Opening-day crab jang hot pot rice at a Siksa-dong grilled fish spot

🐟Hwadegeuro Gan Godeungeo Siksa Branch🎣

Where is Hwadegeuro Gan Godeungeo Siksa Branch, and what are its hours?

📍Location 6-70 Wisiti1-ro, Ilsan-dong-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, Units 201–204

⏰Hours 11:00–21:00 Last order 20:20 Kids' play room ⭕️ Reservations and groups possible ⭕️

Where do you park in Siksa-dong?

🚘Parking There are two parking lots, one outdoor and one indoor. For the outdoor lot, you get a code after paying inside and enter it to exit.

The parking area was spacious with plenty of spots! When you're done eating, you enter the code at the machine shown below to exit.

Head up to the 2nd floor of the building and you'll find the restaurant!

I heard it was opening today, so I visited on opening day haha

Inside the restaurant and the kids' play room

⭐️Interior⭐️ The inside of Hwadegeuro Gan Godeungeo Siksa Branch was much bigger than I expected, and since it's newly opened, it felt clean and nice.

The wood tones made it feel even brighter and more spacious. There were plenty of seats and lots of group seating too, so it looked great for groups or gatherings.

One of the great things here is that there's a separate kids' play room! It would be great for anyone visiting with kids haha If you're looking for a restaurant with a play room in Siksa-dong, I'd highly recommend this one 👍

What we ordered: two hot pot rice sets

The menu at Hwadegeuro Gan Godeungeo Siksa Branch was really varied! Everything from 2- and 3-person sets to single-portion set meals haha. I was going to order a set, but I wanted to try the crab jang, the fish and the pork stir-fry all at once, so I went with individual set meals instead.

I ordered the wood-fired pork stir-fry hot pot rice set + the yellow crab jang hot pot rice set.

The standard side dishes

Side dishes and soup come standard. You get altari radish kimchi, lotus root, seasoned bellflower root, seasoned blue crab, japchae, doenjang peppers and doenjang soup.

What's at the self-serve bar?

Hwadegeuro Gan Godeungeo Siksa Branch also has a separate self-serve bar! On top of the standard side dishes, there were several extra banchan and side foods to go with the meal!

Besides the standard banchan, there was kimchi pancake and tteokbokki too.

There were also vegetables for making bibimbap and dessert (plums, sikhye).

Mixing the namul and rice in a bibimbap bowl was so good haha. To think you can eat this many kinds of namul for free!! The owner is amazing haha.

The kimchi pancake and tteokbokki were also really tasty, and being able to refill the rest of the side dishes and soup unlimited made the whole meal feel great value and convenient.

How did the wood-fired mackerel, crab jang and pork taste?

Wood-fired mackerel

The outside gets nicely browned and crispy in the fierce heat of the wood-fired oven, while the inside stays moist and tender, bringing out the mackerel's savory flavor deeply. It's salty yet clean-tasting, so putting a piece of flesh on a spoonful of rice makes it an absolute rice thief! 🔥🐟

Yellow crab jang hot pot rice set

You can choose the fish, and choose between soy sauce or spicy seasoning for the crab jang (marinated crab). I chose the soy sauce crab jang!

The soy crab jang has a salty-sweet soy marinade soaked deep into the flesh, and the crab meat is springy yet tender, melting in your mouth. Especially mixing rice with the savory tomalley makes an explosion of umami, and a whole bowl of rice disappears in no time — a true rice thief! 🦀🍚

But it was a shame the portion of soy crab jang was a bit small ㅠㅜ....

Wood-fired pork stir-fry

The spicy-sweet sauce soaks deep into the chewy pork, with a subtle smoky char adding real umami. The seasoning is bold without being overly sweet, so it keeps calling you back for more with rice! 🌶️🥩

Hot pot rice and nurungji (scorched rice)

The rice comes in a hot pot, which was great because you can make nurungji (scorched rice) with it! The freshly cooked rice grains have a subtle savoriness and stickiness, and the scorched rice stuck to the bottom of the pot is nutty and crispy, a real treat until the very last bite. It's a proper hot pot rice with deep flavor even eaten on its own, no side dishes needed! 🍚🔥

Is Hwadegeuro Gan Godeungeo worth a visit?

Being able to eat a hearty Korean meal, plus a separate self-serve bar for extra banchan, felt really great. The variety of fish and the fact that everything comes wood-fired seems like a real strength haha.

If you're looking for a good restaurant in Siksa-dong or one with a kids' play room, give Hwadegeuro Gan Godeungeo Siksa Branch a try!!