What to Eat in Busan

Last checked: October 2026

Busan eats differently from Seoul: hearty pork soup, wheat cold noodles, and seafood fresh from the harbor. Here's what to try, where to find it, and how to buy raw fish without overpaying.

Must-try

Dwaeji-gukbap

Gukbap price

9,000–12,000 won

Jagalchi table charge

About 5,000 won per person

Best market

Jagalchi, Gukje, Bupyeong

10 Busan dishes to try

• Pork rice soup 돼지국밥

  dwaeji-gukbap

  Milky pork-bone broth with sliced pork and rice. Season it with salted shrimp and add the chive salad. Busan has hundreds of gukbap restaurants, and many are open 24 hours.

  Where: Seomyeon Market alley; all over the city

• Wheat cold noodles 밀면

  milmyeon

  Busan's take on cold noodles, made with wheat flour by refugees during the Korean War. Order it in cold broth (mul) or spicy (bibim). Sip the broth first, then add vinegar and mustard.

  Where: All over the city

• Fish cake 어묵

  eomuk

  Fried fish-paste cakes. Busan is Korea's fish-cake capital, and you'll see them on skewers in broth at every market.

  Where: Bongnae Market in Yeongdo (Samjin Eomuk, since 1953); every market

• Seed hotteok 씨앗호떡

  ssiat-hotteok

  A fried sweet pancake cut open and stuffed with sunflower and pumpkin seeds. The syrup inside is very hot.

  Where: BIFF Square, Nampo-dong

• Octopus, intestine and shrimp stew 낙곱새

  nakgopsae

  A spicy red stew of small octopus (nakji), beef small intestine (gopchang), and shrimp (saeu), eaten over rice.

  Where: Nampo-dong, near Gukje Market

• Spicy glass noodles 비빔당면

  bibim-dangmyeon

  Sweet-potato glass noodles with vegetables and red sauce, eaten on plastic stools. A Busan-only market snack.

  Where: Gukje Market food street, Bupyeong Kkangtong Market

• Dongnae green onion pancake 동래파전

  dongnae-pajeon

  A thick pancake of green onions and seafood, dipped in vinegared chili paste. Said to have been served to Joseon kings.

  Where: Dongnae

• Grilled hagfish 곰장어구이

  gomjangeo-gui

  Hagfish grilled with salt or spicy sauce. In Gijang it's grilled over burning straw.

  Where: Haeundae Market, Jagalchi, Gijang

• Grilled shellfish 조개구이

  jogae-gui

  Scallops and clams grilled over charcoal with butter, finished with seafood ramyeon or fried rice. Staff help first-timers.

  Where: Cheongsapo, Taejongdae

• Raw fish 회

  hoe

  Choose a live fish at the market and have it sliced to eat right away. Best in autumn and winter.

  Where: Jagalchi Market, Millak Hoe Town (Gwangalli)

Dwaeji-gukbap costs about 9,000–12,000 won a bowl, or 11,000–13,000 won with a plate of boiled pork. Prices for the other dishes vary a lot by shop.

Michelin Bib Gourmand gukbap

The Michelin Guide's Bib Gourmand list (good food for about 45,000 won or less) includes three Busan pork rice soup restaurants:

• Anmok (Suyeong-gu, near Gwangalli): a clear, light broth served without chili sauce or salted shrimp.
• Hapcheon Gukbapjip (Nam-gu): a clear broth. The boiled pork sells out early.
• Jeongjitgan (Saha-gu): also serves boiled pork and cold buckwheat noodles.

No milmyeon restaurant is on the Busan Bib Gourmand list.

How Jagalchi Market works

1. Choose your seafood downstairs. It's priced per kilogram and weighed in front of you.
2. Take it upstairs to a restaurant on the 2nd floor, which slices or grills it for you.
3. Pay the restaurant a table charge, about 5,000 won per person, for side dishes, sauces, and vegetables. Rice, drinks, and spicy fish-bone stew (maeuntang) cost extra.

• Open from 05:00 until 21:00–22:00 (official sources differ). Closed on some Tuesdays (1st and 3rd, sometimes 5th).
• Jagalchi's slogan is "오이소, 보이소, 사이소" (oiso, boiso, saiso): come, look, buy.

Ask for the price before you sit down. Items marked 시가 (siga, "market price") have no fixed price on the menu. In 2025 a restaurant near Jagalchi charged 70,000 won for one plate of sea cucumber at "market price", and the district ordered it to post its prices. Ask the table charge per person and the market price first, and watch your fish being weighed.

Food markets and streets

Gukje Market food street

• Spicy glass noodles, chungmu gimbap, tteokbokki, milmyeon, and red bean shaved ice. Most stalls take cash only.
• Closed on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month.

Bupyeong Kkangtong Night Market

• Korea's first permanent night market (since 2013). Food stalls open every evening from 19:30 until about midnight.
• About 10 minutes' walk from Jagalchi Station Exit 3. Try the fried tofu pockets stuffed with glass noodles (yubu-jumeoni).

BIFF Square

• The original seed hotteok stalls. Expect a queue.

Seomyeon Market gukbap alley

• An alley beside Seomyeon Market lined with pork rice soup restaurants, near Seomyeon Station Exit 1.

Haeundae Market

• 5 minutes from Haeundae Station Exit 3 and from the beach. Tteokbokki, fritters, fish cakes, and grilled hagfish. Open 09:00–22:00.

Millak Hoe Town

• Gwangalli's raw fish center: buy fish on the 1st floor and eat upstairs with a view of Gwangan Bridge. Open 09:00 until about 2 a.m. Table charges differ by restaurant.

Allergies

Seafood is in more Busan dishes than you'd expect. Nakgopsae has shrimp and octopus, fish cake is fish, the tofu pockets come in fish-cake broth, dwaeji-gukbap is seasoned with salted shrimp, and Dongnae pajeon contains seafood.

Useful phrases

More phrases you can show full screen: Korean travel phrase cards.

Sources

• VisitKorea – Busan dwaeji-gukbap (February 2025)
• Visit Busan – food and markets
• Busan Metropolitan City – how to eat at Jagalchi
• Michelin Guide – Busan Bib Gourmand
• Seoul Shinmun – Jagalchi overcharging case (September 2025)