Solo dining pork soup restaurant in Daeyeon-dong, Busan: Geumsu Dwaeji

What dwaeji gukbap means to someone from Busan

Someone recently put together a 'Busan pork soup war' list of the top 20 gukbap restaurants... and out of those, I think I'd only been to one? The comments were full of Busan natives who hadn't been either, or who disagreed with the picks.

I don't have any plans to deliberately seek those places out, even if I get the chance. Because real Busan locals just go to whatever gukbap place is near their house (also the waits are brutal — waiting in line for gukbap of all things?). That's how many gukbap restaurants there are in Busan, and most of them clear the bar without trying too hard.

So that 'gukbap war' list feels, I don't know, more like something tourists would enjoy? Like a collection of famous gukbap spots put together for outsiders (extremely personal opinion, haha).

Pork soup is what you eat after drinking too much the night before, while drinking, after staying out all night and catching the last bus, after doing hard labor, when you're hungry, or just when there's nothing else to eat — that common. And everyone keeps their own personal number-one gukbap place tucked away in their heart.

Geumsu Dwaeji Gukbap near Kyungsung University: what the restaurant is like

That intro went on forever, but the place I visited today is Geumsu Dwaeji Gukbap near Kyungsung University. I went because the chance came up, but it's the kind of gukbap place worth stopping at if you're already hanging around the area.

It's a reasonably spacious, clean restaurant. Since it's near the university strip there were a lot of students and solo diners too — and even past 6pm in the evening, everyone from families to older men having a drink with boiled pork was coming and going.

The menu board is clean and tidy, and disposable aprons are set out here and there. Nice touch.

Eating alone: 9,500 won pork soup and 10,000 won sundae

I thought about getting the boiled pork platter but just went with the most basic pork soup (₩9,500) instead. (Honestly, boiled pork felt like too much hassle for a meal — I picked the easier gukbap.)

Since I hadn't eaten a single meal by that hour, I also ordered blood sausage (sundae, ₩10,000). Can I really finish all this? I'll have to think about whether to add soju.

The self-serve bar: unlimited rice and thin noodles

There's a self-serve bar set up near the kitchen, neatly stocked with side dishes. Looking at the area around the side dish containers, it seemed to be kept pretty spotless.

Thin noodles (somyeon) are laid out on the shelf above, and there's a rice cooker right next to it — Geumsu Dwaeji Gukbap lets you refill both rice and noodles for free. Great for anyone who eats a lot. But even with unlimited refills, just take what you can actually finish.

Milky broth, dadaegi chili paste and the welcome makgeolli

The side dishes, sundae, and gukbap all came out quickly. Seeing that milky broth made me want to dig in right away. Personally, I think gukbap has to have a milky broth...

The bowl arrived bubbling and boiling away. The kind staff member warned me it was hot.

I added chives, salted shrimp, and — you can't see it, but garlic too. Adding garlic while it's hot cooks it just enough to taste amazing (I'm not a fan of raw garlic).

The dadaegi (spicy seasoning paste) is set out separately on the table — add it to your taste. It felt less like a simple seasoning and more like something made with plenty of ingredients mixed in. Great color too.

I tasted the clear broth first, then stirred in the dadaegi and got down to business. After one sip of broth, I immediately asked for the welcome makgeolli. Geumsu Dwaeji Gukbap gives you welcome makgeolli if you ask — I've never seen a place do that before (in a good way). Really tasty. I think I'll swap out soju for welcome makgeolli from now on.

How is the pork itself?

There's a generous amount of pork with a good balance of lean meat and fat. It's thin and tender, so easy to eat. I get annoyed when the meat is tough or all fat, but there was none of that here — it was just loaded in generously (though I was pretty hungry too, to be fair).

Sundae and makgeolli: how well do they go together?

Plump, soft blood sausage! The size and portion match the price well. I ate some in the soup and some plain, and once the soft sundae leaves your mouth a little dry from chewing, a sip of makgeolli brings a nutty, refreshing wetness back — the pairing is reaaaally good.

Oh, I found out after ordering that they give you a taste of sundae for free if you write a review... did I order it for nothing? But I finished it all anyway, haha.

I added a portion of noodles too, and kept eating the diced radish kimchi (kkakdugi) and cabbage kimchi. The kkakdugi was ripened just right and delicious, and the kimchi was crisp. For reference, I don't go to places with bad kkakdugi.

Verdict after finishing the whole bowl

And that's what a finished bowl looks like...... I figured I could eat it all, but that it might get tough near the end — turns out nothing about it was tough, I just polished off the whole thing, rice included. That's what I'd call true Busan-woman gukbap power.

The broth just gets better the more you eat, so it's a gukbap restaurant I'd recommend if you're in the area. Clean, tidy, and offering everything from gukbap to boiled pork and sundae and dumplings good enough to drink alongside. If you want gukbap in Daeyeon-dong — or need it for a hangover, or just eating solo — Geumsu Dwaeji Gukbap near Kyungsung University is the spot.