Daejeon Chinese restaurant near Timeworld for kaoyu: Bantiannyao

If you are looking for a different kind of Chinese dish right in front of Daejeon Timeworld, Bantiannyao Kaoyu is a good option. The fish was honestly much bigger than I expected, and there was more than enough for two people to get full. We had the Honghuajiao sauce with the vegetable-and-mushroom platter added, and it had a hot-pot feel with a flavor that felt a little different.

Bantiannyao Kaoyu near Timeworld: location and seating

It is easy to find, right in front of Timeworld.

It is on the second floor of the building with Gowoonteok Dental Clinic, across from Zara at Timeworld!

The whole interior was clean and comfortable, too.

There are private rooms, group tables, and window seats. So it is nice for a meal for two, but it also looked like a good place for a family gathering or a visit with friends.

And you can reserve through both Naver Booking and Catchtable, so just use whichever is more convenient!

What kind of food is kaoyu?

What is kaoyu?

Kaoyu is a popular Chinese dish—rather than simply steamed fish, it has more broth, so you can think of it as grilled fish hot pot!

You can add all kinds of extras such as vegetables, noodles, and mushrooms. You do not eat only the fish: as the sauce gently simmers, you can eat the vegetables and add-ins cooked along with it.

It is fun to add the ingredients you want and simmer them in the sauce, like hot pot or shabu-shabu, so anyone looking for hot pot in Dunsan-dong will probably enjoy Bantiannyao Kaoyu too.

Choosing the sauce, fish, and add-ins

1. Choose a sauce

You can choose from mala, qinghuajiao, suancai, garlic, honghuajiao, braised mushroom, tomato, and mala beef intestine. If it is your first visit, ask the staff for a recommendation—they will explain it kindly!

2. Choose a fish

You can choose Ningbo fish, sea bass, or Qingjiang fish. I am not very good with freshwater fish, so I wanted sea bass, but when we visited, only Ningbo fish was available, so that is what we chose!

3. Vegetable-and-mushroom platter

Add ₩8,800! If you like shrimp balls in hot pot or mala tang, the fresh shrimp xiàhuá is probably a good choice too. I definitely recommend adding some extras!!

Self-service sauce bar combinations

Self-service bar: ₩2,000 per person

Along with steamed rice, soft drinks, and snacks,

you can use the sauce bar as well. It tastes even better dipped in sauce, so I recommend adding it!!

Tianchu vinegar + oyster sauce + Chinese soy sauce + a little chili oil + loads and loads of garlic + a little scallion. That is my recommended combination haha. The real key is Tianchu Chinese vinegar!!!

The huge fish and Honghuajiao kaoyu

The fish was seriously huge.

It was really enormous.

You do not eat it immediately. Once the five-minute sand timer has run out, ring the bell and a staff member comes over to debone it so it is easy to eat. They also set aside the cheek meat for you.

We let it reduce a little longer so the seasoning could really soak into the fish. In the meantime, we started with the mushrooms and vegetables.

There was a nice variety, including fish balls, lotus root, panda-shaped rice cakes, wood ear mushrooms, napa cabbage, and gungchae (stem lettuce), so we ate those first.

Honghuajiao kaoyu was less spicy than expected.

I saw only the chilies on top and thought it would be pretty spicy, but it was not as spicy as I expected.

It was unbelievably tender! The fish was deboned so well that it was easy to eat, too.

The deboned cheek meat

And dipping it right into that sauce from earlier—so delicious!!!

Free ice cream to finish

Because it was free, I did not expect much, but there was a better variety than expected and only tasty choices, so it was great for cleansing the palate.

After the rich seasoning, finishing with cold ice cream felt so refreshing. And the staff were incredibly kind that day, so we had a really pleasant meal.

The fish was large enough for two people, and if you come with a group, it seems like it would be fun to add extras and share a little of everything!

It is right in front of Timeworld, so it is easy to find, and the restaurant is spacious enough for gatherings. If you usually like dishes where you simmer ingredients in sauce, like hot pot or shabu-shabu, Daejeon Chinese-style kaoyu is worth trying at least once!