Gwangalli fish restaurant grilled hairtail set: Hwadeogeuro

Spending my last day of a Busan trip in Gwangalli, I was trying to figure out what to eat for lunch, and that day I was craving something a bit more proper — Korean home-style food.

Sure, sashimi or gukbap (soup with rice) would've been great since I was already in Busan, but for my last meal of the trip I wanted rice and banchan done right, so I looked up fish grill restaurants and found Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Gwangalli Waterside Park Branch, known for food that comes out looking neat and well put together. So I went.

When you hear "fish grill place," you kind of picture something a bit rustic, but here the dining space itself felt tidy, almost like a hanjeongsik (Korean full-course set meal) restaurant, which I liked. What really caught my attention was that they grill the fish directly in a wood-fired oven, and instead of mackerel, which I eat often, I picked hairtail, something I don't usually order!!

It's an easy walk from watching the sea at Gwangalli, so it fit nicely into the day's route, and based on how the meal turned out, I'd say it's worth putting on the list when you're hunting for a good grilled fish spot in Gwangalli. If you're after a place with proper rice and banchan alongside your grilled fish, it works well as a Gwangalli Korean restaurant too!

Where is Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Gwangalli Waterside Park Branch, and how do you get there?

Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Gwangalli Waterside Park Branch is near Gwangalli Waterside Park, on the 2nd floor at 147 Minrak Suybeon-ro, Suyeong-gu, Busan. It's a bit of a distance from the main Gwangalli Beach, but if you're strolling along the coast anyway, it's closer than you'd think — a nice bit of walking built into the trip.

By public transit, it's about a 15-minute walk from Exit 1 of Minrak Station on Busan Metro Line 2. By bus, get off at the Suyeon Waterside Park Lotte Castle stop and walk about 3 minutes along the coastal road.

If you're driving, there's a note that using the Suyeon Children's Park public parking lot gets you ₩1,000 support per table.

The clean exterior really nails the Korean restaurant look — just head up to the 2nd floor!

Inside the restaurant and the window seats over the Suyeong River

Inside, Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Gwangalli Waterside Park Branch is decorated as neatly as a hanjeongsik restaurant, and each seat has a partition, so it was easy to chat and eat without worrying much about the neighboring table.

The tables themselves were fairly spacious too, so it seemed comfortable whether you came with family or with friends.

Further inside there's a group room available by reservation, which looked good for gatherings or work dinners. The natural light coming in was lovely too~

Personally, my favorite spot was the window seating. The window seats face the Suyeong River, and they work well for solo dining too, kind of like a single-seat setup — eating while looking at the view outside made the atmosphere feel quite cozy.

It didn't feel like just a meal — more like a little break, which made it a nice stop during the trip.

On one side there was a self-serve bar, so beyond the basic banchan you could grab more of what you wanted, and after the meal there was a dessert corner with coffee and plum tea.

And you could actually see the fish being grilled in the wood-fired oven from one side, which really confirmed this is a place built around grilled fish.

The menu: which grilled fish sets can you order?

Since the wood-fired grilled fish is the main draw, the menu had quite a variety. From the grilled mackerel set to the grilled Jeju silver hairtail set, grilled Atka mackerel set, grilled Spanish mackerel set, Yeonggwang croaker set, and dried croaker set — there was something for whatever fish you happen to like.

Beyond grilled fish, there were dishes to eat with rice like the wood-fired jeyuk (spicy pork) set and seasoned kodari (dried pollack) set, plus a bracken and mackerel braise, along with side dishes like seasoned water parsley with cuttlefish or tteokgalbi. If you're visiting with a group, ordering one set each and adding extra dishes to share seemed like a good approach.

The variety of grilled fish especially meant I could try something different next time. I tend to eat mackerel pretty often, so this time I went with the Gwangalli hairtail, and in the end I think I made the right call.

Grilled Jeju silver hairtail set, 29,000 won, with the gondre rice swap

Grilled Jeju silver hairtail set ₩29,000 + gondre rice swap (+₩3,000), zero-sugar cider ₩2,000.

When I ordered, I honestly figured I'd get two or three pieces of hairtail, so I was a bit surprised when the food arrived. A long, plump silver hairtail came out nearly whole — the portion was more generous than I expected.

Maybe because it's grilled in a 500°C oven, the outside was nicely crisp while the meat inside stayed moist!

You do have to debone the hairtail yourself, but the flesh was thick enough that it sat nicely on top of the rice. The seasoning wasn't too strong either, so at first I just ate the hairtail plain and it tasted clean and light — it worked well eaten with rice or paired with the banchan depending on my mood.

Most of all, the fish felt fresh, so even though I'm sensitive to fishy flavors, I ate it comfortably.

This time I swapped the regular rice for gondre rice, and that was absolutely the right call!!! The rice had a chewy texture, and every so often the distinct aroma of gondre (wild aster greens) would come through subtly, pairing really well with the grilled fish.

Piling the hairtail flesh onto the gondre rice, the clean fish flavor and the gondre aroma blended naturally, and it felt like a proper full Korean meal.

The basic banchan lineup was quite varied too. Starting with seaweed soup, there were ssam wraps, braised mushrooms, stir-fried potato strips, stir-fried fish cake, seasoned seaweed stems, chonggak kimchi, and stir-fried bean sprouts, so it wasn't just one hairtail — I got to enjoy it hanjeongsik-style alongside a bunch of side dishes.

But the real highlight was being able to eat slowly while looking out at the Suyeong River! Travel usually means running around nonstop, so sitting by the window with a warm meal, watching the river, felt like a nice little breather.

Is it worth it as a grilled fish restaurant near Gwangalli?

Overall, the food came out neat and the space was clean, so it seemed like a solid match for anyone looking for a good grilled fish spot in Gwangalli. If you want grilled fish alongside a full lineup of banchan, it works well as a Gwangalli Korean restaurant too!!

Especially when grilled fish is hard to make at home, if you're after Gwangalli hairtail with a nice view thrown in, this is a place worth remembering. Next time I'd like to try other grilled fish like mackerel or croaker, and I'd love to come back on a day when I want to sit by the Suyeong River and take my time over a full Korean meal at Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Gwangalli Waterside Park Branch!

One-line summary — a tidy grilled hairtail meal enjoyed with a Suyeong River view

What stands out at Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo

• You can taste fish grilled in a wood-fired oven
• A whole hairtail comes out generously
• The banchan lineup is varied and clean
• There are window seats facing the Suyeong River
• It has a group room, self-serve bar, and dessert corner