Minari roe hot pot set at a Sintanjin fish restaurant: Hwadeogeuro Gan

Hi, it's Bari~ Grilling fish at home is trickier than it sounds these days. The smell lingers forever and the oil splatters everywhere, so naturally I end up eating it out haha.

This time I went to a place that grills mackerel fresh in a clay oven and lets you help yourself to as many side dishes and bibimbap ingredients as you want. Today I'm introducing Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Sintanjin Branch :) It's a great spot to bring parents who love grilled fish, and a solid choice if you're looking for a Sintanjin restaurant for a filling meal with kids.

Where is Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Sintanjin Branch, and is there parking?

Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Sintanjin Branch is a clay-oven grilled fish restaurant at 490 Sintanjin-ro, Jena-dong 102-ho, Daedeok-gu, Daejeon. Group dining and reservations are possible, and a baby chair is available.

When I first arrived I was surprised how clean the exterior looked. When you think 'grilled fish specialty restaurant' you usually picture something a bit older and worn, but this place looked tidy and neat from the outside, making it a good choice for a family meal out. If you're looking for a Daedeok-gu restaurant to bring your parents to, this is an easy place to walk into.

There's a dedicated parking lot right in front of the restaurant. When eating out, whether you can park is almost as important as the food itself. Not having to hunt for parking made the whole visit feel easy from the start.

At the entrance there was a banner announcing a TV appearance. Apparently the place was featured on a show called 'Namgyeoseo Mwohage.' Seeing it displayed so prominently at the entrance made me even more curious about the signature dish of Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Sintanjin Branch haha.

Can you bring kids? Baby chairs and seating at Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo

The moment I walked in, I spotted a baby chair. Families dining out with kids check for this first, so it was nice to see one ready. There was also sujeonggwa (cinnamon-persimmon punch) and plum tea to drink after the meal. A clean finish to the very end!

The interior was fairly spacious too. Tables had generous spacing, and there were seats for larger groups, so it seemed good for family gatherings or group visits. It's an all-you-can-eat, self-serve style restaurant in Sintanjin, but everything felt well organized, which I liked — it didn't feel chaotic at all.

As soon as I sat down, the basic side dishes were set out right away. Ready to eat before the main fish even arrived haha.

The basic side dishes were clean and neat, just like you'd expect from a Korean restaurant. Rather than flashy, heavily seasoned banchan, these were dishes meant to go well with rice — the kind older generations would really enjoy. So if you're looking for a Daedeok-gu restaurant to visit with family, this one is worth a try.

What's on the self-bar?

At the Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Sintanjin Branch self-bar, you can freely help yourself to side dishes. And that's not all. For someone like me who likes to eat a little of many things, unlimited refills are the best — I recommend this Daejeon all-you-can-eat restaurant.

The self-bar even has pork cutlet, japchae (glass noodle stir-fry) and scorched rice. I thought it would just be a few basic namul or kimchi refills, but the variety was much wider than expected. The pork cutlet and japchae in particular didn't feel like an afterthought — each felt properly made.

Tteokbokki, salad, radish, pickled gochujang, tofu jangjorim (soy-braised tofu), and lotus root salad kept coming out. There was also separate lettuce, so you could wrap the grilled fish in it. If you're after a Sintanjin all-you-can-eat restaurant with a wide variety of side dishes, the lineup here is pretty satisfying.

What I especially liked was the bibimbap corner! There were seasonal namul and various bibimbap ingredients, plus perilla oil, sesame oil, sesame seeds and gochujang, so you could mix it however you liked. It's not a restaurant with just one main fish dish — you get to enjoy a variety of Korean food together, which made it feel like a genuinely high-quality Daedeok-gu restaurant overall.

Menu and prices: clay-oven mackerel set and minari roe hot pot set

You can order at the table using a kiosk. It was convenient not having to call a staff member — you just browse the menu at your own pace and order. Besides the mackerel set, there's also a pork bulgogi set, grilled Spanish mackerel set, egg roe pot set and quite a few other options.

There's also a nourishing set, and grilled fish can be ordered as an add-on à la carte. Here's what we ordered:

• 🐟 Clay-oven grilled mackerel set — ₩16,000
• 🍲 Minari egg roe pot set — ₩16,000

We chose white rice, but if you like bibimbap, ordering barley rice might be a better call. Ordering the grilled fish and the pot together to share turned out to be a great combination at Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Sintanjin Branch.

How does the clay-oven grilled mackerel taste?

They say the mackerel is grilled in the clay oven right after you order. So instead of a fish that's been pre-grilled and sitting around, you get it warm and freshly browned. Maybe because it's cooked in the clay oven, the color on the surface looked really appetizing.

After picking at the side dishes for a bit, the grilled mackerel finally arrived! The moment it hit the table, a savory grilled-fish aroma filled the air.

It was grilled so beautifully haha. The skin was golden brown and looked crisp, while the inside stayed moist. If you love grilled fish, tasting this makes it pretty clear why this place is such a popular Sintanjin restaurant.

The flesh was quite thick too. Even a light touch with the chopsticks pulled off a big chunk, and the meat inside wasn't dry at all — it was moist enough to be delicious just placed on top of rice.

I tried dipping the mackerel in soy sauce mixed with a little wasabi. The savory saltiness of the soy sauce plus the sharp kick of wasabi cut through the oily richness of the mackerel really nicely — a great match.

What is the minari roe hot pot set like?

And the minari egg roe pot set we ordered alongside it! Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Sintanjin Branch doesn't only do grilled fish — having a soup dish like this too means a group can each pick their own favorite menu when visiting together.

The pot arrives at a rolling boil. Just watching the broth bubble away, it already looked rich and savory haha. As the weather turns chilly, this is exactly the kind of hot broth you start craving.

There was a generous amount of ingredients too. Packed with roe and milt, every spoonful scooped up plenty of solids, and the broth was spicy and savory enough that I kept going back for more. It seems like a dish that would taste even better with warm rice in winter.

Why barley rice is the better choice for bibimbap

Lastly, I grabbed various namul from the self-bar and made bibimbap. Adding a piece of grilled mackerel on top made it a truly filling meal haha. That said, if you want your bibimbap with barley rice, I'd recommend choosing barley rice instead of white rice when you order your set. The self-serve bibimbap corner only had white rice — barley rice wasn't set out separately.

Final verdict on Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Sintanjin Branch

This isn't a place where you just eat grilled fish and call it done — with neat basic side dishes plus pork cutlet, japchae, tteokbokki, various namul, and bibimbap, I left genuinely full. The clay-oven mackerel in particular, golden outside and moist inside, went perfectly with rice, and pairing it with the minari egg roe pot for a hot broth on the side made for a great combination.

Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Sintanjin Branch is a comfortable spot for a meal with parents and an easy one to bring kids to as well — if you're looking for a Sintanjin restaurant for a hearty Korean spread, it's worth a visit :)