Bongdam restaurant with unlimited side dish refills at lunch: Hwadamga

Recommended grilled fish spot in Bongdam Hwadamga's Korean side dish all-you-can-eat review

Why Hwadamga in Bongdam for my daughter's birthday family meal

Last weekend was my daughter's birthday, so my family came down to visit!! She even called her grandma to say she wanted a bike, haha. We had the birthday party, she got her bike, and then we went out for a family meal at a Bongdam restaurant. I took everyone to Hwadamga, a place with great reviews for grilled fish and unlimited Korean side dishes in Bongdam!

Hwadamga address, hours and parking

• Address: 58 Nangnaegi-gil, Bongdam-eup, Hyohaeng-gu, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do
• Hours: 10:00–22:00, no closed days (break time 15:00–17:00)
• Parking: Large parking lot at the restaurant

I chose Hwadamga as our family meal spot in Bongdam! At dinnertime it operates as a BBQ place, and while lunch also has meat options, the grilled fish sets with unlimited Korean side dishes looked like great value! The parking lot was also spacious, which was convenient.

This Korean rice restaurant in Bongdam uses sujanghyangmi rice! The rice is super sticky and delicious, haha.

We came to Hwadamga, a popular Bongdam restaurant, on a Sunday for lunch and there were tons of customers. Luckily we got the last table with no wait!!

Hwadamga lunch set menu and grilled fish choices

This Korean restaurant in Bongdam has a wide range of meat and side dish options! But what I really loved was the lunch set menu. As a grilled fish restaurant in Bongdam, you can enjoy mackerel, hairtail, atka mackerel, dried yellow croaker, and more!

What's on Hwadamga's unlimited self-serve side bar

This Korean restaurant in Bongdam has unlimited refills: pick your main dish, and everything from the self-serve bar is free and refillable! The bar is really well stocked — various wrap greens, japchae (glass noodle stir-fry), and meat patties are all unlimited too! Rice — both white and barley — refills with no extra charge, and there's beef seaweed soup that's great for kids! The set menu comes with doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) too, but the beef seaweed soup from the self-serve bar was really nice to eat with the kids.

And there are roughly 14 side dishes you can just help yourself to from the self-serve bar! From stir-fried kimchi to perilla leaves, stir-fried anchovies, eggplant, mushrooms, seaweed stems, sweet potato stems, and more — all delicious on their own, and even better as bibimbap ingredients. There are so many Korean side dishes! The four of us piled our plates high.

Easy with a toddler: baby dishes and a baby chair

They have baby spoon-fork sets, a baby chair, and even a baby plate all ready to go — so I'd recommend this as a Bongdam restaurant for families with babies too! Convenient, and plenty for the kids to eat.

What 3 adults and 1 child ordered at Hwadamga

At Hwadamga, a popular Bongdam restaurant, we visited with 3 adults and 1 child and ordered 2 grilled mackerel sets and 1 pork stir-fry set. Even before the main dishes arrived, the table was already packed to bursting. Once the grilled mackerel, pork stir-fry, and doenjang jjigae came out, there was just so much to eat.

We grabbed a variety of side dishes from the self-serve bar. At Hwadamga, a popular Bongdam restaurant, it's so great that they even have meat patties and japchae at the self-serve bar!! Timed right, freshly-fried meat patties are delicious, haha. And that thick doenjang paste dip is a total win!!

Since we're a family of big eaters, this Korean all-you-can-eat spot in Bongdam had us piling our plates high from the start, haha. The pickled perilla leaves here are tender and delicious, and the stir-fried eggplant was right up my alley too, haha. Mixing all these greens and kimchi into barley rice and stirring it up is just amazing.

Beef seaweed soup and doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew)

We grabbed some seaweed soup from the self-serve bar, and the doenjang jjigae that comes with the set was tasty too. I liked that the doenjang jjigae had a bit of a spicy kick, and my 5-year-old daughter ate the seaweed soup well. There was more beef in the seaweed soup than I expected — such generous portions!!

Barley rice included, hotpot rice for 2,000 won more

At Hwadamga, a popular Korean restaurant in Bongdam, ordering a set comes with barley rice as standard, and you can upgrade to hot pot rice for ₩2,000 extra! I got barley rice and made barley bibimbap with it. Extra rice — both white and barley — can be refilled for free at the self-serve bar.

At Hwadamga, a popular Bongdam restaurant, I loaded up with lots of greens, my sister mixed in gochujang and sesame oil, and I mixed in the thick doenjang paste and sesame oil, haha. Topping the bibimbap with a piece of grilled fish is absolutely the best.

How the wood-fired mackerel and pork stir-fry tasted

For the mains, we ordered grilled mackerel and pork stir-fry, and true to its reputation as a grilled fish restaurant in Bongdam, the pork stir-fry was delicious too, but this wood-fired grilled mackerel was insanely good!! The skin was crispy and the mackerel inside was completely moist. You have to try the grilled fish here.

We ordered one portion of pork stir-fry, but the amount was more generous than expected, so it was easy to share as a family. Wrapping the pork in lettuce with the thick doenjang paste is amazing too, haha. It's been a while since we pigged out properly like this...

Coffee and juice to finish the Bongdam family meal

After the meal, you can have juice and coffee at the drink corner! A really clean spot with great value!! Hwadamga, a popular Bongdam restaurant, was where we went for a family meal, and honestly, the prices were great and the portions generous!! But most of all, the food was so tasty that next time I'll have to bring my husband along too, since he couldn't make it today!!