4 Best Restaurants in Tongyeong, Side Trips from Busan

Named for the famed Korean women divers known as haenyeo, this raucous restauraunt delivers set-course meals of seafood including side dishes of small octopus, shrimp, scallops, sea snails, flatfish, and more, accompanied with buckets containing bottles of beer and soju on ice. People come here to drink as much as eat, so if you really want to soak up the local atmosphere, this is your spot. They usually don't speak English, but everyone eats the same thing anyway, so just sit back and let the food and drink come to you.

While ggulbbang (honey bread) can be found all over town, this is probably Tongyeong's most famous (or at least most conspicuous) purveyor of the sweet treat. The building housing the bakery sits next to the main harbor and is done up in the shape of a giant orange sea pineapple, the marine creature that's also a delicacy in these parts.

This extremely popular local joint specializes in the Korean-Chinese dish jjambbong (noodles in spicy red broth) piled high with heaps of fresh seafood. Diners are given the option of 1–3 on the heat scale, though there is a mild version (Hayan jjambbong) for the chili-adverse. Unlike a lot of the old-school eateries in town, this place is bright and immaculate, bucking the notion that truly delicious Korean restaurants need to be a little run down in appearance.

Located in Tongyeong Jungang Market, this down-home seafood joint specializes in raw sashimi, along with maeuntang (spicy fish soup) and hoe deop bap (raw fish over rice). Eating in a bustling Korean market is always an experience worth pursuing, and being so close to the source you're guaranteed that everything will be as fresh as can be.