Family burger lunch with kids in Jamwon-dong, Seoul: Bas Burger

It was a Saturday when we had errands to run in Gangnam.

Once we finished up and it was time for lunch with the family, the "what should we eat today?" question came up again. With kids along, I usually go for something with broad appeal — normally I'd have just picked Burger King without thinking twice.

But this time we decided to try a handmade burger place for a change. So we headed to Bas Burger Jamwon Branch.

How did the kids react to the burgers at Bas Burger Jamwon?

At Bas Burger Jamwon, the four of us picked three things: the Bas Burger Set, the Mozza Chicken Burger Set, and a Wasabi Mayo Shrimp Burger single.

• Bas Burger Set
• Mozza Chicken Burger Set
• Wasabi Mayo Shrimp Burger (single)

So that's what we ordered. Once we each picked something different and shared, it turned out each burger had a pretty distinct personality. My middle-school daughter's reaction stuck with me the most. Before we got there she'd been saying, "I'm not really in the mood for a burger." Haha.

But after one bite she said, "Mom, I've never had a burger this good." Then she started dipping the fries in the sauce left on the wrapper. She was even eating the fries and saying, "They're really good at fries here." Seeing the kid who said she didn't want any turn into the one eating the most enthusiastically made me laugh. If you're looking for Jamwon-dong restaurants to visit with kids, this kind of real reaction might be worth keeping in mind.

Bas Burger Set, Mozza Chicken and Wasabi Mayo Shrimp: how each one tastes

The Bas Burger I had came with a beef patty and a generous amount of sauce mixed throughout.

From the color of the sauce, I thought it might be a bit spicy, like a chipotle sauce, but surprisingly my 7-year-old ate it without a single complaint about spice.

When eating burgers with kids, I always worry if the sauce is too strong, but it seemed to suit my younger one's taste just fine. My husband had the Wasabi Mayo Shrimp Burger.

He kept saying, "This tastes so different — it's really good."

Adding wasabi mayo to a shrimp burger definitely gave it a different feel from our usual burgers. The Mozza Chicken Burger, with its chicken and cheese combo, was also easy for the kids to share.

Trying all three back and forth, after so long eating only familiar fast-food burgers, I thought, "Ah, this is what makes handmade burgers fun."

So if you're searching for Jamwon-dong restaurants and looking for handmade burgers, ordering a few different menu items to share is a good approach.

Unlimited James Potatoes at the self-serve bar, plus the dining room

One thing that surprisingly stuck with me at Bas Burger Jamwon Branch was the potatoes.

The restaurant offers unlimited James Potatoes, and I figured, "unlimited just means it's the free extra kind you eat a bit of."

But they were better than expected. The fries that came with the sets were tasty too, so my eldest kept grabbing them, and having even more potatoes available from the self-serve bar made a great pairing with the burgers.

There were several kinds of sauce available too, so dipping the fries in different sauces was its own kind of fun.

When looking for Jamwon-dong restaurants, taste isn't the only thing that matters — whether we could eat comfortably with the kids mattered too, and for our family the restaurant atmosphere was comfortable. You order at a kiosk and wait for a buzzer pager, and there are bar-style seats good for eating alone as well as table spaces for groups.

So it seemed like a place that works whether you're dining solo or visiting as a family like we did.

Is Bas Burger Jamwon a good family lunch after a day out in Gangnam?

We didn't set out that day specifically craving burgers — we were out running errands in Gangnam and just looking for something the whole family could eat without complaint, and that's how we ended up here. In the end, even the kids were quite satisfied. The funniest part of the whole meal was definitely my eldest, who'd said she wasn't in the mood for a burger, dipping fries in leftover sauce and declaring it delicious. Haha.

My 7-year-old ate the Bas Burger happily, my husband loved the unusual flavor of the Wasabi Mayo Shrimp Burger, and I felt like I'd had a proper handmade burger for the first time in a while.

If you're a family looking for Jamwon-dong restaurants, I think it's worth choosing a handmade burger for once instead of the usual fast food.

Bas Burger Jamwon Branch location and opening hours

• About 243m, roughly a 4-minute walk from Nonhyeon Station Exit 8
• Hours: Weekdays 10:30–21:00, weekends 11:00–20:30

If you have family errands around Gangnam and always end up eating the same familiar burgers, it might be worth trying a handmade burger at Bas Burger Jamwon Branch once. And really, when your kid eats happily and says it's delicious, that's the most satisfying thing for a mom. :)