Ansan izakaya in Gojan-dong for live raw shrimp and steamed crab

Today I want to introduce a bar in Ansan's Gojan-dong where I properly enjoyed seasonal seafood! It's Susan Jang. I ordered mostly seasonal dishes — raw shrimp sashimi, which is perfect right now, plus grilled gizzard shad and steamed crab. The raw shrimp especially... I was genuinely shocked at how fresh it was, still twitching right up until I put it in my mouth haha

Where is Susan Jang in Gojan-dong, and when is it open?

Susan Jang is located at 1st floor, Unit 132, Rodeo Town, 154 Gwangdeok-daero, Danwon-gu, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do. Hours are Sun–Thu 17:00–00:30, Fri–Sat 18:00–01:30, with last order at 23:30 on Sun–Thu and 00:30 on Fri–Sat.

It's near Ansan Culture Square, so it's a decent spot for dinner and drinks in Gojan-dong. Even the exterior felt less like a typical raw fish restaurant and more like a seafood izakaya you'd stumble on in a Japanese alley. The wood-heavy facade with a fish tank out front makes it obvious this is a seafood specialty spot before you even walk in.

Where to park at Susan Jang in Gojan-dong

If you're driving, you can use the underground parking lot in the Rodeo Town building where Susan Jang is located. Free parking is available for 1.5 hours on weekdays and 2 hours on weekends.

Parking around Ansan Culture Square in the evening can be a bit stressful, so having a building parking lot to use is a nice convenience if you're driving. That said, the free parking duration may vary depending on the store or building's policy, so it's worth checking on the day of your visit.

Inside Susan Jang: atmosphere and seating

Walking inside continues the vibe you get from the exterior. With the wood interior, rows of sake bottles, and seafood illustrations on the walls, it really does feel a lot like a Japanese pub overall.

One thing I personally found kind of neat was that there are small decorative fish tanks scattered around the place! Besides regular tables, there are also bar-style seats, which looked great for two people having a simple drink.

Susan Jang has draft beer and a variety of alcohol on top of sake, so it's a great atmosphere for pairing drinks with seasonal seafood. We started with a cold beer! Since seafood is the main draw, soju or sake would probably pair well too.

A whole grilled flounder as the free side dish

Susan Jang's complimentary side dish is grilled flounder. While waiting for our order, I was a bit surprised when this first dish arrived — we didn't order this separately, haha. It just comes standard!

Instead of the usual chips or simple side dishes you get at most bars, a whole fish comes out, so it felt quite generous from the very start. Picking the meat off, it was clean and savory — perfect for a bite or two before the drinks arrived. Getting a whole grilled fish as a complimentary side is a pretty fun point unique to Susan Jang.

Raw shrimp sashimi still twitching at Susan Jang

First up was the raw shrimp sashimi, which felt the freshest of everything we had this visit! In photos it just looks like a plate of fresh shrimp, but in reality... the shrimp were twitching right up until I put them in my mouth haha

Once you peel off the shell and pick up just the meat, you can visibly see how translucent and springy the shrimp flesh is. Maybe because it's freshly prepared, the texture felt much more elastic than typical raw shrimp sashimi, and a subtle natural sweetness came through the more I chewed.

How was the grilled gizzard shad?

Next was the grilled gizzard shad! Once the season for this fish rolls around, don't you just crave it once in a while? It came out golden-grilled, topped with chopped scallions and sesame seeds.

Gizzard shad's charm is really that distinctive savory flavor! The outside was grilled to a nice golden brown, and the flesh itself had that characteristic oily, savory richness.

Steamed blue crab: meat yield and rice in the shell

And the last main dish: steamed crab! A big plate of prepped crab arrives with scallions, and the presentation alone screams seasonal seafood.

Honestly, isn't it disappointing when you order crab and it turns out to have barely any meat? But the crab we had this day had a really good meat yield. Picking through the legs and body, there was plenty of flesh packed in, and the sweet, clean flavor characteristic of crab was great. Once you start picking at the meat, your hands stay busy — that's part of the fun of eating crab, haha. Eating the meat together with the tomalley added an extra rich, deep flavor that made it even better.

And the real final course of the steamed crab was something else — mixing rice into the shell! We put rice into the shell, added a bit of sesame oil, and mixed it all together.

This was genuinely a hidden gem. The rich flavor of the crab tomalley combined with the nuttiness of sesame oil and warm rice, and even though I was already pretty full, I kept eating haha. If you order steamed crab here, don't throw away the shell — definitely add rice and mix it up!

Vanilla ice cream to finish the meal

After going through a whole round of seafood, we were given vanilla ice cream at the end. It was offered as a complimentary treat during our visit. After eating raw shrimp, gizzard shad, and crab one after another, having something sweet and cold at the end really cleaned up the palate! It seems like a small thing, but it left a nice final impression on the meal.

Is Susan Jang in Ansan worth a visit?

A pretty appealing bar in Gojan-dong if you like seasonal seafood

Susan Jang is a place where each dish we tried had a clear appeal of its own. The raw shrimp sashimi was impressively fresh, still moving right up until it went into our mouths, and the grilled gizzard shad let us properly taste that distinctive savory flavor. The steamed crab also had a better meat yield than expected, making it fun to pick apart, and mixing rice into the shell with sesame oil at the end was the perfect finish haha.

I also personally really liked that grilled flounder comes as the complimentary side dish. Since it's a seafood bar where the menu changes with the season, this is a place I'd want to visit again for a different seasonal dish next time. If you're in Gojan-dong, Ansan, looking for a spot to enjoy fresh seafood with soju or beer, Susan Jang is worth checking out! 🦐🦀🤍