Gwacheon Korean set meal with scallop salad banchan: Haenon Miyeok

I wanted a hearty Korean lunch, so I visited Haenon Miyeok Gwacheon Direct Branch.

What is Haenon Miyeok Gwacheon Direct Branch?

Haenon Miyeok Gwacheon Direct Branch is a seaweed soup Korean set-meal restaurant located on the 1st floor of 67 Araetbaeraengi-ro, Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. It's a new spot that opened this past March, and parking is available right in front of the building, which made driving there convenient. Parking is at Munwon-dong 229, Gwacheon-si.

A new Gwacheon favorite that opened this year

What really gave me confidence was that Haenon Miyeok operates only as direct-managed branches, keeping the taste and quality of the food consistent.

Walking in, the atmosphere felt a bit different from a typical Korean restaurant. The walls and tables were tidy overall, creating a good mood for focusing on the food.

An interior that brings the sea indoors

A large photo of a haenyeo (female sea diver) at work in the ocean hung on the wall. Even just from the interior, it was obvious this place specializes in seaweed and seafood.

Seaweed soup cooked fresh to order

Rather than serving food that was pre-made and quickly plated, Haenon Miyeok cooks each order fresh, which actually made the wait feel exciting.

What seaweed soups are on the Haenon Miyeok menu?

Looking at the menu, there were quite a lot of seaweed soup varieties. There were soups made with flounder, abalone, beef, oyster, scallop and other seafood, and you could also order side dishes like beef bulgogi, spicy stir-fried pork, and flounder dishes.

We ordered the scallop seaweed soup set and the boneless flounder seaweed soup set.

They were also running an event giving pregnant customers or birthday guests a free whole abalone. And with any set meal, rice refills were free, which made for a filling meal.

A full Korean set meal with a self-serve banchan bar

The self-serve bar had basic banchan (side dishes) ready to go, and it was nice being able to freely grab more of whatever we ran low on.

The japchae (stir-fried glass noodles) in particular was kept warm, which really made it feel like a proper Korean set meal.

After a short wait, our seaweed soup sets arrived, table full. It wasn't just the soup — a whole spread of side dishes came with it, and it looked generous.

Scallop vs. boneless flounder seaweed soup: how the broths differ

Scallop seaweed soup packed with plump scallops

I started with the scallop seaweed soup.

There was plenty of scallop meat in the broth, and every bite had a proper seafood texture.

Each scallop was quite plump, giving a satisfyingly chewy bite.

Boneless flounder seaweed soup and its rich broth

The boneless flounder seaweed soup had deboned flounder, which was easy to eat. The flesh flaked apart softly and went well with the seaweed, and the fish's clean, mild flavor came through naturally.

Compared to the scallop soup, there was a real difference in the broth. Where the scallop soup was a clean, refreshing seafood broth, the flounder soup had the deep flavor of fish added in, making it richer and thicker. Both seaweed soups were plenty rich and delicious, but the character of each broth was clearly different depending on the ingredient, which made switching back and forth between them fun.

The flounder dipping sauce served on the side

The seasoned flounder that came with the set was also delicious. The seasoned flounder flesh wasn't too spicy, with a subtle sweetness.

It wasn't a strong, spicy seasoning but one that anyone could enjoy comfortably, and it went well with rice too.

Banchan made one by one with care

The seasoned gungchae (a leafy vegetable side dish) had a particularly nice nutty flavor and crunchy texture. The yeolmu kimchi (young radish kimchi) was well fermented with just the right tang,

and the fried eggplant came out drizzled with a sweet sauce at first, but you could also grab extra sauce from the self-serve bar to dip it in. Since the sauce was sweet, it was also good enjoyed as a dip, depending on preference.

The japchae was so tasty and nutty that I went back for seconds. The umucasari (agar seaweed jelly) was nutty yet light. The kimchi also had a deep flavor that paired well with the seaweed soup.

The standout banchan: spicy scallop salad

The side dish that stuck with me the most was the scallop salad. It had plump scallops along with radish in a spicy-tangy sauce, giving it a nice crunchy texture. The tangy-spicy flavor also did a great job of perking up my appetite.

A chicken cold salad also came out, and it was a subtly great dish too — with plenty of chicken in it, it was filling enough on its own.

Even the rice has a subtle touch

The rice wasn't just plain white rice — it seemed to have tot (fusiform seaweed) mixed in, which paired well with the Korean set meal.

At the end, I mixed rice into the seaweed soup and topped it with kimchi — eating the rice and kimchi together with the rich, deep soup broth felt filling and warmed me up from the inside.

Final verdict on Haenon Miyeok in Gwacheon

Haenon Miyeok Gwacheon Direct Branch was a great place to visit when craving a hearty Korean lunch. The scallop seaweed soup had a clean yet deep seafood flavor, while the boneless flounder seaweed soup impressed with a richer, thicker fish flavor. Best of all, it wasn't just the seaweed soup — a variety of well-matched side dishes came together to make a genuinely generous meal. From the broth to the banchan to the rice, everything felt hearty and deeply flavored, making this a seaweed soup set-meal restaurant that comes to mind whenever I want a proper Korean lunch. A place I'd love to go back to for my next birthday.