Busan local food

Hoe-guksu — Busan's Spicy Raw-Fish Noodles with Skate: What It Is, vs Bibim-guksu, How to Eat It

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

By Busan.net editors · Published Nov 9, 2026 · 한국어로 보기

Hoe-guksu (회국수, "raw-fish noodles") is a bowl of thick wheat noodles topped with raw vegetables and slices of raw fish, mixed with sweet, sour and spicy chili sauce (cho-gochujang). In Busan the fish is usually chewy raw skate (gaori). Local stories say it began at a noodle stall on the Yeongdo docks just after the Korean War, and became well known after the shop moved to Nampo-dong in the 1960s. Old hoe-guksu shops in Nampo-dong and Seomyeon still serve it with a warm anchovy broth to cool the heat.

Hoe-guksu in one line

Noodles, fresh greens and raw skate mixed in bright red, sweet-sour chili sauce — somewhere between spicy mixed noodles (bibim-guksu) and a cold raw-fish soup (mul-hoe). The signature of Busan hoe-guksu is the warm anchovy broth served on the side.

Korean	회국수 (hoe-guksu) · 회 (hoe) = raw fish · 국수 (guksu) = noodles · 가오리 (gaori) = skate/ray · 초고추장 (cho-gochujang) = vinegar chili sauce
Made of	Thick wheat noodles (jungmyeon), lettuce, cabbage, seaweed, raw skate, chili paste, vinegar, sugar, sesame. Contains wheat; not vegetarian.
Spice	Medium — spicy at first, then sour and sweet. Extra sauce is usually on the table.
Served	Cold noodles, with a pot or cup of hot anchovy broth. Eaten all year.

Where it came from — from the Yeongdo docks to Nampo-dong

There is no written record of the very first bowl, but this is the story Busan tells:

• A dockside noodle stall: Just after the Korean War, a grandmother selling noodles on the Yeongdo waterfront is said to have topped them with raw skate from the start.
• To Nampo-dong in the 1960s: When the shop moved to Nampo-dong in the 1960s, hoe-guksu became a downtown food, and from the mid-1980s many visitors came to try it.
• An everyday treat: Until the 1990s, children came with their parents and young couples with thin wallets came on cheap dates.

One old Nampo-dong shop is often called the "original", but there is no firm evidence that hoe-guksu itself started at a single shop — places in Seomyeon and elsewhere have their own decades-long histories.

In Busan, noodles were long a main meal rather than a side dish. Hoe-guksu put cheap fish from the sea and filling noodles into one bowl — port-city working people's food.

What it tastes like — noodles, skate, sauce and broth

Noodles

Most shops use thick jungmyeon noodles instead of thin somyeon, cooked so they keep a firm, chewy bite. Some insist on noodles dried in the sea wind.

The fish

Busan uses raw skate (gaori-hoe) for its crunchy, chewy texture, which goes well with the noodles. This is fresh skate — not the strong-smelling fermented skate (hongeo) of Korea's southwest. The vegetables — lettuce, cabbage, seaweed — go on raw.

Sauce and broth

The heart of the dish is the cho-gochujang (spicy, then sour and sweet, in the Gyeongsang style) and the anchovy broth. Each shop keeps its sauce recipe a secret. The broth comes in a kettle or a small aluminum pot, sometimes with chopped green onion or fish cake floating in it.

Hoe-guksu vs bibim-guksu — and other coasts' versions

	Busan hoe-guksu	Ordinary bibim-guksu
Noodles	Thick jungmyeon	Usually thin somyeon
Topping	Raw skate + raw greens	Vegetables, egg, sometimes kimchi
Taste	Sourer, chewy-crunchy	Sweet-spicy
On the side	Hot anchovy broth	Sometimes broth

Other coastal towns make raw-fish noodles too, with different fish: flounder or butterfish around Gampo port in Gyeongju, and pollock in Sokcho and Goseong on the east coast. Busan's skate version is its own port-city style.

How to eat it

1. Mix well: The noodles, fish and sauce arrive in a bowl — mix until every strand is red and the greens are spread through.
2. Taste, then add sauce: Extra chili sauce is usually on the table; add it after the first bite.
3. One bite of everything: Pick up noodles, skate and greens together for chewy and crunchy at once.
4. Sip the broth between bites: When the heat builds, drink the warm anchovy broth. Regulars refill it several times.

Useful Korean: "회국수 하나 주세요" (hoe-guksu hana juseyo) — "One raw-fish noodles, please." "덜 맵게 해 주세요" (deol maepge hae juseyo) — "Less spicy, please." If you can't eat raw fish, ask before ordering — not every shop has a version without it.

Where to eat it in Busan

• Nampo-dong: Where the old hoe-guksu shops are, a short walk from Jagalchi Market and Gukje Market — pair it with seed hotteok and bibim-dangmyeon.
• Seomyeon: Decades-old noodle shops in the downtown shopping area, near pork soup alley.

Shops are small and fill quickly at lunch. Prices and hours vary — check before you go. We list areas, not restaurant rankings. If you are pregnant or have a weak immune system, you may want to avoid raw fish.

FAQ

Sources

• 부산의 맛 <15> 회국수 — Kookje Shinmun, Apr 5, 2010
• [이춘호기자의 푸드로드] 종류·맛 천차만별 국수들 "부산서 국수는 부식 아니라 주식이지예" — Yeongnam Ilbo, Aug 28, 2020

Recipes, prices and opening hours differ by shop. This article is a food explainer, not a restaurant ranking or advertisement, and not medical advice.