The aristocrat of Korean pancakes: whole spring onions bound in rice-and-wheat batter with seafood, griddled crisp outside and left custardy within.
Where to eat it: 1 restaurant across 1 city.
Dongnae pajeon belongs to Busan's old walled town, where the Dongnae market sat on the road to the hot springs. Local records tie it to the spring-onion harvests of the Nakdong delta and to offerings for the Dongnae magistracy; the dish survived as a market-day and rainy-day ritual. Dongnae Halmae Pajeon, four generations in, still griddles the canonical version, thick with onions, clams and prawn under a soft egg finish.
Common allergens: Wheat (gluten), Shellfish, Egg
Tip from the editors. Do not press the pancake flat or cook it dry; Dongnae style means crisp lace at the rim and an almost runny, oniony heart.
Dongnae Halmae Pajeon has griddled Busan's definitive green-onion pancake for four generations, in the old district that gave the dish its name.
Order: Dongnae pajeon, 28,000 won, thick with spring onion and seafood.
Why locals love it: The fourth-generation home of Busan's court-recorded pajeon sits in old Dongnae, far from every tourist artery.
Tip: The pajeon comes custardy in the middle by design; order the conch as the second plate.
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