Late-night pork rib set with corkage at Gwangalli BBQ: Haean Sutbul

Haean Sutbul Galbi, a Gwangalli BBQ restaurant: location and info

Haean Sutbul Galbi Gwangalli Main Branch Address: 35 Namcheonbada-ro, Suyeong-gu, Busan, South Korea, 1st floor Hours: 17:00 - 01:00 3-minute walk from Gwangalli Beach / corkage available (wine ₩10,000 / whiskey ₩20,000, glasses and ice provided) / group seating and private rooms available

Where should you park?

No parking support.

• Samik Beach B Shopping Center parking (cheapest) (122 Gwangan-haebyeon-ro, Suyeong-gu) — 700m (8-min walk), ₩2,000/hr
• Gwangmyeong Building parking (recommended) (60 Gwangnam-ro, Suyeong-gu) — 400m (5-min walk), ₩3,000/hr
• Eonyang Bulgogi Busanjip (closest) (32 Namcheonbada-ro, Suyeong-gu) — 50m (1-min walk), ₩4,000/hr
• Gwangalli Public Parking Lot (77 Namcheonbada-ro 33beon-gil, Suyeong-gu, Busan) — 430m (6-min walk), ₩3,000/hr

I visited Haean Sutbul Galbi Gwangalli Main Branch, a BBQ restaurant right in front of Gwangalli Beach.

You can make a reservation through Catch Table. We visited a bit late at night, but there were more foreign customers than I expected, so it seems like you might need to book ahead sometimes. All the tables around us, both in front and behind, were foreign customers.

Restaurant atmosphere and corkage service

The spacing between seats was good, and everything needed was already tucked in beside the seat, glasses included, so there was no need to ask for anything separately — very convenient.

These days there are a lot of places that charge you for corkage but don't provide proper corkage service, but here everything from glasses to ice was fully prepared.

It's not an amazing service by any means, but I liked that the tableware came out having been sterilized once more in hot water.

Other side dishes could be ordered right away via kiosk, and we ordered the pork rib 2-3 person set, Asahi draft beer, and seafood doenjang stew (soybean paste stew) with added potato noodles.

Pork rib 2-3 person set: why the raw ribs were especially good

The meat came out as rib meat along with the rib bone, and the raw ribs in particular were so delicious, probably because they'd been aged once more. The raw ribs were good enough that next time I'd want to order just raw ribs alone. I think it's because the meat itself is good quality that the raw ribs taste so good.

Exactly as pictured here, the combination of raw ribs + barley shrimp salt, and meat + spicy pickled mustard leaf, was the best.

Since we had a reservation, the charcoal was already ready when we arrived, and the heat was easy to control, so grilling was easy. In particular, though there weren't many types of side dishes, the ones they had — from barley shrimp salt to pickled mustard leaf — were all labor-intensive dishes, and they said they make them in-house, which made them taste even better.

The raw ribs, which came with the rib bone attached so the meat was easy to pull off, had tight, even scoring that made them tender, and it really tasted like the meat itself was high quality.

Marinated ribs and sauce pairings

The marinated ribs had more scoring than the raw ribs, so the seasoning soaked in really well, and the rib sauce had a great sweet-and-salty balance that was delicious dipped in the meat sauce too.

There were basically three sauces — barley shrimp salt, meat sauce, and spicy sauce — and personally, the barley shrimp salt was the tastiest to me.

Asahi draft beer and seafood doenjang stew with potato noodles

I originally wasn't planning to drink, but they happened to have Asahi, and right when I was starting to feel like the meat was a bit much, I ordered a beer right away. It really did its job as a palate cleanser.

If you go, I definitely recommend adding potato noodles to the doenjang stew. Doenjang stew plus potato noodles plus one bowl of rice for two people seems to be the standard combo here. The doenjang was rich and flavorful, so the broth soaked into the potato noodles beautifully — it was so delicious.

A Gwangalli BBQ restaurant good for two or for groups

The two of us got very full off just one set, and the location right in front of Gwangalli Beach means it's the kind of place I'll probably visit often. It's a great spot for everyone from groups to couples, and it's also a good place to bring a friend visiting Gwangalli from abroad.