Korean BBQ near Gwangalli Beach for a spice-shy couple: Gwangan-mok

Gwangan-mok Gwangan Branch (광안목 광안점) is an aged-pork BBQ place near Gwangalli Beach where the staff grill the meat for you. My husband and I went for dinner on our Gwangalli trip, and since a lot of reviews mentioned waits, I booked through Naver first. Thanks to the reservation we walked right in without waiting, and we got to enjoy the daily limited "Only Gwangalli" set at a good price too 🙂

Where is Gwangan-mok Gwangan Branch, and what are the hours and parking?

• Address: 156 Gwangnam-ro, Suyeong-gu, Busan (1st floor)
• Hours: weekdays 12:00-23:30 / weekends 12:00-24:00
• Break time: 15:00-16:30
• Parking: Gwangan Sinho Parking Tower available, with partial parking fee support
• Naver reservation / Tabling waitlist available
• Staff grill the meat for you from start to finish

Gwangan-mok Gwangan Branch is a Gwangalli BBQ place on Gwangnam-ro, within walking distance of Gwangalli Beach. When you look for dinner in Gwangalli, raw fish and seafood places come to mind first, but we're the kind of people who do sashimi for lunch and BBQ for dinner, haha (honestly, just eat everything).

The location is great for a trip. It's a 3-minute walk from the beach! We looked at the sea, then headed over for dinner together~

Do you need to book Gwangan-mok Gwangan Branch in advance?

There are lots of reviews of full tables and waits here even on weekday evenings, so I recommend booking. You can join the Tabling waitlist at the entrance, but for a trip to Gwangalli with a set schedule like ours, booking on Naver is definitely easier 💡

Recent reviews also say a waiting line forms in the evening. The restaurant feels cleaner and more stylish than a typical pork belly place.

They were grilling meat over charcoal right at the entrance. It was only 6 p.m. on a weekday, and the staff were already busy prepping.

A couple's trip dinner where staff do the grilling: how was it?

Since the staff grill the meat for you, it was a nice place to eat slowly and chat. The guests ranged from couples on dates to friends to bigger groups. On a trip dinner with my husband, having everything grilled for us is definitely more comfortable than one person standing at the grill the whole time, haha.

First time I've seen eco-friendly paper wet wipes, and I love it?! Haha (I felt like an environmental guardian).

Since I'd booked, they set out the side dishes right away, which was so touching!

What's on the Gwangan-mok menu?

Aged pork is the main attraction, and you order on a tablet menu at the table. There's domestic first-grade dry-aged pork neck, special pork belly, and Gwangan-mok lid-cut pork (뚜껑살), plus an A Set with pork neck and pork belly together, a B Set that suits 3-4 people, and the "Only Gwangalli" set limited to 5 a day.

For meals, there's mom's-touch doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), cold spicy pork bibim guksu (mixed noodles), dongchimi naengguksu (radish water kimchi cold noodles), cheesy kimchi fried rice, and pudding steamed egg.

Only Gwangalli Set for ₩49,000: is it enough for two?

We ordered the Only Gwangalli Set for ₩49,000 and a doenjang stew (mild)! The set is pork neck 260g, special pork belly 130g and whole pork jowl 100g, about 500g in total, so it was great for two people to try several cuts. My husband skipped drinking that day.

As the name suggests, "Only Gwangalli" is a limited set you can only get at the Gwangan branch, and being able to eat pork neck, pork belly and pork jowl in one go was quite a good setup for two. I liked that we could taste a bit of each cut instead of ordering 2-3 servings of just one.

Anchovy salt and chimichurri: what comes alongside at Gwangan-mok?

What stayed with me at Gwangan-mok was the sauces and accompaniments as much as the meat. Combinations like anchovy salt and chimichurri sauce aren't something you often see at other BBQ places. I first tasted the meat itself with salt, then switched sauces one by one, and it was fun how the same pork neck felt different depending on what went with it.

There's also a self-bar, so you can refill sauces and side dishes freely, which was nice too.

Pork neck with basil wraps: the best combination

What I enjoyed most was the Gwangan-mok pork neck. The staff pre-sear the thick cut, then grill it to the end at a doneness that's good to eat at the table. Maybe because it's aged, the pork neck was moist rather than dry despite its thickness 😋

It was good on its own, but the basil wrap, where you put basil on top and eat it in one bite, was the real treat. The fresh basil aroma hits the meat, so it was completely different from the pork neck I usually wrap in lettuce. Eating with my husband, we thought, "you can only get this here."

Add chimichurri sauce to the basil wrap and the herb aromas layer up, changing the taste of the pork neck again. The Only Gwangalli Set was good that day, but what I remembered most was the bite of pork neck topped with basil. Even after finishing, I kept thinking about that combination and want to go again when I'm in Gwangalli 🥹

Also, this old-school lunchbox-style tin came with corn, basil, cherry tomatoes, potatoes and more, and grilling them together over low heat was nice.

Can you order the Gwangan-mok doenjang stew mild?

The doenjang stew at Gwangan-mok Gwangan Branch can be ordered mild, so we, a couple who can't handle spicy food, ordered it that way. It was savory and generous, the kind you keep reaching for even when you're full. Do try it.

Pork belly and pork jowl came too, so the texture changed instead of just eating pork neck the whole time, and the staff kept arranging the meat at the right doneness as it cooked, so my husband and I just had to eat slowly.

Gwangan-mok Gwangan Branch is a Gwangalli BBQ place where I tried aged pork neck and unusual basil wraps. Since it often has a wait, I recommend booking ahead, and I'd love to go back for the basil-topped pork neck 😇