Marine City Chinese restaurant, extra rice with ganjajang: Bueokgan

I was on a business trip to Busan the day before yesterday. By the time I finished work it was already dinner time, and while looking for somewhere to eat, I ended up at Bueokgan Chinese Marine City Branch.

Bueokgan Chinese Marine City Branch / 2nd floor, 51 Marine City 3-ro, Haeundae-gu, Busan / 11:00–22:00, last order 20:30 (break time 15:30–17:00) / Parking available

My husband and kids came along too. At first I was just looking for somewhere easy to eat with kids, but once we got there the atmosphere was way cleaner and the view way better than I expected. On top of that, everything from the plates to the plating was so pretty that I kept stopping to take photos before eating, haha.

Where is Bueokgan Chinese Marine City Branch, and how do you find the building?

Even before going in — Busan is Busan, after all. The view stretched out wide, all the way to Gwangan Bridge across the water, so we stopped to look for a bit before heading in.

Bueokgan Chinese Marine City Branch is on the 2nd floor of the Adelis commercial building. Suybeon Choego Pork Gukbap is on the 1st floor, so the building wasn't hard to find.

On the way in there was a sign marking the restaurant's excellent hygiene grade. Since I go out to eat with my kids a lot, I've started noticing things like this, and once we got inside, the place really did feel clean and well-kept overall.

The Marine City ocean view from Bueokgan's window seats

What I liked first once we got inside was, of course, the view. You can see the sea right through the big windows. You'd usually think of the food first when you hear 'Chinese restaurant,' but Bueokgan Chinese Marine City Branch is styled with such atmosphere that it struck me as a good spot for a date or a family meal out.

Inside, the seats are red, the lighting is nicely set, and the tables aren't cramped. It keeps the feel of a Chinese restaurant without going too heavy or old-fashioned — more clean and modern.

We got lucky and sat by the window, so we could see the sea right in front of us while eating — it definitely changes the mood. It was also comfortable with the kids.

While we were eating I looked out the window and a yacht happened to pass by, so I took a quick video. Seeing things like that really makes you think, 'ah, I'm in Busan,' haha. If you're looking for a place in Marine City to eat with a sea view, Bueokgan Chinese is worth recommending.

What four people ordered at Bueokgan Chinese: 49,000 won in total

We could order right from the screen at the table. That day we got poached-egg ganjajang for ₩10,000, spicy poached-egg octopus rice bowl for ₩16,000, jalapeño cream shrimp for ₩22,000, and a bowl of rice for ₩1,000 — ₩49,000 in total. Even with four of us including the kids, we didn't just order a ton of dishes at random — we picked mostly what we actually wanted to try.

Even the side dishes came out looking neat. Overall it felt like they'd put thought into the plates and bowls too, not just the food — it all photographed nicely.

Jalapeño cream shrimp, 22,000 won: heat that cuts the richness

Of the three dishes, honestly, the jalapeño cream shrimp was what I was looking forward to most. I love cream shrimp, but in Gwangju it's surprisingly hard to find a place where you go 'wow, the cream shrimp here is really good.' So the moment I saw jalapeño cream shrimp on the menu, I knew I had to try it.

It looks great from the start. On a wide plate lined with lettuce, crispy fried shrimp are topped with cream sauce and jalapeños — even the plate itself made for good photos. And it tasted really good too.

Cream shrimp can get heavy after just a few bites if it's not done right, but with the jalapeño in there, a bit of spice cut through the smooth cream sauce and kept it from feeling too rich. The shrimp were nice and plump too, and the combination of the fried coating and sauce worked well.

Personally, of everything we ordered that day, this jalapeño cream shrimp stuck with me the most. I kept thinking, I wish there was a place doing this style this well back in Gwangju!

Poached-egg ganjajang, 10,000 won, with extra rice for the leftover sauce

Next up was the poached-egg ganjajang (수란 간짜장). It's supposedly made by quickly stir-frying pork belly and onion over high heat, and once it arrived, it clearly had way more toppings than a regular ganjajang. Big chunks of onion and pork belly caught my eye right away, with a poached egg sitting in the middle. The bowl even had a dragon pattern that really nailed the Chinese-restaurant look, so this dish was fun to photograph too.

We broke the poached egg and mixed it in with the jjajang sauce. As the yolk runs and blends with the sauce, the rich jjajang flavor turns a bit softer. The pork belly was in good condition too — big, generous pieces of it, and it tasted great. The onion and other ingredients felt fresh overall.

You coat the noodles well in the jjajang sauce and pick up a piece of pork belly here and there as you eat. It has a much heartier bite than regular jjajangmyeon thanks to the meat, and I really liked that style.

And here's the low-key important part. Even after finishing most of the noodles, there was still a good amount of pork belly, onion and jjajang sauce left. It felt like too much of a waste just to leave it. So we ended up adding a bowl of rice and mixing it into the leftover sauce, haha. Piled with plenty of pork belly and onion on top of the rice, it was different from eating it with noodles, but it worked really well too.

Spicy poached-egg octopus rice bowl, 16,000 won: about as hot as Shin Ramyun

And then the spicy poached-egg octopus rice bowl my husband and I shared. It's octopus stir-fried Chinese-style in a special sauce, topped with a poached egg. It comes with generous chunks of octopus, along with onion and other vegetables stir-fried in.

We broke the poached egg in the middle and mixed it in with this one too. By my own spice tolerance, it was about as hot as Shin Ramyun — not so spicy you can't handle it at all, but you definitely feel the heat from the first bite to the last. Mixing in the poached egg softened the spicy seasoning a bit as well.

The octopus wasn't cut into tiny pieces either — it came in bite-sized chunks, so the texture was good. If you like spicier dishes, this one might suit your taste even more than the poached-egg ganjajang.

Parking in Marine City: the Adelis building lot

We drove there and used the Adelis commercial building parking lot. Parking around Marine City is often a headache, so being able to park right in the building made things a lot easier.

Is Bueokgan Chinese Marine City Branch worth it for a family dinner?

We ended up here after finishing a Busan business trip and just looking for somewhere to eat dinner with my husband and kids, and it turned out more satisfying than I expected. The ocean view right in front of us was great, and the restaurant was clean throughout. On top of that, the plating and dishes were pretty enough that I enjoyed taking photos every time a dish arrived.

It seemed like a solid choice all around — for family meals with kids, for taking your parents out to eat, or for anyone looking for a Chinese restaurant with a good atmosphere for a date. If you're after a Chinese restaurant in Marine City with an ocean view, a clean space, and food that photographs well, it's worth a visit.