Gangseo, Busan Korean restaurant for seafood pork bone jjim: Haemullae

Haemullae (해물래), a great restaurant in Myeongji, Busan. Everyone... have you ever ordered seafood jjim (braised seafood) out, only to be disappointed by a mountain of bean sprouts...? (т ̫ т)

Then I recommend giving this restaurant a try. The seafood is seriously the main character here...🫶🏻

This is my story of visiting Haemullae, a Myeongji seafood-jjim spot where there was so much seafood and meat that the bean sprouts almost felt lacking—let's go~!!

Haemullae location, parking, and hours

Haemullae is on the first floor of JT Plaza, so you can park in the building's underground lot! Let them know when paying after your meal and they'll give you two hours of free parking, just FYI.

We came for lunch on a Saturday, but apparently they start service at 4 p.m. on weekdays! It seems like a nice place to come for dinner, a work gathering, or drinks too. 🍻

One main dish: stone-plate seafood pork bone jjim

There is exactly one main dish: ☆stone-plate seafood pork bone jjim☆! There are side dishes like boneless monkfish karaage and fried shrimp, of course, but having just one main somehow made it feel like a real hidden gem,,! I came with my family, so we ordered the four-person seafood jjim!!

Once you choose the dish, you can choose the spice level, and they said the spicy option is about as hot as Shin Ramyun!! So we went with spicy.

As soon as you order, they bring out the banchan (Korean side dishes)! We got mashed potatoes, corn salad, seasoned garlic chives, pickled radish, and cabbage salad. And, unusually, there was inari sushi as a side dish...! I initially thought it was kind of random, but once I ate it, it totally woke up my appetite hahaha. Pig Boss stomach warm-up: complete...👍

They also bring sauces to eat with the seafood bone jjim! The familiar wasabi soy sauce was nice, but the banga chimichurri sauce especially caught my eye. I was sooo excited to find out what it tasted like!! ( *᎑ ̫᎑)

A mountain of seafood and pork neck bones

After waiting a while, the food arrived~!!💫 All kinds of seafood tossed in spicy seasoning, thick pork neck bones, and crisp bean sprouts were piled up like a mountain!

There was even fried squid on top, and doesn't it look amazing...!! They lit the gas burner under the stone plate too, so we could keep everything warm until the very end!

First up, the fried squid!! There was one piece per person, and I loved that it was so big 😚 Just cut it into bite-size pieces with scissors! I dipped the fritter in the seafood-jjim sauce and suddenly felt like I was at a snack bar hahaha. Like dipping fritters into tteokbokki (spicy rice cake) sauce, this pairing was perfect too 🫶🏻

Under the fried squid were sturdy pork neck bones! I lifted one with the tongs, and it was tender enough to split right in half!

The meat clinging to the bones was wonderfully thick and substantial too,, Of course, picking off tiny bits of meat has its own charm! But taking a huge bite of a big piece of meat is way more satisfying, right? (˶ ᵔ 𖥦 ᵔ˶)💗 A little dip in the wasabi soy sauce too! As Pig Boss, someone who loves both seafood and meat, I absolutely love a dish where I can have both...

As we ate, abalone started appearing from underneath...! It came in its shell, so I was a little flustered, wondering if I'd have to use my hands,, but the owner came over and cleaned the abalone for us! So kind,, thank youu (ˊo̴̶̷̤ ᴗ o̴̶̷̤ˋ)

There was a whole squid beside it, and they cut that up for us too haha. We ate the chewy squid and plump shrimp with bean sprouts that had soaked up all the seasoning, while the abalone got topped with banga sauce! My mom tried it and loved how well the seafood and banga herb aroma went together, saying it made the flavor feel clean 🌿 Banga is an herb with a distinctive strong aroma that I know can be divisive, but I'm on the side that likes it, so I enjoyed it!

Oh, right! They said the spicy level I chose was around Shin Ramyun, but it didn't taste that spicy to me 🤔

It wasn't the mouth-numbing, tongue-slapping heat of capsaicin; it was more like the savory spiciness of Korean red pepper flakes,,? It wasn't the kind of heat that hurts your stomach, so it felt easy to enjoy! If you're looking for a good Korean restaurant in Myeongji, come here and enjoy some delicious spice.

Stone-plate fried rice to finish

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is...! The proper ending to a Korean meal has to be K-dessert fried rice, right,,~

Honestly, the seafood jjim alone had filled us up, but I knew I'd regret not getting rice fried up, so we added two servings of fried rice hahaha. The stone plate was sizzling, and as the sauce reduced it smelled even better—full or not, I had to eat... how could I resist this? 🐷

Please look at the owner's dazzling fried-rice spatula skills, too quick for my camera to catch~~ They evenly fried the rice into the sauce, then spread it flat so it would get a good crispy crust on the stone plate! They even set a timer and told us the fried rice would be ready in three minutes hahaha.

At laaast, three minutes passed...! I picked up the spoon I'd put down and dug into the fried rice~ Rice crisped onto a stone plate is truly the best,, I scraped it up hard until there was practically a hole in the plate.

Ah, the fried rice was delicious, but I bet udon or chewy jjolmyeon noodles mixed into the sauce would be delicious too...!!!! Owner, have you ever considered adding noodle extras,,? It would seriously be so good... ₍₍ ~( ˘ω˘~ ) ⁾⁾

A meal so plentiful it needed more bean sprouts

This was my first time having meat in seafood jjim, and because the seasoning was so good, it went wonderfully with the meat!

And by about halfway through the meal, there was so much meat and seafood that the bean sprouts actually felt insufficient haha. When you're craving spicy Korean food, I recommend Haemullae as a restaurant in Myeongji International New Town!