Sadang izakaya basement annex date: Kirin draft and gwangban-yuksa

I'd been craving aged sashimi for a while, so I went to ⭐️the Sadang Station aged sashimi spot⭐️ Susan Sadang Main Branch!

I thought only the sashimi would be good, but the side dishes were on point too 🤍 Both the taste and the vibe were great — let me show you this Sadang spot in full!

Where is Susan Sadang Main Branch, and what are the hours and parking?

• 📍 1F & B1, Nambusunhwan-ro 271ga-gil, Dongjak-gu, Seoul
• ⏰ Mon–Thu 16:00–1:00 / Fri–Sat 15:00–2:00 / Sun 15:00–23:00
• 🚗 No parking in the building (use nearby public or paid lots)

Susan Sadang Main Branch is close to Sadang Station, so it was easy to find right after getting off the subway. But here's the fun part — the 1st floor and the basement annex have completely different vibes!

First-floor pojangmacha or basement annex: where should you sit?

The 1st floor of Susan Sadang Main Branch feels like an indoor street-tent bar, great for a group drink together,

while the basement annex feels a bit more modern and clean! It's fairly quiet, so it seemed like a good fit for a date or a blind date too. We came for a dinner date with my partner and had reserved ahead — we were seated in the basement annex. As soon as we went down,

I was like, oh? This is totally different from upstairs? haha

It wasn't noisy at all — a perfect atmosphere for chatting over a draft beer with my partner. 🍺✨

The 1st floor feels right for gatherings or a work dinner, and the basement annex feels more like a date or blind date spot, so it's kind of fun to pick your vibe depending on who you're with.🩶 The area around Sadang Station gets a lot of group dinners and after-work drinks, but Susan Sadang Main Branch works well whether you come with a big group or just as a pair!

Drinks, snacks and QR mobile ordering at Susan Sadang Main Branch

Susan Sadang Main Branch has a pretty wide range of drinks. Besides soju and beer,

there were a lot of sake options on the menu too! Soju goes well with aged sashimi, but that day, after work, I was really craving draft beer. It's nice to pick your drink depending on your mood and the food~~

And Susan Sadang Main Branch isn't just about sashimi — the range of side dishes was genuinely impressive. So honestly, this feels like a place where you get more value coming with a bigger group.

You order by scanning the QR code on the table and ordering on your phone! I'm greedy, so I love ordering a bunch of things that look good and trying a bit of everything. That's my little pleasure in life!!!!!!!!!

What we ordered was: gwangban-yuksa (half flounder sashimi + half yuksashimi), sweet shrimp buckwheat noodles, and Kirin draft beer 🍺 — that's what we got!

A cold draft after work is basically honey..✨ The foam on that Kirin draft was insane!

And as soon as we sat down, they brought out a welcome sake first. Wow, I really love that kind of thoughtful touch. ⭐️ The welcome drink was sake. 🍶 Having a light sip before the main dishes arrived really woke up my appetite and set the mood perfectly! It even made me feel a little happier. haha

How does the gwangban-yuksa (half flounder, half beef sashimi) taste?

And finally, the half flounder half yuksashimi — gwangban-yuksa!

First, just look at the visuals. The flounder was glossy and shiny~ the yuksashimi had gorgeous marbling~

It looked delicious, and it tasted even better. First, the flounder! The trick with flounder is putting it on seaweed with mukeunji (aged kimchi), and adding garlic or cheongyang chili to taste — that's how it really shines!

On a date, go easy on the raw garlic

But the raw garlic here is pretty pungent. By the time I'd happily eaten my fill and we were heading home, my partner told me I smelled way too much like garlic — like a human garlic clove. I think he might've walked a little further away from me? 🫪 hahahahahaha If you're going on a date, watch out for the raw garlic. You might turn into human garlic like me.

But this pungent garlic went so well with both the flounder and the yuksashimi that I simply couldn't give it up. Adding a bite of cheongyang chili in the same mouthful gives it an extra kick!

And dipping the flounder in soy sauce plus wasabi~ that alone will make you call for another drink. The chewy yet tender aged sashimi with a touch of wasabi makes the draft beer go down way too easily.

How thick is the beef yuksashimi?

And the yuksashimi passed the test starting with its thickness!

I prefer yuksashimi sliced with some real thickness rather than paper-thin.

But it wasn't too thick either — just the right thickness, so it wasn't tough, it was chewy in a good way. It seemed lightly seasoned, with a nutty flavor coming through too, and I thought, oh, this place really knows what it's doing. haha Both the flounder and the yuksashimi had a clean, tender flavor overall.

Sweet shrimp buckwheat noodles: a good side for aged sashimi?

And the sweet shrimp buckwheat noodles, which I liked even more than expected!

Plump sweet shrimp piled generously on nutty perilla-oil buckwheat noodles. 🦐🤍 When I first tried just the noodles, I thought, huh? milder than I expected? But the moment I ate it together with the sweet shrimp, a nutty, sweet flavor really came through. This was my first time trying buckwheat noodles with sweet shrimp, and I really love this combo..🤍

The sweet shrimp itself was so good that it was great to just eat on its own,

but putting one sweet shrimp right on top of the noodles and eating it all in one bite is even better. Nutty, with the sweetness of the shrimp adding just the right punch so it's never bland? My hand kept reaching for it.

At first,

we debated whether to mix everything together or eat it separately,

and in the end we just mixed it all up~~! We set the sweet shrimp aside for a moment and mixed the noodles thoroughly first.

I thought the perilla-oil buckwheat noodles might get a little heavy after a while, but alternating — a bite of flounder → sweet shrimp noodles, a bite of yuksashimi → sweet shrimp noodles — worked really well. 😵‍💫❤️‍🔥 Eating it between bites of aged sashimi actually made the combo even better. If you like noodles and also like sweet shrimp, I'd recommend ordering this as a side!

Final verdict on Susan Sadang Main Branch

On our way home that day, my partner and I got off one stop early and walked the rest of the way. Otherwise we really might have burst. It was that good — we ate until we were about to explode.

I originally went for the gwangban-yuksa, but after eating, the sweet shrimp buckwheat noodles stuck with me just as much. Coming just for the aged sashimi is fine, but the menu is so varied that this feels like a place best enjoyed with a full table of people, ordering a bit of everything.

A draft with the flounder, another with the yuksashimi. Even someone who doesn't drink much might feel like having a glass with this combo. 🤭 If you've been looking for a good aged-sashimi bar in Sadang, I'd recommend Susan Sadang Main Branch! The sashimi quality was great, and the range of side dishes to pair with it made it a good fit for dates, gatherings, and work dinners alike. 🤍

Next time I go, I'm definitely ordering the gwangban-yuksa again. And next time I'll bring more people and fill the table with the dishes I couldn't try this time. hahaha If you want a good drink and good sides near Sadang Station and you love aged sashimi, give Susan Sadang Main Branch a try!

I only have one stomach but there's too much I still want to eat here.. I'll have to go back once more.🥹🍺