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Godeungeo Gui (고등어구이)

Seafood

Grilled mackerel — the backbone of a Korean set meal.

Korean name
고등어구이
Spice level
Not spicy
Flavor
savory · briny
Typically contains
fish
Vegetarian / vegan
Not vegetarian — meat or seafood is core to the dish
Typical price
₩9,000–₩15,000 per person checked 2026-07 — varies by area
Good to know
Beginner-friendly ●●●●○ Solo dining ●●●●○ Kid-friendly ●●●●○
Also written as
godeungeo, grilled mackerel, godeungeo gui

Spice and flavor are editorial assessments of the standard version — individual restaurants and recipes vary. Ingredient notes are typical, not guaranteed: always check with the restaurant for allergies or dietary needs. Eating and cooking notes describe common practice in Korea; our first-hand deep-dives live in the Eat Like a Local guides.

Godeungeo Gui (고등어구이)

What is Godeungeo Gui?

Godeungeo-gui — grilled mackerel — is the backbone protein of the Korean set meal: oily, silver-skinned fillets salted and grilled until the skin blisters and the flesh steams. Cheap, rich in omega-3s by reputation and nostalgia in equal measure, it's what 'baekban' (home-style set menu) restaurants are judged by.

How to eat it

  1. Lift flesh off the bones with chopsticks, starting from the spine line.
  2. A squeeze of lemon or dip in soy-wasabi where provided; salt-grilled needs little.
  3. Wrap in gim with rice for the home-style power move.

Good to know

  • Fine pin bones are part of the deal — feed children carefully.
  • Cooking it indoors commits your home to the smell for a day; Koreans grill it on the fish-only burner or buy it done.

Andong's salted mackerel (gan-godeungeo) tradition made preserved mackerel an inland delicacy.

Nutrition

Calories142 kcal
Carbohydrate2.69 g
Protein9.51 g
Fat9.99 g
Sodium207 mg

Per serving (~170ml): ≈241 kcal · sodium ≈352 mg (18% of the WHO daily guideline, 2,000 mg)

Per 100ml · total serving 170ml · Official data: National Integrated Food Nutritional Information Standard Data (Korea MFDS) (DB item: 고등어구이, synced 2026-07-17). Values vary by recipe and portion.

Featured in: Korean Dishes Without Pork

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