Abalone porridge breakfast at Gangneung Gangmun Beach: Jeonbok Haenyeo

A breakfast alternative to hotel breakfast at Gangneung's Gangmun Beach

I stayed at Shilla Monogram Gangneung this time! Since I was traveling, I thought about eating the hotel breakfast, but the price felt like a lot and honestly nothing about it appealed to me, so I went out and found a really good breakfast spot nearby instead. This place serves from early morning until late lunch, and it was so delicious it's stuck in my memory. Here's my honest review of breakfast at Jeonbok Haenyeo Village, a must-visit near Gangneung's Gangmun Beach. They only sell two menu items — pressure-cooked abalone porridge and abalone perilla seaweed soup!

Location and parking — right in front of St. Johns Hotel

📍 Located right in front of St. Johns Hotel Gangneung 🅿️ Convenient ground-level parking available in front of the restaurant

The location of Jeonbok Haenyeo Village near Gangneung's Gangmun Beach is great since it's right in front of St. Johns Hotel. That's convenient for guests staying there, but I stayed at Shilla Monogram Gangneung, and it's still only about a 10-minute walk along a lovely beachside path — perfect! We walked over from Shilla Monogram.

Open from 8am

⏰ Jeonbok Haenyeo Village hours Wed–Mon 08:00–15:30 Last order 14:50 Closed every Tuesday

Please check the hours before visiting. It's a place that serves from very early morning until late lunch, but it's not open for dinner. We came here for breakfast instead of Shilla Monogram's hotel breakfast, and it was truly an excellent choice.

Only two menu items, both ₩25,000 with the haenyeo table

✔️ Pressure-cooked abalone porridge + haenyeo table: ₩25,000 ✔️ Abalone perilla seaweed soup + haenyeo table: ₩25,000

This place only sells its two signature dishes with the haenyeo (female diver) table! Places with huge menus like a gimbap chain are often oddly not that tasty, while places that bet everything on just a few dishes are usually the real deal. This place has exactly two menu items, so it already checks every box of a genuinely good restaurant.

Baby chairs and pets — are they allowed?

The overall vibe is warm and cozy! There are plenty of baby chairs ready, and dogs are welcome with a carrier or pet stroller, so I saw people come with their pups too. We came for breakfast, but as time passed, more and more customers kept arriving.

Second-floor window views and a private room

The 2nd floor view at Jeonbok Haenyeo Village is genuinely amazing and comfortable. The wide-open floor-to-ceiling window view is fantastic. Eating a meal up there while soaking in the view would be so relaxing.

There's also a private room, so I'd recommend it for groups wanting privacy or larger parties.

Jeonbok Haenyeo Village — so how does it actually taste?!

The 12-dish haenyeo table — a feast from the sea

When you order at Jeonbok Haenyeo Village, the haenyeo table comes standard. It's a 12-dish spread reflecting the season, and it's genuinely like a festival of the sea it's so generous — is this real? It was so fresh and delicious it was honestly moving.

The spread has 12 or more items, and apparently the exact lineup changes a little every day. Besides fresh raw abalone, sea squirt, and sea cucumber, there are steamed scallops, boiled whelk, steamed mussels, steamed abalone, and other fresh, varied dishes. This spread alone was already moving.

True to the name 'abalone haenyeo village,' abalone comes in generous portions 🖤 Beyond fresh raw abalone, there's abalone mulhoe (cold raw fish soup) topped with sliced abalone, and even steamed abalone. It had been a while since I ate abalone this varied and plentiful, and it genuinely gave me energy.

Cold pork and grilled flounder for the meat lovers

The thinly sliced cold pork caught my eye! Cold pork, chilled after cooking, is a specialty here, and it's nice that it's not just a pile of seafood — there's also a meat dish for meat lovers. My younger brother, who loves meat, commented how happy he was that cold pork was included. It was truly a full land-sea-air combo.

A whole grilled flounder, nicely browned, is also served, and it's delicious. The flounder is savory-salty and perfectly grilled, and it went really well with the abalone porridge too.

Abalone perilla seaweed soup — perfect for an empty morning stomach

The abalone perilla seaweed soup was savory and so delicious! It's a great menu for an empty stomach in the morning. Served piping hot in a generous stone bowl, the broth was rich and packed with perilla powder — so savory it was, hands down, the best seaweed soup I've had in a while.

The pale, rich broth was truly excellent, and the generous chunks of abalone inside the stone bowl were unbelievably tender 🥹 The combination of the seaweed's clean ocean scent and nutty perilla powder made for a truly great seaweed soup. Eating it in the morning felt gentle on the stomach and very filling.

Pressure-cooked abalone porridge — made to order

The pressure-cooked abalone porridge is cooked to order. It's absolutely not pre-made porridge sitting around — once your order goes to the kitchen, that's when they start cooking it fresh, which I really appreciated. And is it real that the huge pressure cooker itself gets brought straight to the table?

The savory aroma of abalone innards (gaeu) and the deep color of the porridge were legendary. They apparently never use frozen abalone, only fresh live abalone (13-count size) sliced generously into the porridge. The quality of this abalone porridge was truly a work of art...

With one big spoonful, the abalone is so tender and the porridge is so soft and delicious it's moving. They apparently use a real haenyeo (female diver) recipe, generously blending in abalone innards, so the porridge has a deep, savory, umami-rich flavor that's spot on — I ate it very happily.

After the meal, a stroll along Gangmun Beach and Muscle Beach

Near Jeonbok Haenyeo Village by Gangneung's Gangmun Beach, there's a beautiful beach and even Muscle Beach nearby, so just gazing at the sea and pine trees after your meal is relaxing. This place felt so varied in texture and so delicious it's hard to believe it's breakfast! If you're looking for a great breakfast spot near Gangneung's Gangmun Beach, St. Johns Hotel, or Shilla Monogram Gangneung, I recommend Jeonbok Haenyeo Village. Every single ingredient was fresh, and I enjoyed it so much :)