Jangan-gu Suwon fish restaurant with self-serve bar: Hwadeogeuro Gan

When our family tries to eat out on the weekend, just deciding on a menu is a whole ordeal. Someone wants meat, someone wants Korean food, and the kid reaches for tteokbokki or japchae before anything with fish. Haha.

A Korean restaurant where a single golden wood-fired fish is already a full bowl of rice by itself, but you can also load up on tteokbokki, japchae, bibimbap and lettuce wraps — good for the whole family to eat until full.

So this time we looked for a place where everyone could pick whatever they wanted without much menu debate, and ended up at Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Suwon KT Wiz Park Branch.

Where is Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Suwon KT Wiz Park Branch, and where do you park?

Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Suwon KT Wiz Park Branch is on the 2nd floor at 229 Suil-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, open daily 11:00–21:00 (last order 20:20). There's a dedicated parking area behind the building, which made driving there easy — there's a bit of a double-parking vibe, but as long as they answer the phone it should be fine.

• 📍 229 Suil-ro, 2F, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
• ⏰ Daily 11:00–21:00 / Last order 20:20
• 🚗 Dedicated parking available behind the building

The first thing I liked after arriving was the parking. As you can see in the photo, there's plenty of space set up behind the building, which made it easy to come with the family by car. Sometimes you drive in circles around a restaurant looking for parking and get exhausted before you even eat — no such trouble here.

What the restaurant is like at weekend peak time

I visited during a weekend peak time, and the restaurant was packed nearly full.

Honestly, this level of crowd kind of speaks for itself — I don't really need to say "it's delicious, it's comfortable, it's great for a family meal" at length. Haha.

Fish set menu and prices, from 16,000 won

A grilled fish restaurant worth the trip in Suwon: Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Suwon KT Wiz Park Branch

• Wood-fired mackerel set ₩16,000
• Wood-fired righteye flounder set ₩17,000
• Wood-fired Spanish mackerel set ₩18,000
• Wood-fired hairtail set ₩22,000
• Wood-fired Yeonggwang yellow corvina set ₩20,000
• Wood-fired dried yellow corvina set ₩28,000

• Yellow crab soy marinated set ₩18,000
• Yellow crab spicy marinated set ₩18,000

What's on the self-serve bar?

A fish specialty restaurant that also serves tteokbokki, seaweed soup and fried mandu — a great spot for the whole family

Here, the basic system is to order a grilled fish set, then freely help yourself to the rest of the side dishes and food from the self-serve bar.

Fish like mackerel and Spanish mackerel come out golden-grilled from the wood-fired oven, with savory crispy skin and moist flesh inside. Tear off a piece of fish, put it on rice with a little ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), wrap it in lettuce — and that alone is enough to finish a bowl of rice fast. I especially liked that the ssamjang wasn't too salty or sharp. It was so good even just with rice and ssamjang in the lettuce that I kept wrapping bites before the fish even arrived. Haha.

The self-serve bar had way more variety than I expected. There were side dishes like japchae, tteokbokki, chonggak kimchi (young radish kimchi), bean sprouts, bracken fern, and radish salad, plus lettuce wraps, and you could even make your own bibimbap. There was also seaweed soup, so it looked like there was plenty to eat even for a young kid who isn't great with fish yet.

White rice or brown rice: how the rice order works

For rice, you could choose between white and brown rice with your first order, and refill freely with white rice afterward. At this point, it felt less like a grilled fish restaurant and more like a "Korean self-serve bar with fish as the main dish."

How were the mackerel and saury sets?

Grilled fish at a grilled fish restaurant, of course — the combo of mackerel and saury

We ordered mackerel and saury sets. With so many people around, it took a little while, so we filled up a bit beforehand with tteokbokki and fried mandu — but the smell of grilling fish still made our mouths water.

The mackerel was really plump. As expected, the blue-backed part of the mackerel tastes best and is the most nutritious.

The saury was also generously portioned and well-grilled, with no fishy or gamey smell — the flesh was firm too. The head area of saury, being close to the organs and dark blood-line meat and spine, can taste a little bitter, but that's not a defect, just something to keep in mind while eating.

It was my first time in my life eating grilled fish wrapped in lettuce. You'd expect the [vegetables + fish = fishy smell] equation to kick in, but it really didn't. The ssamjang seemed to tame it nicely. Thanks to that, I refilled the lettuce once.

Cleanliness and space between tables

I don't think I've ever seen a grilled fish restaurant this crowded.

The restaurant was spacious and the tables weren't cramped, and the restroom and self-serve bar were both kept clean overall. Even with that many people, there was never a chaotic or dirty feeling, which was also satisfying.

Is it a good family dinner near KT Wiz Park?

Above all, grilling fish at home comes with a lot of smell and cleanup hassle. Eating fish grilled this golden outside, plus picking through all these side dishes, felt like a properly complete meal.

It's also close to KT Wiz Park, so it works well for a meal before or after watching baseball, and it's a solid pick as a multi-generation family meal spot near the ballpark. Walking out, only one thought came to mind: tonight's dinner should be light. But in front of the self-serve bar, that plan always falls apart. Haha.

Final verdict on Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo in Jangan-gu, Suwon

• 🐟 The wood-fired grilled fish has savory crispy skin and moist flesh inside — perfect with rice
• 🍱 The self-serve bar has an impressive range: japchae, tteokbokki, bibimbap, various side dishes, and lettuce wraps
• 🥬 The mild ssamjang and fresh lettuce alone are enough to finish a bowl of rice
• 👨‍👩‍👧 Great for kids or adults who aren't big on fish, thanks to seaweed soup and various side dishes
• 🚗 Plenty of parking and a spacious, clean restaurant make it comfortable for family or group meals