Gwangalli sashimi restaurant with shrimp jang and gonowata: Geumrang

Gwangalli is nice for Busan locals any time 🩵 I used to love laying out a mat at the waterside park and eating sashimi there, but since you can't do that anymore, I go to sashimi restaurants with a Gwangan Bridge view instead. This time I visited one with an especially generous spread of side dishes, so let me introduce it.

Where Geumrang Hoetjip is and where to park — right in front of Minrak Waterside Park

Geumrang Hoetjip Gwangalli Main Branch is on the 6th floor of Marine Rich at 17-5 Gwangan Haebyeon-ro 344beon-gil, Suyeong-gu, Busan. It's close to Minrak Waterside Park, so you can park right in front and head straight up — so convenient (2 hours of parking supported at the waterside park's public lot). It's open daily 11:30-22:30, last order at 21:05.

We visited on a Sunday afternoon. A clean space mostly made up of 4-person tables.

Ordering the Subyeon hansang — sashimi refills start from the Gwangan hansang

Geumrang Hoetjip's recommended menu items are Geumrang hansang, Suyeon hansang, Gwangan hansang, and Bada hansang. The side dish (sukkidashi) spread varies by set, and the fact that you can refill sashimi starting from Gwangan hansang is such a nice touch.

They also had a lunch special, hoedeopbap, various mulhoe, and individual seafood dishes on offer. We went with the Suyeon hansang since it had a good variety and let us refill sashimi.

How many side dishes come with the set? Enough to run out of table

The Suyeon hansang started with three kinds of seafood (sea squirt, fat innkeeper worm, sea cucumber), octopus carpaccio, boiled shrimp, tako wasabi, and abalone porridge. Was that everything? No... that was just the beginning.

We started with the sea squirt among the seafood! A big, hefty piece that filled your mouth, tasting fresh with plenty of ocean flavor.

While we were eating the seafood, more came out! Live octopus, abalone, salmon salad.

Honestly, there were so many more side dishes that it went beyond a full spread to an overflowing one. The owner literally said there's no more room on the table..

It's not just about quantity — the taste held up too; the abalone was really tender and soft.

Live octopus 😵‍💫😵‍💫 It's a bit gross how it moves around, but so delicious~

The shrimp jang — peeled without getting your hands messy

My husband has a skill of peeling shrimp jang (soy-marinated shrimp) without getting his hands dirty. It's amazing, he's really good at it. Nice work.

Neatly peeled shrimp. The sweet soy sauce soaked all the way through, making the shrimp chewy and sweet — the kind you want to refill.

Assorted sashimi with gonowata — sea bass, flounder, red seabream, belly cut and rockfish

While we were frantically eating the side dishes, the main event arrived — the sashimi. The lineup was sea bass, flounder, red seabream, red seabream belly, and rockfish. It came out so neatly plated that it felt like something you'd bring your parents for, or serve to a guest of honor. The upscale plating made us feel well taken care of.

And one more thing — they give you gonowata per person. I love gonowata SO much, so I was extremely happy.

Dipping the sashimi deep into the gonowata brought out amazing flavor~~ and the sashimi was cut in big chunky pieces, which made it even better. My husband doesn't like gonowata, so both servings were all mine 😆 Such a happy time.

The sashimi was thick-cut but still had a nice chewy texture. Eating it with aged kimchi made it even better.

They also gave us sushi rice, so we could make our own sushi or wrap the sashimi in gim (seaweed) — plenty of ways to enjoy the sashimi without ordering anything extra. A certified Gwangalli local favorite..

The Gwangan Bridge view from the window — made for a daytime drink

Enjoying the sashimi spread while looking out the window, there was the Gwangan Bridge view. Wow~~ this place is a real Gwangan Bridge view spot. If you come at night, the drinks would probably go down easy. Of course, we couldn't resist a little daytime drinking either haha.

We wanted to refill the sashimi, but we were way too full — just couldn't do it..

The closing course at Geumrang Hoetjip — the addictive fried corn wins

Spicy fish stew, egg rice, plaice, merou (grouper) steak, malyak (addictive) corn fritters. We were already so full, but when the meal course arrived, there was no resisting.

Among all of it, the clear best was the malyak corn fritters. Ending with sweet corn fritters felt like eating dessert. So good. Ate well again today! Stomach totally stuffed.

Is the Subyeon hansang worth it? Final verdict

Whenever you're craving a plate of sashimi in Gwangalli, want to eat sashimi while looking at the Gwangan Bridge on a trip, or want to bring your parents out for a meal, Geumrang Hoetjip is a great choice in many ways.

• ✔️ Generous side dish spread
• ✔️ Big, hearty sashimi cuts, refillable
• ✔️ Great spot for a Gwangan Bridge view