Siheung Baegot fish restaurant: sea eel stamina lunch set, Hwadogeuro

We finally made it to Baegot! "Hwadogeuro Gan Godeungeo Siheung Baegot Branch"

Why Hwadogeuro Gan Godeungeo for a stamina-boosting lunch in Baegot, Siheung?

Hwadogeuro Gan Godeungeo Siheung Baegot Branch (화덕으로간고등어 시흥배곧점) is a new premium wood-fired grilled fish restaurant in Baegot, and I went for a stamina-boosting lunch with the Boyang set for two (₩45,000). My energy has been dropping lately, so I wanted a proper lunch to recharge, and it had just opened in Baegot, so of course I had to go!

Grilling fish at home makes me nervous because of the smell, so eating grilled fish out is the way to go these days, right? This time I ordered the Boyang set for two, whose name alone makes you feel stronger! The price is ₩45,000! Wow, to give you the conclusion first, I honestly thought my stomach was going to burst. I'll break it all down for you, from the atmosphere to the side dishes to the mains!

Opening hours and atmosphere at Hwadogeuro Gan Godeungeo Siheung Baegot Branch

Lunch runs from 11:00 to 15:00 and dinner from 17:00 to 21:30. On weekdays there is a break time from 15:00 to 17:00, so weekday visitors should plan around it to avoid a wasted trip!

Peeking in through the glass, the interior looked really cozy and clean, with soft lighting and warm wood tones working perfectly together. Seeing the slogan about a healthy table of nature from the sea and the land, plus the 500°C wood-fired oven logo, my heart was already bouncing before I even ate!

What comes in the ₩45,000 Boyang set for two?

The "Boyang set for two" we picked seems to have thrown in all of this restaurant's ace fish!

The Boyang set for two is a ₩45,000 menu that puts four fish dishes on one table: Korean sea eel, Korean Atka mackerel, grilled Norwegian mackerel, and a spicy seasonal fish stew. The fish lineup is seriously impressive. The eel and Atka mackerel are proudly domestic, and the mackerel is the rich, oily Norwegian kind, so the ingredient quality earned a pass from me right away. I hesitated a little at ₩45,000 for two at first... but when 9 side dishes came out neatly in ceramic bowls, I was nodding along!

The 9 basic side dishes

• Crunchy, spicy gochujang-doenjang seasoned dish
• Sweet and sour radish salad (musaengchae) that calls for rice
• Perfectly clean-tasting seasoned bean sprouts
• Golden, soft zucchini jeon (pan-fried zucchini)
• Sweet and spicy seasoned crab, great to chew on
• Nutty seasoned bracken (gosari namul)
• Lotus root salad topped with black sesame sauce
• Well-fermented young radish kimchi (yeolmu kimchi)
• Glossy, springy japchae (glass noodle stir-fry)

Even the japchae was perfect. It has everything you'd expect from a full Korean table d'hôte. The seasoning isn't heavy, which made it even better, I'm telling you!

Unlimited side dish self bar and bibimbap corner

At one side of the restaurant there is a SELF BAR where you can take as many basic side dishes as you like. But that's not all! The zucchini jeon and japchae, which are best piping hot, keep getting refilled, and there's even a bibimbap corner where you can pile namul on barley rice and mix it up, so big eaters should be happy! There are also fresh ssam vegetables, so a healthy, full belly?

A grilled fish place with tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) too? That's cheating! I didn't expect much from a fish restaurant's tteokbokki and took a bite, but the sauce had soaked right into the rice cakes, and I cleared a plate before the mains even arrived. Kids would love this too!

How was the seasonal fish stew, the mackerel stew?

Crazy bubbling mackerel stew!

The stew in the Boyang set was a mackerel stew of fish and radish simmered down in a spicy red broth, and the real star was the radish. Just looking at it, you're already booking two bowls of rice, right? Shallow, spicy red broth, bubbling away! The fish and the delicious radish were properly simmered. The radish had soaked up the seasoning and cut softly with a spoon, and when you put it in your mouth, you know, right? Spoon some broth over white rice, mash the fish and well-cooked radish into it and mix it up? A carb explosion! One bite of the spicy stew and you can fall into an endless loop before the grilled fish even arrives!

Is the 500°C wood-fired mackerel and Atka mackerel crisp outside and moist inside?

500°C wood-fired power! Crispy outside, moist inside grilled fish!

The grilled Norwegian mackerel and Korean Atka mackerel come on a big iron plate, flash-grilled in the 500°C oven, and the nutty oil gliding across the surface is amazing. At last, today's star, the wood-fired grilled fish, has arrived! Crispy outside! Moist inside! Worth looking forward to, right?

Pull off one big chunk of the plump Norwegian mackerel and the nutty flavor bursts in your mouth. The bad grease drips off in the wood-fired oven, so it isn't greasy at all! The Atka mackerel's white flesh flakes off softly, with no fishy smell and a very clean taste, and dipped in fresh wasabi soy sauce it gives you a seriously blissful brow-scrunch!

How was the grilled Korean sea eel?

This one had an overwhelming look on the iron plate! Grilled Korean sea eel, a name that makes you feel stronger just hearing it!

The grilled Korean sea eel was crispy outside with that wood-fire char, while the inside was moist without a single bone! It had a clean yet nutty flavor and I was satisfied!

Just a little fresh wasabi on top and it melts in your mouth. A true rice thief and the ultimate stamina cheat key, "Hwadogeuro Gan Godeungeo"

Finishing with doenjang soup and pot rice nurungji

The Boyang set comes with siraegi doenjang soup (dried radish greens in soybean paste soup) in a large bowl, which washes away the grease of the wood-fired dishes. Just when I was inhaling the grilled fish and stew like crazy and my throat started to feel a bit stuck, the savory doenjang soup was perfectly timed for my spoon! Scoop up a big ladle of siraegi and slurp, and it feels like the nutty oil of the wood-fired fish gets washed right down your throat. Mild, not harsh, with a deep, savory country doenjang flavor! Have this in between bites too!

The last cheat key to crown the meal is the hot nurungji made at the bottom of the pot rice!

It tidies up a mouth full of the nuttiness of wood-fired fish and the spice of the stew, so cleanly and softly, and that's a wrap! No matter how stuffed you are, there's a separate stomach for rice and one for nurungji, that's the Korean golden rule, right?

Hwadogeuro Gan Godeungeo Siheung Baegot Branch is newly opened, so it's definitely an opening-day-queue spot! Clean, fresh, brand-new interior! Shall we go taste the 500°C grilled fish this weekend? Let's go!