Gijang Korean restaurant with kid-friendly side dishes: Kkomak Hansang

Kkomak Hansang Gijang Main Branch

It had been a while since I last went to Gijang, Busan. Since we had come all the way to Gijang, I wanted something with a taste of the sea, but choosing a menu to eat with the kids was surprisingly tricky. Then I saw this place serving cockle bibimbap and yukjeon together, so we decided to try it and went to Kkomak Hansang Gijang Main Branch. There were four of us—my friend, my friend’s child, and two children included :)

Osiria outing route and parking

Kkomak Hansang Gijang Main Branch is in the Gijang Osiria area, making it a convenient stop when heading to Lotte Outlet, Lotte World Adventure Busan, or Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. It also fits nicely into a route from Songjeong Beach, so it looked like a good place for a meal after an outing around Gijang or Songjeong.

We drove, and the building has a basement parking lot, so parking was easy. Basement parking is free for 2 hours; when you pay, write your license plate number on the receipt and they will register your parking.

Take the elevator up from the parking lot, and there is Kkomak Hansang right in front of you!

A spacious interior that was easy for dining with kids

The first thing I liked after entering was how spacious and clean the restaurant was.

Further inside the dining room, the space is divided a bit like partitions, so the tables do not feel too close together. It felt like a place where families like us could eat a little more comfortably with children.

There is also a separate hand-washing area by the entrance, which was nice for washing the kids’ hands before eating.

Cockle dishes and ordering from the table kiosk

You can order from the table kiosk! As its name suggests, Kkomak Hansang centers on dishes made with cockles. Besides the yukjeon and cockle bibimbap we ordered, there are several other options too. They say they bring in cockles from Beolgyo every dawn and serve them as a southern-style table spread with 12 side dishes. (I was so excited!)

Cockle bibimbap and yukjeon for four

There were four of us, so we ordered yukjeon and two cockle bibimbaps. We also added eggplant tangsuyuk and pollock jeon because we wondered whether the side dishes would be enough. But once the food came out, there were so many side dishes that we really did not need to add anything.

One or two side dishes were set down at a time, and it felt like the table just kept filling up endlessly with side dishes (so plentiful!).

The signature main dish for us moms! Cockle bibimbap.

For the cockle bibimbap, we mixed the rice well with the seasoned cockles. There was quite a lot, so the four of us shared it, set some aside for the kids, and still had plenty for ourselves. It was a little spicy, but the child ate it well too!

I especially liked wrapping the cockle bibimbap in perilla leaves.

Cockles were not only in the bibimbap, either. There were side dishes like sweet-and-sour seasoned cockles and braised cockles, so it was truly a day of eating cockles to our hearts’ content.

We made sure to serve the kids their share of yukjeon first, and the rest was for us moms..! Eaten while warm, it was tender, and wrapping it with shredded scallions made it less rich and very tasty.

Side dishes that were great for kids to choose from

Honestly, I think what I loved most that day was the sheer variety of side dishes rather than the main dishes.

There were quite a few side dishes children could eat, including miyeokguk (seaweed soup), seasoned bean sprouts, braised quail eggs, and pollock jeon. Especially when you go out to eat with children, sometimes you choose a place based only on the main dish and then find there is nothing for the kids to eat. Here, it was convenient because there were so many things to choose from.

We ordered the eggplant tangsuyuk and pollock jeon as extras. The eggplant was tender and the sauce was sweet, so it was good to share with the kids, while the pollock jeon also went well as a side for rice.

After our filling Kkomak Hansang meal, we also freshened up with coffee!

We came here while looking for somewhere to eat with two children, and there were so many side dishes that it was great to choose and eat a little of this and that. If you are visiting with kids, I totally recommend the cockle bibimbap and yukjeon set like we had. My friend who came with us even saved it on the map, saying we should come again next time!