Gimhae sushi restaurant that beat the delivery version: Sushi Hwa

These days as the weather cools down, wandering a good-vibe alley for a weekend or weekday lunch has become fun again. Somewhere I always visit when I come to Gimhae — I went for lunch to Bongridan-gil, the street packed with cute cafés and good restaurants in Gimhae.

Where is Sushi Hwa, and where do you park on Bongridan-gil?

• 🏠 Name: Sushi Hwa
• 📍 Location: 32 Gimhae-daero 2315beon-gil, Gimhae-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
• ⏰ Hours: 10:00–21:00 (last order 20:40)
• 🚗 Parking: public parking lots nearby

On Bongridan-gil, parking worries usually come first if you're driving, but there are about 3–4 public parking lots near Sushi Hwa, so it wasn't hard to park at all.

Inside Sushi Hwa: terrace seating and high chairs

Sushi Hwa on Bongridan-gil is a great lunch option not just for sushi lovers but also for people who avoid sushi because they can't eat the raw fish part. Plus there are sunny outdoor seats, so on cool days like these, eating on the terrace felt great. There are high chairs too, so it's good good for a family outing with a baby!!

As soon as I walked in, the interior felt spacious and pleasant — the kind of place that would work well for group gatherings too. Bongridan-gil has plenty of restaurants, but most are on the small side, making it hard to eat comfortably sometimes. This place had generous spacing between tables and an overall roomy feel.

What we ordered: the Sushi Hwa Flame-Seared Sushi Set 27p we used to get delivered

I went for lunch to this Bongridan-gil spot with a menu already decided. Sushi Hwa is known for its flame-seared sushi (bulchobap), and I've ordered it a few times through delivery apps, always pretty satisfied. So this time, since I was on Bongridan-gil anyway, I ate it straight from the restaurant — and while delivery is tasty, eating it in-store was great too.

The menu had a flame-seared sushi set 10p, the Sushi Hwa flame-seared sushi set 27p, and a variety of individual flame-seared sushi types including salmon, tuna, and shrimp.

They're also running a Naver receipt review event — a drink or 2 pieces of sushi as a reward, so it might be worth joining.

For the Sushi Hwa flame-seared sushi set 27p, you can pick a sauce and choose 2 of udon and cold soba. I chose both udon and cold soba, and half-and-half for the sushi sauce. Not long after ordering, the food arrived. One unusual thing — the wasabi comes out as a whole pouch. Since I like eating sushi with plenty of wasabi, I loved that it came so generously. Plus it's a brand of wasabi with a nice sharp, spicy kick, which made it even better haha.

Cold soba or udon with the set?

First, the cold soba (naengmomil) — it came with blueberries for dessert and a cabbage salad with refreshing yuzu dressing. The broth had a thin layer of ice, topped with grated radish, fresh wasabi, and seaweed flakes — textbook cold soba! The cool, perfectly cooked noodles were a great appetizer before the meal.

The warm udon was tasty too — clean, mild-flavored noodles and broth, just right for sharing with a baby.

How the 27 flame-seared pieces taste with half regular, half spicy sauce

Then the 27p flame-seared sushi arrived, and the visual alone was amazing. True to the generous 27-piece portion, the whole table was filled. As befits flame-seared sushi, the surface was torched, giving off a subtle smoky aroma that made it even more delicious. I chose the sauce half-and-half, and the spicy and regular flavors were clearly divided.

The sushi with regular sauce included egg sushi, salmon sushi, shrimp sushi, and other varied toppings. The rice and toppings with regular sauce were soft, seeming easy for anyone to enjoy. The mellow ingredients paired with a not-too-sweet sauce and the smoky flavor blended really well — I ate it happily.

The flame-seared sushi with spicy sauce included beef and shrimp sushi, among others. The combo of smoky flavor and spicy sauce was so good that even I, someone weak with spice, enjoyed it happily. Especially the spicy beef flame-seared sushi... it seemed like it would pair really well with a glass of sake or draft beer.

The spicy sauce was more deliciously spicy than I expected, cleanly cutting through any greasiness in one bite. The spice level wasn't too intense — just a pleasantly sharp kick — so alternating one bite of regular sauce, one bite of spicy sauce, I could keep eating without ever getting tired of it. The toppings on the sushi also had a slight smoky char on the outside while staying moist inside, giving a satisfying texture.

Is Sushi Hwa worth a Gimhae lunch? Final verdict

I had flame-seared sushi at Sushi Hwa, a sushi restaurant on Bongridan-gil, and it was just as tasty as delivery — my favorite flame-seared sushi spot!! If you're visiting Gimhae or looking for somewhere to eat lunch on Bongridan-gil, how about Sushi Hwa, a flame-seared sushi restaurant?!