Gwangalli date bar in Busan: summer yellowtail sashimi, Maenggu Pocha

I heard there was a pub with a great vibe in Gwangalli, so I went. Maenggu Pocha had lots of snacks, was good for a date, and was full of cute little details.

Maenggu Pocha Gwang-an Main Branch hours and info

Maenggu Pocha Gwang-an Main Branch (맹구포차 광안본점) is open daily from 6pm to 4am, with last order at 3am. It is at 72 Namcheonbada-ro 33beon-gil, Suyeong-gu, Busan (1st floor), and groups, takeout and dogs are all welcome.

How to get to Maenggu Pocha, and parking

Maenggu Pocha is one minute from Gwangalli Beach, right across from Chopilsal Pork Grill. The sign is easy to spot, so it was simple to find.

It is an 8-minute walk from Exit 1 of Geumnyeonsan Station on Line 2, or by bus, get off at Gwangil Mansion and it's a 1-minute walk, so access is pretty good! For parking, use the lot in front of the shop or the public lot next door (no parking support).

There are old arcade machines and a TV at the entrance, plus a menu board, so you can check the menu before going in.

Inside Maenggu Pocha: good for a date?

Inside Maenggu Pocha it was cool and comfortable, with plenty of roomy seats. With 8090s retro vibes and a 90s playlist it's a trip down memory lane, great for dates or hanging out with friends.

We were there right at opening, and before long it filled up with all kinds of customers, young and old. True to the name, there were lots of Shin-chan props, and the cute details caught my eye. Dogs are allowed too, so it would be nice to bring your pup,,

On your first order you need to spend at least ₩20,000, and when there's a wait, your seating time is limited to 2 hours 30 minutes.

How do Maenggu coins work?

You can swap Maenggu coins for snacks at the snack corner next to the register, and if you collect 5 coins you can trade them for a side dish worth ₩15,000. You can win coins by betting with other customers who hold coins, or by beating a staff member at mukjjippa (a rock-paper-scissors variant). There were so many unusual events, and it was fun!!

There's also a Naver receipt review event, and first prize is a ₩70,000 voucher, no less! If you're interested, definitely join in!!

The default water was barley tea, nutty and cold, and the basic snacks were hardtack crackers, sweet soy-braised beans and tangy pickled radish.

Maenggu Pocha menu

The menu has seasonal dishes such as cuttlefish sukhoe (blanched sashimi) and raw shrimp, plus set menus: assorted seafood, a raw fish set, and a braised pork rib set. The raw fish set includes spicy fish stew as standard, and you can switch it to a mulhoe (cold raw fish soup) set or a hearty set.

We ordered the raw fish set, draft Cass beer, cola and Bulpageti.

There were so many snacks that we deliberated for ages, and with lots of light snacks it's also recommended as a second-round pub!! There's steamed blue crab, butter-grilled crab, boneless monkfish stew and tofu-kimchi samhap (tofu, kimchi and pork), plus soft tofu crab stew, clear pollack stew, spicy seafood cream pasta, nurungji chicken ginseng soup and boneless braised chicken. Single-item sashimi includes large flatfish, flounder, milchi, sea bass, sea squirt and scallops.

For jeon (Korean pancakes) there are pollock roe potato pancakes and seafood scallion pancakes, and the light snacks include sherbet, karaage, sugared tomatoes, raw fish mulhoe, grilled shrimp, butter-grilled scallops, Maekkoba, milmyeon (Busan cold wheat noodles), doenjang sulbap, egg toast, pollock roe cream udon, rolled omelet, ramyeon, Bulpageti and flying fish roe rice balls. So many, so many!

The drinks list is very broad: Cheongha, highballs, traditional liquors, makgeolli, bokbunja, Hwayo, Golden Blue, draft Cass, bottled beer, soju and more, so it looked easy to pick whatever you like.

I love draft beer and they had it, so I ordered a cold one, and my boyfriend, who had to drive, got cola!!

Maenggu Pocha raw fish set: portions and taste

The raw fish set came with flounder, milchi and summer yellowtail, and the sashimi was plentiful and every piece was big. It came as a neat, varied spread with sushi rice, seaweed, aged kimchi, ssamjang, garlic, chili, gochujang dipping sauce, soy sauce, wasabi, sashimi and spicy fish stew, and it was great value.

They explained everything well, the fish looked gorgeous, and it was fresh with a great texture>< I thought the portion would be small, but there was lots of sashimi, and every piece was big.

The spicy fish stew included with the set was cool-tasting and fiery, perfect with drinks, with real depth of flavor in the broth. It was exactly my kind of broth so I enjoyed it a lot, a total drinking snack.

Putting big slices of sashimi on sushi rice to make sushi felt just like a high-end sushi place!! You can wrap the fish however you like, and with so many sides it was easy to try different combinations.

Bulpageti to finish

Last, we ordered Bulpageti (fire-spicy black bean-style noodles). It looked good, sweet and spicy, just right to finish a meal.

It looked mouth-watering and tasted better than regular Jjapaghetti, and it was delicious with the fried egg.

After paying, the last step: swapping Maenggu coins for snacks! I freshened my mouth with a nostalgic Kkoedori candy after so long.

Maenggu Pocha Gwang-an Main Branch: overall verdict

At Maenggu Pocha Gwang-an Main Branch the staff were friendly, the interior was comfortable with a great atmosphere, and the menu was varied and consistently high quality and tasty. I recommend it as a good-vibe pub for a Gwangalli date, or for a second round :)