Gijang cockle set-meal spot a 5-year-old finished: Kkomak Hansang

200% would revisit if I'm ever in Busan again 👍

Bringing you my honest review of the Gijang Korean-style set-meal spot we ate at on our last day in Busan — Kkomak Hansang.

My parents and my older brother were so, so happy with this meal that it made me happy too! (I'm writing this post with voice recognition, and my brother keeps interrupting to tell me to write "200% would revisit"... haha.) Our accommodation was Osiria L'Moment, right next to this building, so we did an opening run to eat here! Let the real review begin...! 🫡

Kkomak Hansang Gijang Main Branch: hours, parking and location

It's open daily from 10:30 to 21:00, with last order at 20:00. You can use the underground parking lot in Morning City, the building the restaurant is in.

Is the interior easy with a small child and grandparents?

The restaurant has an overall new-build feel, so it's really pleasant. When you're bringing a kid and parents, even a good restaurant is stressful if it's cramped or messy... but this place was spacious and clean, which I loved. Two sides have window seating, so you can eat while looking out at a city view!

Since there were five of us, we ended up at a wall-side table, but I would've liked to try the window seats too, haha.

We did an opening run so we got to sit wherever we wanted right away, but by the time our food came out, the window seats were already full haha (it was a Sunday, for reference).

Set-meal prices and why we ordered the beef pancake set

The set menus are called "hansang" (whole-table spreads), and the types and prices are as below ⬇️

• Cockle salad set — ₩17,000 (cockle salad & 12 side dishes)
• Cockle bibimbap & salad set — ₩21,000 (cockle bibimbap & cockle salad & 12 side dishes)
• Cockle bibimbap & beef pancake set — ₩24,000 (cockle bibimbap & beef pancake & cockle salad & 12 side dishes)
• Dried corvina set — ₩27,000 (dried corvina & seasoned cockles & 12 side dishes)

The beef pancake set includes cockle salad, cockle bibimbap, and beef pancake all together (no dried corvina in this one!!), so we ordered four servings of the beef pancake set.

❇️ For families with a kid who can't eat spicy food: the side dishes that come with the set are plenty for a kid's meal (seaweed soup, stir-fried zucchini, seasoned bean sprouts, pollack pancake, etc.), so just order one bowl of rice and feed them from those.

What the 4-person beef pancake set and 12 side dishes look like

With four orders of the set, there were so many side dishes that I had to hold the camera up really high just to fit everything into a 16:9 frame! More variety is always better 👍👍👍👍 (typical trait of piggies like us haha)

You go to a Korean restaurant for the side dishes, right? 😊 Let me show you each one up close ⬇️

Cockle bibimbap, cockle salad and beef pancake, tasted one by one

The main dishes, in order: cockle bibimbap & cockle salad & beef pancake. The beef pancake was about 4–5 pieces per person! I didn't want to shrink the main dishes into a small collage, so I'm showing each one big 😻

Not a single dish stood out as off — the seasoning wasn't harsh or MSG-heavy, everything was healthy and clean-tasting yet delicious haha. It was my brother's and mom's first time at a cockle specialty restaurant, and they kept saying how good it was even after they'd finished eating haha (so proud).

Side dishes at Kkomak Hansang that rivalled the mains

Counting them while writing this post, there really were 12. Every single side dish was good! In particular, the fried eggplant and pollack pancake were good enough to be main dishes in their own right.

The soy-sauce-based seasoned cockles in the second image below were something I'd never had before — it was salty-savory and really good too!

Everything was above-average delicious and varied, so the four of us finished it all and ended up nicely, comfortably full!

What our 5-year-old ate without any spicy food

Our kid still can't eat spicy food, so he couldn't join in on the cockle bibimbap... 😢 Instead, we ordered him a bowl of rice and fed him a variety from the side dishes below! Our 5-year-old son seemed to like the taste too, and he ate it all without any fussing!

Finished it all in 40 minutes... haha

Verdict on a family meal on our last day in Busan

If you're looking for a good Korean restaurant around Gijang or Songjeong, want a clean and comfortable place to eat with grandparents and kids, or just want a delicious cockle set meal, this place is worth a visit!