10 Best Local Restaurants in Pohang

Hwanyeo Hoetjip is a popular restaurant that serves delicious raw fish bibimbap (hoedeopbap) with sliced raw fish and sour sauce, and cold raw fish soup (mulhoe). When you order mulhoe, a coil of noodles, a bowl of steamed rice, spicy fish stew (maeuntang) and a few side dishes are simply served. You can enjoy mulhoe even more deliciously if you eat it with refreshing spicy fish stew.

When mulhoe is served with seaweed powder and peanut powder as garnish, you can eat it after pouring the sweet and sour broth with thin ice. If desired, you can put rice or noodles in mulhoe or eat it with the spicy fish stew. When you eat raw fish slices with a cold soup in midsummer, your appetite will return even after the heat takes your appetite away. At Hwanyeo Hoetjip, you can also order food to go. When you get takeaway, the restaurant provides more raw fish slices instead of the spicy fish stew and a bowl of steamed rice. If you don’t have time to eat inside the restaurant, it is recommended to get takeaway.

Jeonbok Nara is a Korean table d’hote restaurant where you can taste abalone and dried yellow croaker aged in barley rice (bori gulbi) in courses. The representative dishes of this restaurant are ordered a la carte that include abalone porridge (jeonbokjuk) and abalone soup (jeonboktang), as well as course meals with abalone and dried yellow croaker aged in barley rice or Korean Table d’hote. It is a perfect restaurant when you think about your health and want to stimulate your appetite.

If you order a course meal, haute cuisine is served individually in neat dishes. The course starts with a few side dishes made with high-quality ingredients. Then, raw abalone, cold raw abalone soup (jeonbok mulhoe), grilled abalone, braised galbi (galbijjim), abalone porridge and more are served one after another. It will taste better if you put the dried yellow croaker aged in barley rice in green tea water and eat a piece of the fish meat with rice. It is a good opportunity to fully enjoy the nutritious abalone dishes that are difficult to taste in various ways at other times. It is recommended to visit when you think about your health and want to stimulate your appetite.

Janggi Sikdang is a restaurant specialising in beef head meat and rice soup located in Jukdo Market. You can taste the sincerely prepared food cooked in the labour-intensive traditional Toryeom-style. The method of pouring hot broth over rice in a bowl several times and then pouring it out is called Toryeom. In this way, the broth seeps into the grains of rice, making the soup even more delicious.

Beef bone soup has a thick and savoury broth and contains plenty of Korean beef. If you put rice in the soup and eat it together with meat and cubed radish kimchi (kkakdugi), it is good for filling your empty stomach and also good for a hangover. In addition to the beef bone soup, boiled beef slices (suyuk) are also available, which is served with various parts of the beef head thickly sliced. The meat itself is soft so it is not uncomfortable to eat even if the meat is sliced thick. Try having a meal with hot beef bone soup on a day cold enough to see your own breath.

Sugaseong is a restaurant where you can always enjoy spicy and hot soft bean curd stew (sundubu jjigae). The interior is clean and spacious and is open 24 hours a day, so it is a good place to eat for a hangover early in the morning or fill up your stomach late at night.

If you order seafood and soft bean curd stew, which is the most popular dish, a raw egg, hot stone pot rice and simple side dishes are served with your meal. First, lightly place a raw egg on the stew, then transfer the rice to a bowl and pour water into the hot stone pot to make sungnyung. On cold days, the cold will go away when you heat up the inside of your body with soft bean curd and finish the meal with sungnyung (scorched rice soup). You can enjoy a more delicious meal if you add a green onion pancake (pajeon) filled with seafood such as squid, clams and shrimp, or soft bean curd with kimchi (dubu kimchi).

Gonji Gonji is a nutritious hot stone pot rice restaurant where you can eat healthy seasoned vegetables to your heart’s content at an affordable price. The spacious restaurant is neatly decorated, so you can eat in comfort. It is also perfect for family gatherings.

