Daedeok grilled fish restaurant for kids: Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo

Fish grilled in a 500°C wood-fired oven, plus a wide range of self-bar dishes! With kid-friendly food including pork cutlet, tofu, japchae, and napa cabbage soup, here’s my review of Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Sintanjin Branch, a Sintanjin spot we visited for a family meal.

When you eat out with a child, choosing a menu is surprisingly tricky, right? At places that only have adult dishes, there may be nothing suitable for the child. But if you choose somewhere centered on kids’ food, the adults can feel a little disappointed.

This time, I visited Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Sintanjin Branch (화덕으로간고등어 신탄진점), which has everything from grilled fish and spicy pork to food a child can eat. Adults who love grilled fish can be satisfied, and there is food for children too, so it was a decent place for a family meal.

What was the 500°C oven-grilled fish like?

Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo grills its fish in a wood-fired oven at over 500°C. When you try to cook grilled fish at home, the smell and cleanup are a concern, but eating it out meant I could enjoy it hot without that hassle.

This time, I ordered the oven-roasted Yeonggwang gulbi set for ₩21,000. Yeonggwang gulbi is salted and dried yellow corvina, and perhaps because it was oven-grilled, the outside was crisp while the flesh inside was fairly moist. It was not overly seasoned, so it went nicely with rice and let me enjoy the fish’s own flavor.

The self-bar is quite useful with a child

The part I liked most this time was the self-bar. There was a wide variety, from salad and japchae (stir-fried glass noodles) to tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), and it also had pork cutlet that a child could eat, so it was easy to pick dishes during the meal.

My child ate the pork cutlet and napa cabbage soup well—better than I expected. There was tofu that adults would enjoy too, so the choices were quite good for a shared meal with children and adults. I worried that if we ordered only fish, there might not be side dishes for my child, but the self-bar eased that concern.

When you want something spicy: the oven-roasted spicy pork set

It is not just grilled fish; there is also a spicy pork set, and it made me want to try the pork next time. The oven-roasted spicy pork set costs ₩16,000 and is a spicy pork dish cooked in the 500°C wood-fired oven.

If someone in the family is not fond of grilled fish, ordering the spicy pork set to share could be a good idea. It was convenient that we could choose according to each family member’s taste instead of picking only one type of dish.

Is it okay to visit with a child?

For me, it was. Children often eat a little of several things rather than finishing one dish at a restaurant, and there were plenty of choices: pork cutlet, japchae, tofu, napa cabbage soup, and tteokbokki.

For a younger child, though, I think it would be better to choose foods they usually eat well, such as pork cutlet, tofu, or soup, rather than tteokbokki or heavily seasoned dishes.

What made it good for a family meal?

The biggest concerns when eating grilled fish at home are the smell and cooking process, so being able to eat it comfortably here was the best part. The seating was fairly spacious, making a family meal feel less daunting, and the self-bar let us easily bring back extra side dishes.

Above all, when eating with a child, there was less trouble in having to look separately for adult and children’s dishes. So for families visiting Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Sintanjin Branch with a child, I think it would be fine to give it a try at least once.

Next time, I should try the braised fish

This time I had the oven-roasted Yeonggwang gulbi set, but next time I would like to try a different grilled fish or braised-fish dish. Grilled fish is especially burdensome to make at home often, so having it as a meal out like this was nice.

If you need food a child can eat while the adults also want a proper meal, I think Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Sintanjin Branch is worth adding to the list. I plan to return for our next family meal and switch things up with braised fish :)