Gwangmyeong grilled fish restaurant: mackerel set at Todam

When I grill fish at home, the smell lingers and even the cleanup is a hassle, so I tend to eat grilled fish out. This time, I visited Todam Hwadok Saengseongui (토담화덕생선구이), a grilled-fish spot in Gwangmyeong.

Just as its name suggests, this is a place that grills fish in a wood-fired oven. We ordered the mackerel set, atka mackerel set, and steamed egg with pollock roe. We ordered the two kinds of fish together and shared them.

Todam Hwadok Saengseongui: atmosphere and menu

The restaurant is on the third floor of the building. Inside, its yellow walls, wooden decor, and lighting give it the feel of a Korean restaurant. There are plenty of tables and the space is fairly large, so it looked suitable for a family meal or a visit with a group.

Looking over the menu, there were many grilled-fish set options beyond mackerel and atka mackerel, including Spanish mackerel, hairtail, and dried croaker. The Spanish mackerel, mackerel, atka mackerel, and dried croaker sets are ₩17,000 each, while the hairtail set is ₩20,000.

We each ordered a mackerel set and an atka mackerel set, choosing fish we usually enjoy, then added steamed egg with pollock roe.

The basic side dishes included kimchi, namul (seasoned vegetable side dishes), and muk (acorn jelly). It was a nice arrangement for having a side dish with each piece of fish.

You can bring back as many extra side dishes as you need from the self-service station, where there was also pumpkin porridge.

Wood-fired mackerel and atka mackerel

After a short wait, the mackerel and atka mackerel arrived grilled on a large iron platter.

As expected, the grilled fish is the star here. Maybe because it is cooked in the wood-fired oven, the outside was nicely browned and the skin in particular was crisp. But the flesh inside was still moist, not dry. When I lifted off the flesh with my chopsticks, it came away in thick pieces that were great over rice.

Both the mackerel and atka mackerel were delicious, but I already like mackerel, so that one suited my taste a little more. The moderately rich mackerel flesh with its crisp exterior made the white rice go down very easily.

The atka mackerel was tender and moist as well. Ordering both at once was nice because we could alternate between a piece of mackerel and a piece of atka mackerel.

We also added steamed egg with pollock roe

We ordered steamed egg with pollock roe to have alongside the fish.

The egg rose high above the ttukbaegi (earthenware pot), topped with pollock roe and scallions. It looked very soft, and it really was fluffy and tender. The salty pollock roe came through here and there, making it taste a little different from ordinary steamed egg.

Scooping it up while it was hot, I thought it would be fine to share with children, too.

Pot rice and cheonggukjang, too

The set meals also come with pot rice and cheonggukjang (fermented soybean stew).

For the pot rice, we first transferred the rice to a bowl to eat with the grilled fish, then poured water into the remaining pot. Taking a large piece of mackerel flesh and placing it over white rice was, of course, the best part.

The cheonggukjang was not the intensely pungent style where the aroma hits you immediately. Its smell and flavor were not overly strong, so it was easy to eat with rice. It also had tofu, vegetables, and soybeans, so I spooned a little of the ingredients and broth over the rice.

After we had eaten a good amount of the grilled fish and rice, the pot rice we had filled with water at the beginning had turned into nurungji (toasted rice crust). I had a few warm spoonfuls and finished the meal.

The self-service station has side dishes and pumpkin porridge, and there is also a coffee machine on one side, so you can have coffee after the meal. Having tried the mackerel and atka mackerel together, I personally still preferred the mackerel set. Its exterior was crisp and its flesh moist, unlike fish grilled in a frying pan at home. With grilled fish, pot rice, and cheonggukjang all together, it was a good place for a satisfying Korean meal. If you are looking for grilled fish in Gwangmyeong or Cheolsan, try Todam Hwadok Saengseongui—and if you like mackerel, start with the mackerel set.

• 3rd floor, 459 Anyangcheon-ro, Gwangmyeong-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea (경기 광명시 안양천로 459 3층)
• Hours: 10:50–21:30
• Last order: 20:30
• Parking available