Many dishes accompany the meal leaving no room on the table. In addition to hot stone pot rice, (dolsotbap) you can add grilled mackerel (godeungeo gui), seafood and green onion pancake (haemul pajeon), bulgogi, grilled deodeok (deodeok gui), and more to your meal. After eating the sweet pumpkin porridge (hobakjuk), take out the rice from the hot stone pot to a large bowl and make scorched-rice soup (sungnyung). After mixing the nutritious rice with vegetables and soybean paste stew (doenjang jjigae) and finishing your food, you will feel healthy with just one meal. Refresh your taste buds accustomed to strong-tasting food with a clean and healthy taste.

Unha Hoe Daege Sikdang is a clean and modern three-storey raw fish centre located in Jukdo Market in Pohang. One of the highlights is that you can enjoy the view of Songdo and Pohang Canal while eating. It is a good place to eat plenty of various seafood with family or congenial people.

The restaurant has a system where you choose your own raw fish slices on the 1st floor and dine on the 2nd and 3rd floors. The restaurant serves wild fish, shrimp, snow crab, and lobster among others. You can choose what you want as the menu is quite diverse. The special menu consists of many dishes including snow crab, assorted raw fish slices, seafood and cold raw fish soup (mulhoe). Seafood, perfect to eat with such main dishes as abalone, sea snails, and ark clams, are also served as basic side dishes. It is recommended to visit if you want to enjoy raw fish slices to your heart’s content in a pleasant place.

Gitdae Hoetjip is a restaurant where you can enjoy fresh sliced raw fish and spicy fish stew while looking out at the sea view. The menu consists of a variety of raw fish, cold raw fish soup (mulhoe), raw fish bibimbap (hoedeopbap), spicy fish stew (maeuntang) and steamed abalone (jeonbokjjim), so it is fun to choose what you want. In particular, the lunch special menu, which is only available for lunch, consists of grilled fish, sushi and spicy fish stew.

Among others, cold raw right-eyed flounder soup (chamgajami mulhoe) is highly recommended. There is plenty of raw flounder slices in the dish and it is topped with seaweed powder and cucumber. If you mix the spicy seasoning with the cold broth with thin ice, it tastes cool enough to blow away the heat of midsummer. In addition to raw flounder slices, fresh and nutritious raw abalones is also available. You can enjoy the scenery of the sea with your eyes and the taste of the sea with your mouth at the same time.

Samgyeong Haemultang is a restaurant specialising in monkfish where you can taste monkfish soup (agwitang) famous for its hearty and thick broth. The restaurant is managed through a reservation system, and business hours are from 11 am to 2 pm. Reservations get full quickly on weekdays, so make sure to book early.

As the monkfish soup of this restaurant contains hearty portions of monkfish along with water parsley and bean sprouts, its taste is excellent and the soup is clean and spicy. In particular, the monkfish meat is chewy and elastic because only unfrozen ingredients are used. Spicy braised monkfish (agwijjim) also tastes fresh because it contains moderate seasoning, and the amount of monkfish is large enough to satisfy your appetite with just the monkfish alone. Try visiting this restaurant if you want to warm up your body and mind with a tasty soup with a deep and refreshing broth.

Siktam is a restaurant where you can taste casual Italian dishes reinterpreted with Korean ingredients. You can enjoy dishes in a good atmosphere while looking out at the scenery of the Hyeongsangang River if you sit by the window at this restaurant with urban and modern interior. You can enjoy a meal comfortably with your family and it is also suitable for visiting with children.

The dishes are served based on a 1.5 serving size, so the amount of food per dish generous. In addition, the restaurant serves various foods including steak, salad, pilaf, risotto, pasta, and pizza. There are also reasonably priced house wines sold by the glass, so you can drink a glass of wine with your food. There is also a service for corkage that provides wine glasses and an opener if you bring your own bottle of wine. If you want to have a casual meal in a good atmosphere, this is the place for you.

Ramen Beravo is a Japanese ramen restaurant serving impressive chewy noodles in thick broth in a clean atmosphere. The restaurant is small and has an open kitchen allowing you to see the chef cooking. It is a good place to have a simple meal with friends or by yourself.

The restaurant mainly serves shio ramen and shoyu ramen, but during special periods, various ramen such as tonkotsu ramen, tsukemen, mazesoba, and others are made available. In particular, the sous vide chicken topping is a delicacy, which you can only taste when ordering the special menu. A cold glass of beer goes well with the thick Japanese ramen broth. This restaurant is recommended when you want to have a simple yet satisfying meal with savoury ramen.