Gwangalli sashimi restaurant, raw shrimp and steamed abalone: Geumrang

Location and opening hours of Geumrang Hoetjip

17-5 Gwangan-haebyeon-ro 344beon-gil, Suyeong-gu, Busan, Marine Rich, 6th floor

Daily 11:30-22:50

Last order 21:25

A seat with a full-shot view of Gwangan Bridge

This was the moment I was looking forward to most on this Busan trip. These days delivery is so good that you can enjoy fresh raw fish at home, right? But don't you want to treat yourself to the kind of mood you can only get when you're traveling? So I went looking for a raw fish restaurant with a Gwangan Bridge view. Geumrang Hoetjip (금랑횟집) is in the sashimi town on the Millak Waterside Park side of Gwangalli, and for years it has held a Blue Ribbon for its fresh fish and its huge, eye-catching spreads. This is Gwangan Bridge from a seat inside the restaurant. The bridge showed up in a real full shot, and the thought "Ahh, I'm really on a trip" hit me all at once. Aaah!

Subyeon Hansang at ₩60,000 per person: what came first

Ordered: Subyeon Hansang (waterside table set) ₩60,000 × 2

Since I started living in the Seoul metropolitan area, I've usually preferred places where the sashimi itself is good. But in Seoul and Gyeonggi, finding a restaurant where even the side dishes (sukkidashi, the small starter plates served before the sashimi) are all excellent costs a fortune. For a precious meal on a trip, I wanted more than just sashimi: a generous spread of basic seafood that also looks great, and Geumrang Hoetjip in Gwangalli granted that wish. Sea cucumber, sea squirt, gebul (spoon worm), shrimp, tako wasabi (chopped octopus with wasabi), vinegared octopus and more filled the table in the very first round. I already thought "No way, this is crazy" at this point, but it was only the prologue.

Live shrimp, live octopus and steamed abalone

The warm dishes were corn salad and steamed egg (gyeran-jjim). Then came three dishes that felt like the highlight of the whole side-dish feast: live shrimp sashimi, nakji tangtangi (chopped live octopus) and steamed abalone. The shrimp were still alive and twitching, and I thought, "Ah, I'm really being treated like a guest." The octopus was fresh too, wriggling away on the plate. And steamed abalone on top of that! Gently steamed and tender, it was a perfect bite-sized appetizer. Even looking at the first platter of mixed seafood I thought "Wow," but this spread truly made my jaw drop. Everything was fresh and neat, and I felt I'd made the right choice picking Geumrang Hoetjip among Gwangalli's raw fish restaurants. The prestige of a Blue Ribbon place in Gwangalli!

Why it's a good place to bring your parents

As I tasted each dish one by one, the thought "Ah, this is Gwangalli" came naturally. Each kind of seafood showed off its own rich flavor, and the freshness was superb. It's a place that families, and especially parents, would be very happy with. Maybe because older generations grew up when sashimi was a luxury, they tend to enjoy a table full of food with their eyes first, don't they? On the day we visited, there was a group of older guests next to us, and they kept saying how delicious everything was!

Mixed sashimi: fluke, sea bass, flounder, mulchi and rockfish

Honestly, my heart was pounding even while eating the seafood. I was thinking, "I'm getting full already, but I have to leave room for the sashimi." Maybe flounder was in season: the moment I saw the mixed sashimi platter with it lined up neatly in the center, my friend and I exchanged a quick look, both thinking "Can we even finish this?" Are you a big eater? Then definitely go to Geumrang Hoetjip. Go twice. We got to try many kinds of fish at once: fluke (gwangeo), sea bass, flounder, mulchi (a type of fish), and rockfish. Maybe because it's a Blue Ribbon place, the fish tasted fresh in a way that suggests quick turnover, and I was very satisfied. Overall it had that sweet, chewy richness that good sashimi has.

How to eat gonowata

Gonowata (고노와다) is a Japanese-style salted fermented sea cucumber innards. It's yellowish-brown, salty, and has a strong umami. Its seafood smell is strong, so people either love it or hate it, but Geumrang Hoetjip's gonowata had a clean, mild umami with no fishy taste. Dip your sashimi generously in the gonowata and wrap it with seaweed and rice. This looks like Geumrang Hoetjip's signature. Gonowata isn't easy to find elsewhere, so give it a try.

The closing meal and corn fritters

Just as we were almost done with the sashimi, the warm dishes arrived: braised fish, albap (rice with fish roe), corn fritters, creamy fish (?), and spicy fish stew (maeun-tang). Another whole table was laid out! Everything was served generously, but our stomachs weren't so generous, so we couldn't eat as much as we wanted. Waaah. T_T The meal dishes each kept their own proper temperature, and nothing had a standout flavor overall, which made them a fitting end to the meal. The corn fritters, though... were a whole new world. A must-try. They seemed to be freshly fried kernels cut off the cob, topped with something like Puringkle (a Korean fried-chicken seasoning) powder. I was stuffed and still ate all 4.

Thoughts after the visit

Geumrang Hoetjip was the kind of place that kept making me think of the people who weren't there with me. Should I say it tasted like the family and friends I love? It was a restaurant that made the words "next time~" run through my head nonstop. With the Gwangan Bridge view and a table full of delicious food in front of me, so many people I love crossed my mind. The fresh seasonal sashimi and seafood were excellent, of course, and it was a lovely meal where you could feel the breeze of a trip. That's the end of my Gwangalli raw fish restaurant review. The end!