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Busan Food — Local Dishes Explained

Busan's local food explained for visitors: what each dish is, how it started, what's in it (meat, spice, allergens), how to eat it and where you'll usually find it. Each article is written by the Busan.net team from Korean sources and our Korean food articles — not a restaurant ranking.

🍜 Start here: 25 Busan foods at a glance →

Best Restaurants in Busan by Neighborhood →Sajik-dong #1 Somunnan Jumunjin Makguksu · Seomyeon #1 Subyeon Choigo Dwaeji Gukbap (Lotte Dept. Store) · Haeundae #1 Nagahama Mangetsu · Gwangalli #1 Tonshou Gwangan · Nampo-dong #1 Baekhwa Yanggopchang · Dongnae #1 Bae Jong-gwan Dongnae Samgyetang · Jeonpo #1 Freewill Pizza · Busan Station & Choryang #1 Lee Jae-mo Pizza (Busan Station) · Centum City #1 Dim Dim Sum (Centum City)

A hand holding seed-filled hotteok in a paper cup on a winter evening street in Nampo-dong

Busan street food

Ssiat Hotteok (Seed Hotteok)

A fried sweet pancake split open and stuffed with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and peanuts — Nampo-dong's famous street snack

A bowl of Busan milmyeon in icy broth topped with egg, cucumber, meat and red sauce

Busan local food

Milmyeon (Busan Wheat Noodles)

Born in the Korean War when refugees swapped buckwheat for aid flour — Busan's favourite summer noodle, eaten year-round

A stone bowl of Busan dwaeji-gukbap with kimchi, radish kimchi, chive salad and salted shrimp

Busan local food

Dwaeji-gukbap (Busan Pork Rice Soup)

A fast, cheap, filling bowl that fed refugees and dock workers — and still Busan's go-to meal at any hour

Illustration of a bubbling pot of spicy octopus, intestines and shrimp with a bowl of rice

Busan local food

Nakgopsae (Spicy Octopus, Gopchang & Shrimp)

Nak-gop-sae = nakji (small octopus) + gopchang (intestines) + saeu (shrimp): a spicy pot born outside an old Busan textile mill

Illustration of a steaming pot of fish cake skewers at a Busan market stall

Busan local food

Busan Eomuk (Fish Cakes)

Ground fish, fried golden: a century-old Busan market food from Bupyeong Market to Yeongdo and Choryang

Illustration of hagfish roasting in a wire basket over a straw fire by a harbour at dusk

Busan local food

Gomjangeo (Grilled Hagfish)

Not an eel at all: a Busan drinking snack born next to leather factories, grilled over coal at Jagalchi and over straw in Gijang

Thick pork ribs marinated in a light soy sauce on a white plate

Busan local food

Samdae Dwaeji Bulgogi (Sajik-dong)

From a nameless coal-fire rib stall in Beomil-dong to Sajik-dong: grandmother, daughter and granddaughter

Illustration of a bowl of clear pufferfish soup with bean sprouts and water parsley by a harbor window

Busan local food

Bokguk (Pufferfish Soup)

A clear, refreshing bowl made from a fish that has to be handled by licensed cooks — Busan's classic morning-after soup

Illustration of a thick green onion pancake with seafood cooking on a round cast-iron griddle

Busan local food

Dongnae Pajeon (Green Onion Pancake)

Whole scallions, seafood and rice-flour batter cooked under a lid — a dish said to have been offered to the king

Illustration of a bowl of glass noodles with red sauce and toppings on a Busan market stall counter

Busan market food

Bibim Dangmyeon (Spicy Glass Noodles)

Pre-boiled glass noodles, a sweet-spicy sauce and simple toppings — a market bowl that is ready the moment you sit down

Illustration of a bowl of clear clam soup with chopped chives by a river estuary at dawn

Busan local food

Jaecheop-guk (Marsh Clam Soup)

Tiny estuary clams, salt and garlic chives — the breakfast and hangover soup once sold door to door at dawn

Illustration of thick, long rice cakes simmering in red sauce in a wide steel pan at a market stall

Busan market food

Busan Tteokbokki (Market Rice Cakes)

Long, finger-thick rice cakes simmered whole in red sauce, with fish-cake broth and mulddeok on the side

Illustration of marinated pork ribs on a cast-iron grill plate in an old alley restaurant

Busan local food

Choryang Dwaeji Galbi (Pork Rib Alley)

Soy-marinated pork ribs on cast-iron grills, from dock workers' dinners to a food alley across from Busan Station

Illustration of scored beef short ribs grilling on a domed grill plate

Busan local food

Haeundae Sogalbi (Beef Short Ribs)

Finely scored, lightly marinated beef ribs on a domed grill, finished with potato noodles cooked in the juices

Illustration of scallops and clams grilling with the night sea in the background

Busan local food

Jogae-gui (Grilled Shellfish)

Scallops, pen shells and clams grilled at seaside restaurants — when to eat them, what to watch for

Rice cake skewers and fish cake skewers standing in a steaming pot of broth at a Busan market stall on a winter night

Busan local food

Mulddeok (Rice Cake Skewers in Fish Cake Broth)

The soft white rice cake that always stands next to the fish cake skewers in a Busan street-stall pot

Golden stuffed tofu pouches simmering with fish cake skewers in a steaming pot at a Busan market stall

Busan local food

Yubu-jumeoni (Stuffed Tofu Pouches)

Fried tofu pouches stuffed with glass noodles and simmered with fish cakes — a winter street food from Bupyeong Kkangtong Market

A steaming pot of clear cod soup with white cod pieces, radish, green onion and water parsley on a table in a seaside village home in winter

Busan local food

Daegutang (Busan Cod Soup)

A big-mouthed fish that swims home to the bay off Gadeokdo every winter, simmered with radish and water parsley

A metal bowl of thick noodles topped with lettuce, cabbage and sliced raw skate in red chili sauce, with a small pot of anchovy broth, at a harbor-side noodle shop

Busan local food

Hoe-guksu (Busan Raw Skate Noodles)

Thick noodles, crunchy greens and chewy raw skate in sweet-sour chili sauce — with a kettle of hot anchovy broth on the side

A winter dinner table with oyster bossam — boiled pork slices, spicy bossam kimchi and fresh raw oysters on one platter

Busan local food

Gul (Busan Winter Oysters)

The 'milk of the sea' that fattens up from November — the oyster dishes Busan people look for every winter

More dishes are being added. Korean articles on 30 Busan foods: 부산 음식 이야기