This trip to Busan was honestly meant to be a relaxed one — we never made it onto the capsule train, never rode the Songdo Marine Cable Car, never visited the IG-famous ocean-view cafés, and skipped the popular sky walkway. But we did eat a ton of local Korean food, so it was still a trip well spent. Korean flavors really suit Taiwanese palates, and prices are much more affordable than Japan — Korea is genuinely a great destination for Taiwanese travelers who just want to eat, drink, and explore.

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Busan Food Guide: 83 Haetae, 31cm Seafood Kalguksu, Korean Fried Chicken & More

On this trip to Busan, we stayed at the Urbanstay serviced hotel in Seomyeon. Seomyeon really does have a ton of good food, and I'd recommend first-time Busan visitors stay near Seomyeon Station — so much great food is right there, and it's also easy to reach Haeundae and Jung-gu from there. Definitely a hotel area I'd recommend.

83 Haetae (83獬豸)

You really can't skip this Korean BBQ spot, 83 Haetae (Google Maps link), when visiting Busan. I don't especially want to hype it up for free, but this place genuinely has a lot going for it — beyond the reasonable prices, the grilled meat is delicious, they offer a huge range of condiments to pair with different flavors, every dish that came out was great, and best of all, you don't have to grill anything yourself — the restaurant's good-looking staff grill it all for you, so you can enjoy amazing BBQ with zero effort.

The minimum order here is three portions of meat, which isn't quite enough for two people — you'll usually want to add a stone-pot bibimbap or buckwheat noodles on top, and that combo works out nicely. For two people, it comes to around NT$1,200, which is a very reasonable price and doesn't feel like a splurge at all.

Now for the downsides — I'd say there are two. First, they only serve pork, so if you don't eat pork, this one's a pass. Second, the wait here is seriously long! The restaurant opens at 4pm and fills up almost instantly, after which you draw a number. Unless you get there right when it opens, I'd recommend grabbing your number first, going somewhere else to explore, and coming back later — otherwise waiting one to two hours is completely normal.

The other workaround is booking online — you can use the Catch Table app to make a reservation, which lets you book about 4 hours before you plan to eat. Yes, it really does take about four hours from booking to actually sitting down to eat… if you want to eat here, definitely do a bit of homework beforehand!

Booking 83 Haetae Korean BBQ Online via Catch Table

Download the CATCH TABLE APP (download link here), and you can book tables at tons of Korean restaurants — including a lot of the Black and White Chefs' restaurants — all reservable online in advance. It's really convenient. You can see we booked at 5:40pm while we were still out in Haeundae, and only got seated at the restaurant back in Seomyeon at 9:30pm that night — even so, there was still a huge line on-site, with a lot of Taiwanese tourists especially XD.

Busan Korea food — ▲Korean restaurants can all be booked via Catch Table

The 83 Haetae Dining Experience

Busan Korea food recommendations — ▲Opening hours are 4pm–12:30am; on Catch Table, you can start booking same-day slots from 3:30pm

Jinjan Pork Soup Rice (珍讚豬肉湯飯)

Jinjan Pork Soup Rice is a place we found online with really high ratings. It's less than a 5-minute walk from Seomyeon Station, and it's actually right next to 83 Haetae. The specialty here is pork soup rice served with an assortment of side dishes. The pork soup rice comes in spicy or mild — the spicy one really is on the hotter side, so if you're worried about spice, just go with the mild version.

Overall the pork soup rice was really good — the pork was well prepared with no gamey smell, and there were plenty of side dishes. That said, we weren't huge fans of the kimchi here, which was how we learned that not all Korean kimchi tastes the same — it really depends on how each restaurant pickles it.

