Gyehwa Hoegwan
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Location95, Byeonsan-ro Haengan-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- CategoryFolk Food ∙ Local Specialties
- Korean계화 회관
- Chinese界火會館
- Nickname부안 이화자 백합죽
- FieldLifestyle & Folklore / Lifestyle
- Contents TypePlace Name / Facility
- Current Location95, Byeonsan-ro Haengan-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- Definition
- A restaurant that specializes in ocean quahog dishes, located in Singi-ri, Haengan-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do.
- Summary
- The Gyehwa Hoegwan is a restaurant that specializes in ocean quahog dishes over 40 years of tradition. It serves a variety of dishes, most notably ocean quahog rice porridge, clear ocean quahog soup, and savory ocean quahog and green onion pancakes.
- Background to Construction
- The Byeonsan Peninsula in Buan-gun, Jeollabukdo is adjacent to the sea on three sides (except the eastern side), and consequently has extensive tidelands. As ocean quahogs prefer the type of tideland covered with a layer of fine sand that typically develops around the mouth of a river, the Saemangeum Tideland provides the ideal habitat for ocean quahogs as its estuary tidelands are well developed due to the inflow of the Mangyeonggang and Dongjingang Rivers.
Dishes prepared with shellfish caught in the rich tidelands were developed a long time ago in Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do, which is why the region has long been famous for rice porridges made with ocean quahogs and clams. The Gyehwa Hoegwan’s signature dish is clam rice porridge, which the owner of the restaurant has eaten ever since her childhood in her hometown on Gyehwado Island (now joined to the mainland), and which has now become a local specialty of Buan-gun.
- Development
- Opened in 1980, the Gyehwa Hoegwan was designated as the first local restaurant of Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do, in 1984. During the 1988 Seoul Olympics, many foreign customers visited the restaurant and left highly favorable comments about its food. In 2003, the Gyehwa Hoegwan was moved to its current address at 95, Byeonsan-ro [211-2, Singi-ri], haengan-myeon, Buan-eup, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do. The restaurant was also selected as a Long-Lasting Small Business by the Small and Medium Business Administration in 2019.
- Composition
- The Gyehwa Hoegwan has 160 seats and a parking lot with spaces for about 40 vehicles.
- Current Status
- The Gyehwa Hoegwan serves diverse dishes prepared with ocean quahogs, including grilled, soup, raw fish, steamed, and rice porridge dishes. As ocean quahogs have a soft texture and savory taste, they are also enjoyed as a raw fish dish.
Known for its natural way of cooking ocean quahogs, the restaurant’s main dishes are ocean quahog rice porridge, steamed ocean quahog, and ocean quahog and green onion pancakes. To make rice porridge, the restaurant uses Gyehwa rice and focuses on bringing out the unique natural taste of ocean quahogs, rather than adding diverse ingredients.
The Gyehwa Hoegwan’s patented steamed ocean quahog dish is served with its own matured spice sauce, which boosts the appetite and is the perfect accompaniment to crunchy, cooked vegetables. Its ocean quahog and green onion pancakes are made with grain powder mixed with four grains, which makes the pancakes glutinous and crunchy and harmonizes nicely with the vegetables.
The restaurant opens from 9 am to 8:30 pm, with a break from 3 pm to 5 pm. It closes on the second and fourth Mondays of each month, including the day before and the day of Seollal (Korean New Year’s Day) and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day).