Gwangju Sangmu bar with steamed flounder and skate: Misikga Imokase

Misikga Imokase, a Gwangju Sangmu district bar: 35,000 won set for two

Recommending Misikga Imokase as a bar in Gwangju's Sangmu district! I went for a Sangmu dinner spot and found a place that serves seasonal food in really generous portions.

The space is huge, spanning the main hall and annex, and can handle group gatherings from 8 to 24 people! The course for two is ₩35,000 per person, but it drops to a very reasonable ₩30,000 per person for three or more — a great Sangmu bar for heavy drinkers or people who get tired of one dish quickly.

I went in planning a simple dinner and ended up with a full drinking table. Here's my review of Misikga Imokase, my pick for a Sangmu district bar 🥰!

Where do you park near Misikga Imokase?

Misikga, well known as a Gwangju imokase bar in Sangmu, doesn't have its own parking lot, but I found an open spot at the post office right next to the annex and parked there! The nearest large parking lot would be Smile Parking Lot :)~

Misikga Imokase, a bar in Gwangju's Sangmu district

Main hall, new building and annex: what the group rooms are like

The main hall connects sideways to the new building and the annex, forming one long stretch. Even though I visited a bit late in the evening, there were group guests in the annex and the place was quite busy.

Inside the restaurant

In the main hall where I sat, there were families having dinner with a bowl of makgeolli, group parties, and couples/pairs too! Misikga Imokase is the kind of Sangmu dinner spot regulars come back to@@

The annex

While waiting for the food, I got curious about the other spaces and checked them out — the annex has a surprisingly large space inside!

It felt a bit fancier(?) and more comfortable, and I thought it'd be great for year-end parties or group gatherings.

Up front it fits about 20 people, and with the inner room included it could easily hold thirty.

This is the new building! I didn't actually go inside haha.

The Misikga Imokase menu and how ordering works

The menu

I went with the two-person course at ₩35,000 per person — it felt like eating a full traditional set meal. They bring spoons and chopsticks separately according to headcount.

The upside of imokase is you don't have to choose anything — dishes just keep coming, and you get to look forward to what's next...!? Haha.

From the first spread to injeolmi rice cake and raw fish salad

Tasting notes

Naver Place lists it as all-you-can-eat, but I was too full to even think about a refill...! (Bossam, skate, sashimi, beef jeon, and octopus are extra-charge items on a separate menu.)

The first spread at Misikga Imokase, my pick for a Sangmu district bar, included yukhoe (raw beef), japchae, croaker, potatoes, a sweet rice cake sashimi salad(?), and mukbook (jelly) — healthy dishes good enough to eat on their own or as drinking snacks.

Personally, I loved this sweet rice cake sashimi salad wrapped in perilla leaves. I wasn't sure what it was at first, but it turned out to be a real hidden gem haha.

Various small dishes like savory pancakes and soup come out little by little, and it does take a while before the main dishes — steamed flounder and skate sashimi platter — arrive!

The mains: steamed flounder and hongeo samhap skate platter

Steamed flounder

I guess you'd call this steamed flounder? The sauce is seriously delicious! The flounder flesh was so tender and had no fishy smell — great.

Since none of the dishes are greasy, my stomach felt fine, and everything was really well seasoned at Misikga Imokase, a Sangmu district bar.

Skate sashimi platter

Wow, the kimchi and pork here are seriously top-notch. The skate was fresh too, and even people who don't like skate could just eat the thick-cut pork with kimchi and be happy.

They only sliced the lean cuts of meat, which was exactly my taste — the pork wasn't thin, it was nicely thick with a good chew, and you eat it with wrap veggies or sauce as you like.

The moment the steamed flounder and skate platter arrived, we ordered makgeolli...!

Even set aside as a drinking snack, it was a filling, protein-packed spread you could just eat as a full meal.

Baby octopus with pork belly, cheese fried rice and beef jeon

Octopus with pork belly, fried egg, beef jeon

Misikga Imokase Sangmu, my recommendation for a Gwangju imokase spot, paces the dishes well, and since it's loaded with regular meal side dishes too and not just drinking snacks, it seemed like a great Sangmu dinner spot to bring family.

After the stir-fried octopus, they finish it off with cheese fried rice, cooked right in the same pan...!

Then comes beef jeon, one piece per person, and by this point I was already feeling like I'd burst.

Finishing with ramen, then patbingsu for dessert

While we were cutting up the beef jeon, I saw them cooking ramen on the side and thought it was for the staff's own meal. Then it came to our table...! I thought, is this food assault, I could stop right here — but then again, for people who can really eat, or for year-end parties and company dinners, this kind of value-packed, generously loaded Sangmu bar is hard to find.

Ramen

By the time I was ready to tap out, the ramen arrived... and you just have to take one more bite, right? I left a bit unfinished, but the broth was well-seasoned and salty just right, with springy, perfectly cooked noodles — Misikga's ramen.

Dessert

Finally, they bring out fruit, rice cake, patbingsu (shaved ice dessert), and a mini bag of Saeukkang shrimp crackers — a perfect dessert finish to a great drinking table, at Misikga Sangmu, my Gwangju imokase pick.

If you're trying to decide where to go for a bar or evening meal in Gwangju's Sangmu district, I recommend Misikga Sangmu, well known as a Gwangju imokase spot!