Myeongji, Busan izakaya with seasonal sashimi and abalone pasta: Genji

📍 47 Myeongjigukje 5-ro 148beon-gil, Gangseo-gu, Busan, South Korea

⏰ Hours 11:00–24:00 / Break time 14:00–17:00 / Closed every Sunday

I heard there was a new izakaya in Myeongji, so my husband and I went for a dinner date. More and more good-vibe bars have been popping up in Myeongji lately, and this time Genji impressed me from the food to the atmosphere. The dishes were so good — and since it's a brand new spot with zero reviews yet, I'm leaving mine first!

Where is izakaya Genji in Myeongji, and where do you park?

Genji is located in the cluster of restaurants near Myeongji Hyupsung Hupore. There didn't seem to be a dedicated parking lot, so we parked on the roadside.

What the inside of Genji feels like

Genji isn't a huge space, but it looked perfect for a cozy, whispering-close date. If you're looking for a date spot or a blind-date spot in Myeongji, I'd recommend izakaya Genji.

The wood-tone tables and warm lighting gave it a snug feel. It kept the distinctive izakaya vibe without being too dark or too loud.

It would've been nice to have a quiet date just the two of us... but we brought our child along, and they even brought out a high chair for us, which was great.

The menu at izakaya Genji

At lunch, Genji serves donkatsu (breaded pork cutlet) set meals, while at night it operates as an izakaya with a variety of small plates and drinks. Looking at the dinner menu, there was a wide range of dishes perfect for drinking — seasonal sashimi, homemade oden soup, smoked mackerel tataki, grilled chicken neck meat, grilled cuttlefish, abalone innard pasta, and more. They also had sake and highballs to pair with your taste. Every dish looked delicious, which made choosing hard.

Complimentary starter: cabbage with barley soybean paste

The basic side dish was cabbage with barley soybean paste (bori-doenjang). It was such a simple side, but the barley soybean paste was so tasty that I kept reaching for it. The fresh cabbage and the paste went really well together.

Seasonal sashimi at Genji

The first thing we ordered was the seasonal sashimi.

It came out on a big plate with several kinds of raw fish beautifully arranged one by one — the visuals alone were on point. There was everything from tuna to white fish, each with its own texture and flavor, so it was fun trying a bite of each. At a typical sashimi place you usually only get two or three kinds, so it was nice to sample so many varieties at once.

The fish was sliced thick, which gave it a really satisfying chew. Dipped in wasabi, it tasted clean while still letting the fish's natural flavor shine.

Grilled chicken neck

Next came the grilled chicken neck meat we'd also ordered.

It caught my eye right away with the generous pile of green onions on top. Underneath was a hearty portion of nicely browned chicken neck meat, with that distinctive plump, chewy texture. Honestly I ordered it for our child, and it didn't quite look like what I expected, but it was really delicious.

There was a potato-based sauce spread on the very bottom, and eating it together with the chicken neck meat was so good. Dipping the cabbage in it was tasty too.

Abalone innards pasta

As we ate, the dish I'd been curious about from the start kept flickering in my mind — the abalone innard pasta! I love the rich, deep flavor of crustacean and shellfish innards. I wanted to know what pasta made with abalone innards would taste like, so I ordered it as an extra. The pasta was piled with chamnamul (wild chervil), which paired surprisingly well with it.

With the abalone innards mixed in, the sauce color was clearly different from a typical cream pasta. The noodles were deeply coated in sauce, and there were big chunks of abalone throughout.

You could taste that distinctive nutty, rich flavor of abalone innards, without it being overwhelmingly fishy, and it went really well with the noodles.

Is Genji a good date spot in Myeongji?

This new izakaya Genji in Myeongji had a clean interior, as you'd expect from a brand-new place, and the warm lighting gave it a great atmosphere. Above all, everything we ordered — the seasonal sashimi, grilled chicken neck meat, and abalone innard pasta — had its own character while all being delicious, so it was a satisfying dinner. Spending time with my husband eating good food in a great-vibe place after a while felt like a proper dinner date.

If you're looking for a new hotspot in Myeongji, or a good-atmosphere izakaya or date spot there, give Genji a try. We're planning to go back to try other dishes on the menu.