Small pork belly set with pork skin at Hwamyeong-dong BBQ: Go Ok-hui

Go Ok-hui

What kind of restaurant is Go Ok-hui in Hwamyeong-dong, Busan?

Today I want to introduce Go Ok-hui, a Korean BBQ spot in Hwamyeong-dong. Out of all the Korean BBQ places I've been to recently, this was the cleanest and had the widest variety of menu items. I've been switching to a protein-focused diet lately, so I've been eating a lot of meat.

Between eating meat at work and meat at home, I was starting to get a little tired of it, but thanks to Go Ok-hui, a Hwamyeong-dong restaurant with so many different flavors, I got to enjoy a delicious and filling meal haha.

Go Ok-hui set menu sizes and how to pick your flavors

Here's the menu board. This place mainly sells set menus, and the bigger the size, the wider your choice of flavors — great if you're going with a group.

There's small, medium, and large, and after some deliberation I went with the small size haha. If it's not enough you can always order more while eating!

Side dishes and the shiitake wasabi sauce at Go Ok-hui

Here's how the side dishes come out. True to being a sauce-focused restaurant, there were all kinds of sauces prepared, and they especially gave us shiitake wasabi to go with it, which I ate very happily haha. It cut right through the richness of the meat!

The small set: plain pork belly, galbi flavor and pork skin included

We ordered the small set menu, and with the small size you get to choose two flavors, so we picked plain pork belly + galbi flavor. The set also comes with pork skin included, so that was an automatic one serving haha.

Once you order, staff bring over the grill. They grill the vegetables on it first — rice cake, potato, mushroom, bracken, and green onion were all prepared, which I loved. I'm secretly a bit of a meat-lover, but I also love eating meat together with vegetables, so this was a really satisfying setup.

Why Go Ok-hui pre-grills the pork belly in the kitchen

The meat we ordered has arrived~ From the left: salt, injeolmi (rice cake) powder, and curry powder, and the photo on the right shows, in order, plain, galbi flavor, and the pork skin.

The great thing about Go Ok-hui is that the meat is grilled directly in the kitchen before it comes out, so you don't have to worry as much about the smell sticking to your clothes, and there's less oil splatter (?). It's also convenient since it's already cooked.

They show it to you first, then place it on the grill haha. Even though we ordered the small menu, the portion was quite generous. They also had minari, so we ordered that and had them grill it too lol.

Minari (water parsley) at 3,000 won per 100g

The price of the minari is seriously a steal lol. ₩3,000 for 100g, ₩5,000 for 200g! Even with just the 100g order, the portion was pretty substantial lol. Try it first, then order more if you want!!

Now let's follow the guide for eating the meat deliciously and enjoy it according to our own taste~

How the galbi-flavored samgyeopsal and pork skin tasted

Woohoo~~! What do you think? haha. The meat was thick and chewy, so it just kept going down easily haha. And with so many different seasonings, it never got boring.

You've probably had regular pork galbi plenty of times, but how often do you get to try galbi-flavored samgyeopsal??? Here they even have myeongnan (pollack roe) flavored samgyeopsal along with several other flavors, which I found both surprising and distinctive.

Personally, out of everything I ate, the pork skin was overwhelmingly the best (this place is seriously a pork skin spot...), followed by the plain galbi, then the pork galbi. I think I understand now why the pork skin is included in the set menu lol.

Kimchi mak-guksu, doenjang jjigae and shiitake mushroom rice

They're currently running a review event, so I ordered the kimchi mak-guksu noodles as part of that — and wow, what is this!! The portion is seriously huge haha. Honestly, eating this alone along with the meat would already fill you up..

But since I was already there, I have this mindset of trying everything, so I ordered the doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) too! It had plenty of tofu and zucchini in it, and the deep flavor was excellent :)

And even the extra rice we ordered!! This was a limited menu item — rice with shiitake mushrooms mixed in. It was two servings, and eating it together with the noodles made me incredibly full..haha.

Parking and atmosphere at Go Ok-hui Hwamyeong Main Branch

I've been dieting lately, but the owner's thoughtfulness in even serving a hearty dessert really stood out, and at the entrance there was tissue, dental floss, mouthwash, toothpicks, candy — you could really tell this place pays attention to the details. There were quite a few people even at a late hour, and I get why it's a neighborhood favorite in Hwamyeong-dong.

They said basement parking is available in the building :) Good to know if you plan on using it, and if your car is large or you're not comfortable with tower parking, there's a public parking lot right in front you can use too haha (though that one isn't supported by the restaurant).

If you're looking for a Korean BBQ restaurant in Hwamyeong-dong, a spot for a work dinner samgyeopsal in Hwamyeong-dong, or a great restaurant in Buk-gu, give Go Ok-hui a try~~! It'll take care of a hearty meal for you!