Tteokbokki, Odeng & Fried Snacks | Seomyeon Shopping District

Spicy food is one of the most iconic parts of Korean cuisine, and there are lots of street vendors in the Seomyeon shopping district selling these traditional Korean snacks — Korean-style odeng (fish cake skewers), tteokbokki, gimbap, and more. While wandering around Seomyeon this time, we wanted to grab some gimbap, and happened to pass by a stall selling exactly that (Seomyeon street stall link). Since we don't speak Korean, we weren't quite sure how to order, but luckily some other Taiwanese travelers were standing there eating odeng and explained the ordering system to us — you just grab the odeng skewers directly, at around 1,000–1,500 KRW each, and you can also pour yourself some of the broth to drink. The broth was made with peeled chili peppers, and drinking it on a freezing cold day felt incredible! Once you're done eating, you settle up with the ajumma running the stall — card payment is accepted, super convenient. I'd really recommend this style of eating as a great way to experience local Korean food culture.

After finishing the odeng, we got some gimbap and tteokbokki to go, but I thought the tteokbokki was just so-so — the odeng and broth were what really made us happy~

Also, the ajumma running the stall doesn't speak English, but you can find younger staff who speak a bit — though honestly, paying is usually fine in English or Chinese numbers anyway, so it's not really a hassle!

Haeundae Sugar Bread (Kkultarae-style Donut)

Haeundae Sugar Bread is a must-try in Haeundae — to me it tastes a lot like a donut, and it's a cheap, delicious night-market-style treat. This shop is a Haeundae institution (Google Maps link), and there's always a line. It's right next to the 31cm seafood kalguksu place — just a heads up that the kalguksu restaurant doesn't allow outside food! The ajumma there will stop you at the door, so make sure to finish your sugar bread before heading into the noodle shop.

Dolphin Sundubu (Tofu Stew) in Jung-gu

The Dolphin Sundubu restaurant is located in Jung-gu, and it was honestly one of the biggest surprises of this Busan trip — it let us try incredibly authentic sundubu (soft tofu stew), the kind locals actually eat. The location is a bit tricky to find, and the exterior is very unassuming — if you weren't specifically searching for what to eat, you'd never guess this is a sundubu place worth visiting. You can check the exact location here — highly recommended!

How it works: you order a sundubu, either a big combo pot or a stir-fried octopus dish, and it comes with a bowl of rice — you pour the broth over the rice to eat. It's paired with Korean kimchi, tofu skin, and a cold seaweed soup, all of which were also delicious and distinctive. Genuinely a huge recommend — we arrived around 11am and the place was already packed, and every single customer was Korean, which tells you just how popular this spot is locally.

Outdark Chicken House Fried Chicken

Outdark Chicken is a popular Korean fried chicken shop in Seomyeon. Besides the glazed, "wet" style coating, they offer a range of sauces to pair with it. Also worth noting — Korean restaurants rarely allow takeout, but fried chicken shops do let you take it home, and it's still delicious!

Haeundae 31cm Seafood Kalguksu

The 31cm Seafood Kalguksu shop is also one of the hottest spots in Haeundae, packed with both tourists and locals. Seating is charged per head, and kids count as a full person too. The best part is you get to enjoy huge amounts of seafood for a really affordable price — genuinely satisfying. The "31cm" refers to the length of the hand-cut noodles, but honestly that detail almost feels secondary once you see everything else on the table XD. The kimchi here is quite spicy — don't take a huge bite right away; we assumed it was regular Korean kimchi and got caught off guard by the heat when we did.

There's usually a long line at this place, so plan for a 30–60 minute wait, but once the dish arrives at your table, the wait is absolutely worth it~

Busan Nature Island Salt Bread

Busan Nature Island Salt Bread is located next to the LCT Land Mark Tower in Haeundae, and it's another local institution. The shop has a real artisan feel, and the bread comes packaged in bags of four — grab one and go. It's best eaten fresh out of the bag while it's still hot, but even the leftovers we couldn't finish were still delicious cold the next day. Who knew a simple, wheat-scented bread with a sprinkle of coarse salt could taste this good~

Busan Eden Valley Resort — Ski Slope 2F Restaurant

Busan Eden Valley Resort is the only ski resort in Busan, about an hour's drive from the city center. The sundubu sold on the 2nd floor of the ski center is really tasty — anyone visiting Busan to ski should definitely order it. We never expected a ski resort tucked away in the mountains to serve such an authentic tofu stew. Having a piping hot bowl of sundubu after skiing really is a wonderful feeling.