Haeundae brunch restaurant: pizza crust in basil cream sauce, Bueokgan

On a day I'd arranged to meet up with my sister after she moved to Haeundae — we used to be close when she lived in Myeongji — I was trying to figure out where to have lunch and landed on Bueokgan Haeundae Branch on Dalmaji-gil.

When you're catching up with someone after a long time, the food matters, but so does the atmosphere — somewhere comfortable to sit and talk through everything you've missed. Looking back, I think I picked a really good spot that day. Let me walk you through Bueokgan Haeundae Branch, where my sister and I enjoyed a great lunch in a great atmosphere.

Where is Bueokgan Haeundae Branch, and is there parking?

Bueokgan Haeundae Branch sits right at the start of Dalmaji-gil going up from Haeundae, 982m from Exit 9 of Jangsan Station. It's open 11:00–21:00, with a break time from 15:00–16:30 and last order at 20:30.

• 📮 200 Dalmaji-gil117beon-gil, Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea, 2nd floor (982m from Exit 9, Jangsan Station)
• ⏰ Open 11:00–21:00 / Break time 15:00–16:30 / Last order 20:30
• ✅ Group-friendly / Baby chairs / Yes-kids-zone
• ✅ Reservations available
• 🚘 Parking available

If you're driving, there are about 4 parking spots right in front and a separate underground lot, so it was easy to get to. Reservations are possible too, so if you have a specific time in mind, it's worth checking ahead. Once you arrive at the building, several different spaces operate together inside, so at first I had to look around a bit to figure out where to go in.

The 1st floor has a Bueokgan Chinese restaurant and a bakery café, while Bueokgan Haeundae Branch, where we had lunch that day, is on the 2nd floor. Even from the outside, the building felt less like a single restaurant and more like a mix of several spaces coming together.

Inside Bueokgan: a European-style room on Dalmaji-gil

Once we opened the door into the hall at Bueokgan Haeundae Branch, it was bigger than I expected, and the interior atmosphere was even better than I'd imagined.

Overall it has a classic yet casual European feel.

Vintage furniture, cute little decor pieces, and soft lighting were woven throughout, giving it atmosphere without feeling like a stiff, overly formal restaurant.

It was impressive that even though it's the same restaurant, each area past the entrance had its own slightly different mood.

One area used green as its accent color, giving it a calm yet fresh feel, while another leaned into yellow accents for a warmer, cozier mood. So even within the same restaurant, where you sit changes the vibe a little, which I found fun. Out of everything, the first thing that caught my eye was the semicircular table by the window.

The scenery outside flows in naturally through the window behind the round table, and with nothing blocking the view, the space felt even more open and expansive. It looked like a lovely spot for a slow meal while gazing outside.

Is Bueokgan Haeundae Branch good with kids?

When you hear "nice-atmosphere Western restaurant," a date spot comes to mind first, but Bueokgan is a yes-kids-zone. Baby chairs are on hand, and there was a note letting guests know to feel free to ask for anything they need when visiting with children.

So while it's great for a date, it also seemed well suited to a family outing with kids, or a gathering with a bigger group.

Bueokgan Haeundae Branch menu and tablet ordering

The menu at Bueokgan Haeundae Branch covers a range of Western dishes — pasta, pizza, salad, risotto, steak, and more. You order using the tablet on the table.

📣 What we ordered

• ✅️ Pastry pumpkin soup
• ✅️ Basil pesto cream pasta
• ✅️ Pepperoni pizza

Pastry pumpkin soup

The pastry pumpkin soup arrived first, and it looked delicious right away.

A sheet of pastry covers the warm pumpkin soup — you tear off pieces of the crisp pastry and dunk them into the soup.

One bite in, it was much smoother than I expected. Pumpkin soup can sometimes be overly sweet or creamy, getting heavy after a few spoonfuls. But this one wasn't too sweet, too salty, or heavy at all.

It went down smoothly while still carrying pumpkin's gentle, distinct flavor. Dipping the crisp, salty pastry into it was especially good. My sister took one bite and said she'd probably be thinking about this again tomorrow morning. I agreed instantly — it's the kind of comforting flavor that makes you crave a warm bowl in the morning!!

It seems like a dish kids would really love too.

Basil pesto cream pasta, and dipping the pizza crust in it

I thought a cream pasta might be a bit heavy, but that worry disappeared with the first bite.

The cream had plenty of nutty richness without being heavy, and the fragrant basil pesto gave it a clean finish. Honestly, I was so busy taking food photos that day that I couldn't dig into the pasta right away, haha.

Cream pasta can get heavy once the noodles soak up too much sauce, but even after it had cooled a bit, the texture of the noodles held up well, which impressed me. Lifting the arugula slightly, I found a poached egg hiding underneath.

I popped the poached egg so the yolk ran out and mixed it evenly through the pasta.

Adding the soft yolk to the basil pesto cream sauce deepened the nuttiness and made the sauce coat the noodles even more smoothly. The bright, fresh taste of the arugula in between bites was great too. The nuttiness of the cream, the aroma of basil, the softness of the poached egg, and the freshness of the arugula all came together in one bite — too rich a flavor to just call "a nutty cream pasta." And yet it wasn't heavily seasoned, so I could keep eating without feeling weighed down.

Pepperoni pizza

The first thing I noticed about the pizza was the generous pile of big arugula leaves on top.

From the photo alone, the arugula almost hides the pepperoni entirely, haha. Since I love arugula, that look alone won me over.

Pepperoni pizza usually leans salty, but Bueokgan's version was less heavily seasoned than I expected.

The crust was plain and light, so I enjoyed it down to the very end — and when I dipped the crust into the leftover basil pesto cream pasta sauce, the combination worked really well.

The nutty basil cream sauce soaked moistly into the plain crust, and I kept reaching for more of it.

What Bueokgan's dishes have in common: light seasoning

Between the soup, the pasta, and grabbing another slice of pizza, I noticed something all three dishes had in common: none of them were heavily seasoned.

With pasta or pizza, I'm usually the type who enjoys the first bites but gets tired of it quickly if it's too salty.

I barely felt that at Bueokgan. The pumpkin soup kept the gentle flavor of the pumpkin front and center, the basil pesto cream pasta let basil, poached egg, and arugula each shine, and the pepperoni pizza balanced cheese, pepperoni, and arugula nicely too.

So even with all three dishes together, it never felt like too much by the end. Between chatting with my sister and taking a bite, then talking more and grabbing a slice of pizza, before we knew it, the plates were emptying one by one, haha.

Agnes's verdict on Bueokgan Haeundae Branch

Since it had been a while since I'd seen my sister and we had a lot to catch up on, I wanted to eat slowly and talk, and Bueokgan's calm, cozy atmosphere suited that day perfectly. Thinking about it, a pretty space lives on in photos, but good food shared with good company sticks with you along with the mood of that whole day.

At Bueokgan, it wasn't that the atmosphere made the food taste better, or that the food made the space feel nicer. Both the space and the food carried their own weight without leaning on the other. That's how Bueokgan will stay in my memory.

And if I find myself craving warm pumpkin soup the next morning, I guess my sister was right, haha. Bueokgan Haeundae Branch felt like a place I'll remember not just for the taste of the food, but for the good time that day. If you're looking for somewhere with a nice atmosphere for a comfortable meal in Haeundae, I hope this review helps a little with your choice. :)