Grilled mackerel set meal with parents in Goyang: Hwadegeuro Gan

I was craving grilled fish, so I recently went to Siksa-dong with my parents. While looking for a grilled fish place, I found this spot that apparently grills fish in a wood-fired oven. It had just opened, so the whole place looked clean and seemed like a good fit for a family meal, so I decided to check it out.

Location and hours of Hwadegeuro Gan Godeungeo Siksa Branch

• Address: 경기 고양시 일산동구 위시티1로 6-70 201호~204호 (Goyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea)
• Hours: 11:00–21:00
• Reservations, groups, and parking available

Space, seating, and the kids' play room

The first thing I noticed walking in was that the place was way bigger than I expected. It's clean overall and the tables have decent spacing, so it seemed like a comfortable spot for a family meal.

There's a variety of seating from tables for 4 up to 6 and 8, so it looked good for group visits too. I actually saw a lot of families there, and it seemed like a good place for group meals as well.

On one side there's a separate play room for kids. The play facilities were better than I expected, and since there's a kids' menu too, it seemed like a good place to bring young children along.

Looking toward the kitchen, there was a huge wood-fired oven.

Looks like they grill the fish directly in there — and fish grilled in a wood-fired oven just makes me even more excited... 🤤👍 Whether it's fish or pizza, somehow things taste better when they're cooked in a wood-fired oven.

Menu and what we ordered

The menu had more variety than I expected, from grilled fish sets to combo menus, hwangge-jang (marinated crab), pollack roe soup, and stir-fried pork. The set menus in particular come with pot rice, so it's a filling composition for a proper meal! After some deliberation, we ordered the wood-fired mackerel set and the pollack roe soup set.

What's at the self bar

Basic side dishes are set on the table first, and you can grab more from the self bar as much as you want.

Looking at the self bar, there were way more options than I expected.

From basic side dishes like seasoned bean sprouts, seaweed stem, lotus root salad, and chonggak kimchi (young radish kimchi), to a separate corner where you can make your own bibimbap.

And on the other side there was kimchi pancake, japchae (glass noodle stir-fry), and even tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes)? We came for grilled fish, but honestly you could get full just from the self bar hahahaha. On top of that there was coffee, plum tea, and sikhye (sweet rice punch) for dessert, so you don't even need to find a separate café afterward — you can wrap up dessert right there.

How was the wood-fired mackerel set?

Finally, the grilled fish we ordered arrived!

The fish came out bigger than expected and was nicely browned on the outside, so it looked pretty appetizing right off the bat. Maybe because it's grilled in the wood-fired oven, the skin was crispy while the flesh inside stayed moist.

Grilled fish easily turns dry if you cook it wrong, but here the flesh was soft and moist, perfect to eat with rice. The mackerel's signature savory flavor really came through, and with the skin grilled crispy, eating it together with the flesh made for a fun contrast in texture.

These days there are so many grilled fish places with self bars. But sometimes the self bar side dishes are great while the actual grilled fish itself is disappointing — here, though, the main dish was quite good. The fish was big and the flesh was soft, so my parents enjoyed it too.

Between the grilled fish and rice, plus kimchi pancake and a bit of tteokbokki from the self bar, and various side dishes on top of that, I genuinely felt like I was about to burst by the end... hahahaha.

But you just can't skip the nurungji (scorched rice), right...? 😳

When you're eating pot rice, you have to finish with the nurungji at the end for it to really feel like a proper meal, so I ate every last bit before leaving.

Is the pollack roe soup set worth ordering too?

We also ordered a pollack roe soup. While eating the grilled fish and pot rice, I felt like having a hot soup dish would round things out nicely, so we ordered it. The soup had a spicy yet refreshing flavor, which went well alongside the grilled fish. The broth itself wasn't overly spicy or salty — more of a clean, tingly kind of flavor that goes down easy.

There was a generous amount of roe inside, and you could really feel that signature popping, soft texture, which tasted great with rice. Especially while eating the grilled fish, taking a spoonful of the soup in between made my mouth feel refreshed each time, so I kept going back for more hahaha. The combo of rice with the soup was great too, and if you like hot soups, I think ordering the grilled fish alongside the pollack roe soup is a solid move. 👍🏻

A good restaurant to bring your parents to?

With the variety of self bar side dishes and dishes like kimchi pancake, japchae, and tteokbokki, you can enjoy a much more filling meal than just grilled fish alone, which was a nice bonus. Especially if you're looking for a restaurant to bring your parents to, I personally think this is a pretty solid choice.

The place is spacious enough for group visits, the parking is fairly generous, and there's even a play room for kids, so it seemed like a good spot for family visits too. If you like grilled fish or are looking for a place to eat with your parents in Siksa-dong, I'd say it's worth a visit. 👍🏻