, so my husband scooped a whole bowl of it right off the bat haha. He piled on plenty of altari kimchi too, and ate that whole amazing combo bowl by himself. Haha.

These lidded dishes here get refilled continuously

Tteokbokki and japchae!! Nothing especially unique in flavor, but it's always so welcome when a restaurant serves japchae haha. And here the tteokbokki uses noodle-style rice cakes, so it's impossible not to eat it haha. Tteokbokki doesn't come with the basic table setting, so I'd recommend scooping a plate early.

How's the wood-fired grilled fish? Crispy right down to the skin

After quickly grabbing what we needed from the self bar, it was grilled fish eating time!! We split things so it was easy to pick apart the bones on the Spanish mackerel and mackerel — I could eat without resenting my husband haha.

Because it's wood-fired, even the skin was crispy, so I happily ate skin I normally skip. The spicy grilled mackerel seems to be mackerel grilled in the oven then finished with a spicy sauce on top? That sauce wasn't too spicy and was seriously delicious, so I even dipped pieces of the Spanish mackerel flesh into it. We ate every which way and enjoyed it all haha.

Being wood-fired, it really was crispy outside, moist inside on another level! I don't hate grilled fish, but at home it's a hassle with the smell and oil splatter... and I don't have the confidence to grill it this crispy-outside-moist-inside myself. Even in Sokcho the restaurants were often too messy and smoky, so I don't get to eat grilled fish often. But here — crispy-moist, no smoke, no oil splatter!!

Grilled Spanish mackerel — dipped in soy sauce with wasabi mixed in

This time I fell hard for the grilled Spanish mackerel. The bones were so easy to pick apart, and the flesh was so thick. Dipping it into the soy sauce with wasabi stirred in — oh my. A total rice thief.

Even someone who normally eats small portions like me finished a whole bowl of rice — that says it all. I dug into the crispy skin and edges first, then dipped the tender inner flesh into the mackerel sauce next to it ^^

Spicy grilled mackerel — the easier pick for bone-picking

The mackerel looked relatively smaller haha. Mackerel is also super easy to pick the bones off, so it's usually what I give my kid for grilled fish haha. My kid wasn't with us this day, but since I might have had to pick the bones myself, I chose mackerel haha. A great choice haha.

Serving Jeju deodeok as a side dish — that's the level of a true Baekseok-dong, Cheonan favorite.

Finishing with ssamjang bibimbap and roasted corn from the dessert corner

As we were nearly done, my husband got curious about bibimbap, and since I'm a lettuce lover I wanted more lettuce haha, so back to the self bar we went haha. Even piled on generously, the ssamjang wasn't salty and had a nice nutty flavor!!

My husband even refilled rice from the rice cooker at the self bar to make bibimbap, and mixed it with just ssamjang instead of gochujang — a genuinely delicious combo haha. He drizzled a ring of sesame oil on top too, and even though I was too full to eat more, I tried one bite-chance forkful and haha the nuttiness exploded!?!? Haha.

Wow....... we really demolished that table!! I wanted just one more bowl of nurungji soup with a few more altari radishes, but I was too full to fit anything else in.

On the way out, I grabbed a cup of roasted corn from the dessert corner and ate it in the car — the perfect finish, dessert included, haha.

Guess grilled fish in Cheonan really means Hwadeuro-ganggodeungeo!!! Places that do good business always have a reason!!