Lobster leg broth noodles and roe fried rice in Gwangju: Tams

A hearty, delicious lunch special!

I'm more of a shrimp person, but my husband likes lobster better. We had a rare day off together and wanted a date, so I looked for somewhere we could eat lobster as a proper course at a really good price, and we headed straight there. It wasn't just a single lobster plate — it came as a whole course of dishes one after another, so the composition was great and everything was delicious. Here's my review of Tams Badaetgaja (탐스바닷가재) in Jisan-dong, Gwangju!

Location and business info for Tams Badaetgaja

• Address: 10-1 Jihoro124beon-gil, Dong-gu, Gwangju
• Hours: 11:30 AM – 10:00 PM
• Break time: none
• Last order: 8:30 PM

What's on the lunch special menu, and how much?

There are several courses here depending on the number of people and composition — Tams Course, Special Tams Course, Couple Course, Jumbo Course and more — and for lunch there's the Tams Half Course and a hot pot option. What we ordered was the Tams Half Course at ₩37,000 per person for two. The lunch special is available until 2 PM, so it's perfect if you want a special meal during lunch hours!

What about parking and the room setup?

Tams Badaetgaja sits close to Mudeungsan, and if you're looking for a lobster specialty place, it's really worth visiting. There's a large parking area right next to the restaurant, so it was very convenient to come by car.

Inside, there's an open hall area like a typical restaurant, but there are far more private rooms, and toward the back there's a room that seats up to 38 people when fully opened — on the evening we visited, 36 people had a reservation there. The overall vibe is calm and clean, so it also feels like a good place for special occasions.

Being a lobster specialty restaurant, live lobsters were moving around in the tank, and just looking at them you could tell they were fresh.

A hearty, generous course

Since we'd made a reservation, the table setting was already prepared when we arrived, so we could start eating right away. Let me walk you through it dish by dish!

The lemon water isn't for drinking

First off — this water with lemon in it isn't for drinking! The staff explained right away that some people drink it by mistake. I... also thought it was drinking water at first, haha. Since you eat lobster with your hands and pick the meat apart, they said this water is for washing your hands. And honestly, after finishing the meal when your hands have a slight fishy smell, washing them here with the fresh lemon scent really cuts through it — very refreshing.

Since the course includes fried rice and noodles, there are also side dishes perfect for Korean palates — kimchi, kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi), namul (seasoned vegetables), stir-fried anchovies, plus refreshing dongchimi (radish water kimchi) and pickles that pair really well with the lobster.

Salad, canapés, and jellyfish salad

The first thing we had was salad. It's topped generously with a nutty black sesame sauce, and even my husband, who dislikes greens, said the sauce was delicious and ate it right up! You know eating salad first is much better for a diet, right? Haha.

Next came canapés and bread — the sauce on top of the cucumber was really tasty! The bread had a hint of garlic along with a refreshing taste, perfect as an appetizer, and the jellyfish salad had great texture and wasn't too strongly seasoned, so it went down easily.

There was also warm mushroom soup to soothe the stomach, and you could really tell it was made from scratch rather than store-bought — the deep flavor was excellent.

Warm noodles in lobster leg broth

Next up was warm noodles — you loosen the noodles into the broth and eat them. The broth had a really deep flavor with a bit of a spicy kick, and it turns out this broth is simmered using the lobster's small legs. Maybe that's why it tasted so deep — I drank the whole thing in one go. They also gave us more broth to have alongside the lobster when it arrived, which was great, and taking a sip between bites of lobster cleared the palate nicely with its spicy edge.

So how was the lobster meat?

Finally, the lobster arrived!! The look of it alone told you the texture would be different, right?

The claw meat especially was packed full, and the first bite had a thick, chewy, springy texture that was really satisfying!

Beyond the claws, the body was also packed with meat — you could really tell they use fresh lobster. It had a clean, faintly sweet flavor similar to crab or shrimp, but somehow more refined and a bit firmer!

There was a dipping sauce served alongside too, and we tried it, but personally I think lobster tastes best when you just enjoy the meat itself rather than the sauce.

Vegetable fried rice with tomalley scraped in, finished with sujeonggwa

Vegetable fried rice comes out too — it's crunchy and tasty on its own, but scraping the tomalley (lobster innards) from the shell and mixing it in gives it an even deeper flavor.

At the end, you can choose between sujeonggwa and coffee — the sujeonggwa is also homemade, and it wasn't overly bitter, just sweet with a pleasant bitterness, a really nice way to finish the meal!

Final verdict

Today's visit was to Tams Badaetgaja in Jisan-dong, Gwangju — the springy, chewy texture made it obvious they use really fresh lobster, and the owner was so kind, explaining each course well so we could enjoy it even more. With private rooms available, it was also a great spot for a slow, chatty date with my husband, and since it wasn't just lobster but a full course of varied dishes, we left full and satisfied at a really reasonable price.