Goyang lunch with mom for 3-person grilled fish set: Min Cook Apbadang

It had been a while since I'd taken my mom out for a nice lunch. A simple home-cooked meal every day is great, of course, but that day I really wanted to go somewhere that serves grilled fish — the kind of dish that's a hassle to cook at home because of the smell and smoke.

My mom loves fish grilled golden and moist, so we headed back to a place popular for lunch near Hwajeong Station: Min Cook Apbadang Seongsa (민쿡앞바당 성사), a seasonal grilled fish specialist :)

Location and hours at Min Cook Apbadang Seongsa

Min Cook Apbadang Seongsa, a seasonal grilled fish restaurant in Seongsa-dong, Deogyang-gu

The restaurant is located at 171 Seongsa-dong, Deogyang-gu, Goyang-si (60-1 Heungdo-ro 415beon-gil, 1st floor). It sits in Seongsa, right next to Hwajeong-dong, so it's very accessible by car from Hwajeong Station or the surrounding residential areas.

Parking when you're taking your parents

One thing I always worry about when taking my parents out to eat is parking. If the lot is cramped or the restaurant is tucked in an alley, you're worn out before you even sit down to eat. Here, though, there's a roomy dedicated lot both in front of and behind the restaurant, which was a relief.

An interior with no fishy smell

A bright, comfortable interior

The interior was bright and clean, with warm wood tones throughout that were easy on the eyes. And thanks to really solid ventilation, there was none of the fishy or heavy oily smell you'd expect at a grilled fish restaurant — the air stayed fresh the whole time. It was a comfortable place to sit and chat with my mom over lunch.

What's in the seasonal grilled fish set?

We ordered the restaurant's signature and most generous option, the seasonal grilled fish set, for three people for lunch. The set centers on a golden-grilled assortment of seasonal fish, served alongside hot, freshly cooked sotbap (stone-pot rice) for two to share, six neatly arranged seasonal banchan, a fresh salad, a savory crispy cabbage buckwheat pancake, a hearty seasonal soup, and two kinds of fresh leafy greens for wraps. For how generous the spread is, the price is quite reasonable.

Help-yourself self-bar

While waiting for the food, I checked out the self-bar set up on one side of the restaurant. Since Min Cook Apbadang serves such a wide variety of side dishes, they run a neatly maintained self-bar so guests can help themselves to as much as they like.

The area around the self-bar was spotless too, without a speck of dust — you could tell how much attention they pay to hygiene and cleanliness with the ingredients.

Warm doenjang (soybean paste) soup was also available to help yourself to from here.

The seasonal grilled fish set for three

A generous spread came together, from the assorted banchan to the main grilled fish.

Sotbap for two and nurungji sungnyung

The rice was freshly cooked sotbap, which I love. Served in a pot for two people to share, the lid came off to release a wonderful savory aroma (and there was plenty of rice, too). We scooped the glossy rice into our bowls, then poured warm water into the pot to make nurungji sungnyung — scorched rice tea — from the crust left behind.

The thin, golden-fried cabbage buckwheat pancake was a delicacy among delicacies. The clean, nutty flavor of the buckwheat paired perfectly with the sweet texture of the cabbage.

Several kinds of grilled fish at once

When you grill fish at home, you usually only get to enjoy one kind. Here you can taste several kinds of grilled fish at once and enjoy them happily with no worry about any fishy smell — that's the best part, haha.

The fish, plump and in season, came out golden and crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. It's ready to eat right away, and since a burner underneath keeps it lit, it stayed warm the whole time. Picking apart a bit of the flesh, the thick white meat pulled apart softly :)

Dipped lightly in soy sauce and popped in my mouth, there was no fishy taste at all — just savory, clean flavor filling my mouth... My mom loved it, and my sibling and I immediately agreed it was delicious. It was practically the textbook example of crispy outside, tender inside, with a nutty flavor coming through in every bite.

What's for dessert?

For dessert, you can enjoy coffee and sikhye (sweet rice punch). We sipped the sikhye during the meal and it came out again after, and we also pulled a warm Americano. With dessert included, this Hwajeong Station lunch spot had my mom saying she wants to come back often, haha. I'm planning to visit again soon to try the braised dish.