Noon lunch with two kids at a Wolsan-dong sashimi restaurant, Gwangju

I'm Chloe, a working mom exploring somewhere new every day with my two daughters Yuha and Irang 😊

My husband had been singing the same tune for days — he wanted hoe (raw fish). But most hoe restaurants are really set up for dinner service, dim lighting, the table next to you already a few drinks in. Taking two kids in at that hour felt like a stretch.

So I spent a few days searching for a hoe place that opens during the day, found Hwanggeum Hoe Pocha Gwangju Wolsan Branch in Wolsan-dong, and decided on Saturday lunch.

Does Hwanggeum Hoe Pocha open at noon for lunch?

This was exactly why I picked this place. Hwanggeum Hoe Pocha Gwangju Wolsan Branch starts business at noon, so you can eat hoe at lunchtime.

Getting hoe used to mean calculating around the kids' bedtime — it was practically an annual event in our house. Sitting down to eat in broad daylight meant I didn't have to do that math at all.

Parking at Hwanggeum Hoe Pocha: no lot, alley only

Hwanggeum Hoe Pocha Gwangju Wolsan Branch doesn't have its own parking lot. Maybe because it was Saturday noon, there were a few open spots in the alley nearby, so parking wasn't difficult.

Evenings or weekdays might be different, so keep that in mind.

No baby chairs or kids' dishware — bring a child's fork

Inside, the tables were spaced generously, plenty of room for the four of us. One thing worth knowing ahead of time — Hwanggeum Hoe Pocha Gwangju Wolsan Branch doesn't have baby chairs or kids' dishware.

We hadn't brought our kids' own utensils that day, so with no fork on hand I was busy picking up rice and fish flesh piece by piece with chopsticks to feed them, haha.

If you're planning to go with kids, just toss a kid-sized fork or spoon from home in your bag. That one thing makes the meal so much easier.

Self-serve pancake batter and seaweed, refill as you like

Looking at the menu board, the lineup seemed to change with what was in season each day. Jeoneo (gizzard shad) was sold out the day we went — must be in high demand this time of year.

There's a corner in the restaurant with self-serve pancake batter and seaweed. While we waited for our order I went and fried a pancake myself — the batter had chopped chili mixed in, so a subtle spiciness kept coming through.

I fried and ate two of them by myself.

Grilled saury big enough to feed a child a full bowl of rice

The basic side dishes came out first — salad, white kimchi, corn with mayonnaise. Irang seemed to love the corn and scooped it up with her spoon nonstop, and I liked the salad topped generously with roasted soybean powder so much I asked for a refill to eat alongside the hoe.

Along with these came seaweed soup, grilled saury, and a vinegared vegetable salad with a little slush of ice floating in it.

The grilled saury was bigger than I expected — Yuha picked the flesh off it and finished a whole bowl of rice. Even with a kid who won't eat raw fish, there's still a way to feed her a full meal, and that was the best part for me.

Pour the vinegared vegetable broth over the sashimi for mulhoe

The vinegared vegetable side had that icy, slushy feel of mulhoe (cold raw fish soup) broth, so once the hoe arrived I spooned a few pieces on top and mixed it in — it turned into mulhoe right there.

If you're craving a cool bowl of mulhoe, you might not even need to order it separately — just use this broth.

Assorted sashimi for three: two adults could order two servings

With two adults and two kids, we debated and ended up ordering assorted sashimi for 3 people, plus spicy fish stew, 2 bowls of rice, and 2 drinks at Hwanggeum Hoe Pocha Gwangju Wolsan Branch. For our family of four, it came to about ₩22,000 per person.

But the basic side dishes were so substantial and the hoe portion so generous that two adults alone could probably eat plenty with just 2 servings. Since our kids mostly ate rice and side dishes, 3 servings was a bit more than we needed.

The hoe was sliced thick, chewy with every bite, and clean with no fishy smell. Yuha, who does eat hoe, picked at a few pieces, and my husband was the happiest of all of us.

Spicy fish stew for 5,000 won more, with sujebi dough you tear in

As we were finishing up the hoe, we ordered the spicy fish stew, and Hwanggeum Hoe Pocha Gwangju Wolsan Branch does it a bit differently. Usually the dumplings come already cooked into the stew, but here they hand you a whole chunk of chewy dough and you tear it in yourself.

My husband put on plastic gloves, tore off thin pieces, and simmered them in — because they were hand-torn, they stayed chewy and didn't fall apart even after cooking.

The broth was spicy and refreshing, a great way to finish the meal. If you order hoe, I'd recommend getting the spicy fish stew alongside it.

Would we go back to Hwanggeum Hoe Pocha?

On the way out, Irang spotted jeoneo and red seabream swimming in the tank in front of the restaurant and stood glued to it like she was at an aquarium, and we could barely pull her away, haha.

The kids filled up on seaweed, grilled saury, corn side dish, and seaweed soup, while my husband and I got to eat hoe for the first time in a while — just sitting there in broad daylight, without worrying about a dim bar atmosphere, was such a relief.

If you've ever given up on getting hoe because of the kids, try going during lunchtime — it might just work. And if you know of any other restaurants in Gwangju that are easy to visit with kids during the day, share them in the comments! I'll keep it in mind for our next weekend outing 😊