Cheongju omakase bar: monkfish soup and aged sashimi at Sinbakkase

I visited Sinbakkase, the Bokdae-dong omakase spot that Instagram and social media have been going crazy over lately! It is described as a fusion omakase bar in Bokdae-dong, and the price is only ₩29,900 per person... Plus, the menu looked so substantial it could pass for a Bokdae-dong seafood and sashimi restaurant, so I had to go.

Sinbakkase in Bokdae-dong’s bar district: location and reservations

Sinbakkase, a Japanese-style restaurant in Bokdae-dong, sits along the neighborhood’s bar district. Being on the second floor can make it a little confusing to find, but if you spot Matchandeul Wang Sogeum Gui, head up to the second floor of that building. The menu for the day was posted right from the entrance, too. It was nice to check it before going in!

There is no separate parking lot, so it seems best to park on a side street or at the nearby Heungdeok Public Health Center. The Sinbakkase sign on the way up to the second floor is so cute from the sign alone, haha.

I visited on a Wednesday evening. Looking at Naver Map, I saw that it has become so popular lately that walk-ins can sometimes find it closed early when ingredients run out. In those cases, reserved guests get priority entry, so I made a reservation just in case.

Even around 6:30 p.m. on a weekday, the table seats were almost full, with only a few bar seats left! I definitely recommend reserving if you can. The atmospheric bar seating is also a fun change of pace for omakase.

Sinbakkase’s ₩29,900-per-person omakase course

The Sinbakkase menu is ₩29,900 per person for omakase.

• Abalone innards soup / bonito goma salad
• Clear monkfish soup / steamed or grilled seasonal seafood
• Seasonal aged sashimi / sushi / seasonal seafood
• Beef dish / chicken dish / red-vinegar ade

It is amazing that this whole lineup comes to ₩29,900. Even the drinks were not expensive—about average restaurant pricing! I think it would be perfect for a group dinner near Heungdeok-gu in Cheongju.

From salad to abalone innards soup

Here was the first dish: a simple salad with katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), cucumber, tomato, and a nutty sauce. It was my first time having katsuobushi with cucumber and tomato, and the combination was better than I expected. A nice opening dish.

Omakase at the bar with Crayon Shin-chan 💓

This was the abalone innards soup. Unlike abalone porridge, it was a little thinner, but it had lots of savory depth and tasted great. It was gentle and easy on the stomach. Even the color looked like it had plenty of rich abalone innards in it!

At this point, I felt we absolutely had to order alcohol, so we got one bottle of Hakutsuru Junmai tokkuri (a small sake carafe). 🍶 Tokkuri can be fairly pricey at other izakaya, but Sinbakkase charges ₩11,000 per bottle, which felt like great value! It was even my first time seeing a place fill the carafe with sake right to overflowing.. 🥹 I wondered if they had only poured generously the first time, but even with additional orders they filled every bottle to the brim, so thank you.. 🤍

Abalone sashimi came out too. I loved how quickly the dishes arrived. It had that pleasantly chewy bite, making it great with drinks. They sliced it right away, so it felt fresh as well.

Spicy clear monkfish soup and seafood

The clear monkfish soup had such an incredible look. I cannot believe they served this much of it... With this one dish alone, I feel like the guys could put away several bottles of soju, no? 😂 There was a good amount of monkfish meat, and it was so spicy and refreshing—a dish that calls for drinks.

It was perfect with sake! Such a generous spread... Steamed shrimp and scallops came out too, and although they were simple, they were delicious! The shrimp were not tiny, either—they were satisfyingly large.

Tender, pleasantly chewy aged sashimi and yukjeon

The aged sashimi on the day I visited was flounder, flounder fin, and salmon. The aged sashimi was seriously good, you know? Especially with flounder, I like aged flounder that is tenderly chewy rather than overly chewy(?), and it was exactly that, so I thought the sashimi here was excellent ❕ That said, for big eaters like us, the portion was a little lacking, so next time I think I would add extra sashimi separately! It really was soooo good.. 🥹

The salmon is even better when you put it on sushi rice with wasabi.. The best 👍🏻 Personally, I think they could even run a sushi lunch business.. 〰️

Next came yukjeon (pan-fried beef slices) made with striploin. As you can see, it was fried almost like tempura until crispy, and I loved it so, so much. The meat was wonderfully tender too, perhaps because it was good quality.. The yukjeon was so good that it was one of the dishes I wanted to order more of while eating.. Having warm beef after seafood and sashimi made the course feel so hearty and satisfying 〰️

Stir-fried chicken neck meat came out as well. It was the perfect drinking snack for the end of the meal. Nicely punchy with a good chew—excellent ❕

We let the clear monkfish soup keep simmering, then ladled some out at the end. There was quite a lot of monkfish meat, right? It was so tender that I wanted to order a bowl of rice and mix it in.. They also sell instant rice separately, by the way. I recommend ordering one.

After finishing our drinks, we sobered up right there with the clear monkfish soup—Sinbakkase takes care of you until the very end 😎

We finished with a red-vinegar ade. It was great for cleansing the palate. The more I think about it, the better the menu lineup and flavors seem for ₩29,900 ❕

The Jeju flight-ticket event when the restaurant is full

Something totally unexpected happened while we were eating at the bar without knowing anything about it..! At Sinbakkase, they hold a Jeju flight-ticket event when the restaurant is full ✈️ The owner starts the event, and everyone plays rock-paper-scissors against him; the final winner receives a Jeju flight ticket. An event this fun too! Seeing this, I really thought it was a great place for a group dinner. If you can enjoy a flight-ticket event on top of a group dinner when the place is full, that is killing two birds with one stone.

It was so nice to see everyone suddenly gather and have a warm, lively time, even among strangers. This is the charm of dining out and company dinners! ✨

On the way out, I saw that they do not just give away a flight ticket—they provide a rental car too. What an incredible event..! ✨ And if you leave your business card, they draw one person every Wednesday to receive a Sinbakkase meal voucher. How well does the owner want Sinbakkase to do, giving so much back to customers like this? It was not simply a meal and done; the various events made dinner even more enjoyable. 💓

Sinbakkase final thoughts

• Sinbakkase is a great-value omakase spot in Bokdae-dong.
• There are even Jeju flight-ticket and meal-voucher events.
• Highly recommended for a group dinner in Bokdae-dong, Cheongju.