Budweiser draft and birria taco pizza in Gwangalli: Extra Mile

Extra Mile: a Gwangalli pizza restaurant from the Free Will Pizza and Pickles team

Extra Mile is a new Gwangalli pizza restaurant that follows Free Will Pizza and Pickles, both places I enjoyed a lot in Seomyeon. Pickles is honestly one of my favorite pizza places in Seomyeon, so I was curious what kind of pizza place their new spot would be, and went in with high expectations.

• Extra Mile
• Address: 11 Suyeong-ro 554beon-gagil, Suyeong-gu, Busan, South Korea, 1st floor
• Hours: 11:00 - 21:00
• Catchtable reservations / Casual American dining / House-made pasta sauce & dough

How to walk to Extra Mile from Gwangan Station (there is no signboard)

You can walk from Gwangan Station on Busan Subway Line 2 toward Gwangalli Beach. Extra Mile is located in the alley near Gwangnam Police Substation, close to Ssangyong Yega Diocean in Gwangan-dong. Oddly, the place has no signboard, so you'll want to keep an eye on the location. Looking for the blue tray in the photo below seems to be the best way to find it.

Inside Extra Mile: atmosphere and seating

It's a casual dining restaurant. The two Seomyeon locations have a somewhat different feel. Probably because Seomyeon/Jeonpo and Gwangalli have different moods, this place seems to be set up with a more casual concept.

Overall the restaurant feels calm and quiet, and sitting where you can see outside definitely gives Extra Mile a great atmosphere. The overall wood tone is clean and nice.

Colored pencils and coloring sheets on every table

Before the food came out, there were colored pencils and a pizza coloring sheet on the table, so I made my own pizza. This kind of small fun was really nice. I thought I colored it well, but my girlfriend didn't seem too impressed..

They had Budweiser draft beer. It had been a while since I had Budweiser on draft, and American beer really does pair well with pizza.

The order: house-made pickle bar and romesco grilled vegetables

We ordered the birria taco and potato half-and-half pizza, white ragu spaghetti, and romesco grilled vegetables.

The house-made pickles were piled up in the fridge, and they had such a good texture that we refilled them about three times.

The first thing to arrive was the romesco grilled vegetables. The carrots and zucchini were especially delicious. The carrots were quite salty, but eaten together with the sauce underneath, it was so good. The sweet pumpkin was also a perfect match with the sauce.

White ragu spaghetti, Extra Mile's Gwangalli pasta

The white ragu sauce, slow-cooked from beef and pork with fresh vegetables, was rich with tremendous umami. Add the nuttiness of Reggiano cheese and the texture of the noodles, and it was genuinely a delicious dish.

Half-and-half pizza with no surcharge: birria taco and potato

The pizza is made in-house using Italian Caputo flour and the biga pre-fermentation method, then slow-fermented at low temperature, giving a crust that's crispy outside and chewy inside — and the dough keeps a lingering nuttiness, so it's delicious down to the last bite of crust.

Since Extra Mile doesn't charge extra for half-and-half pizza, I'd definitely recommend ordering it that way. Rather than typical pizza varieties, the menu has pizzas with Extra Mile's own personality — the birria taco pizza is loaded with Mexican birria meat taco-style, topped with pico de gallo, sour cream, and nacho chips that make the flavor and texture fun. Extra Mile's signature potato pizza, piled with Gangwon-do Dubaek potatoes, bacon, and truffle oil, had a flavor I'd never tasted in a potato pizza before — really appealing.

I especially recommend eating the birria taco pizza with hot sauce. The moment I tasted it, I thought it would pair so well with hot sauce. Definitely eat it with hot sauce.

Is Extra Mile in Gwangalli worth it? Final verdict

Overall the atmosphere was excellent, and both the pizzas and the sides were delicious. The half-and-half option and Extra Mile's own distinctive touches on the pizza were especially appealing, and the white ragu had a umami I think I'll crave again someday. Extra Mile, the new spot from the team behind Free Will Pizza and Pickles that I loved so much, was a place with pizzas distinctly different from those other two — and that was very appealing.