Dokdo shrimp with a 3-person snow crab course at Jukdo Market, Pohang

Went to Pohang on a hot weekend after way too long! Came back from Jukdo Market with a crab-crab-so-delicious.. crab set review ✌

Where Yeonggwang Hoe Daegae Center is, and parking at Jukdo Market

Yeonggwang Hoe Daegae Center (영광회대게센타) is inside Jukdo Market! There's a public parking lot nearby, and Lot 3 was the closest. If you tell them at the restaurant that you parked in the public lot, they'll give you a parking voucher.

My beloved aquarium... hahahahaha. Rows of the signature snow crab plus various other seafood lined up.

Dokdo shrimp, the pricey diva that's so hard to get, really does earn its price.

Yeonggwang Hoe Daegae Center has been on the crab episode of the TV show 'Master of Living', so the taste and service are basically guaranteed! This was actually my first ever crab course at Jukdo Market, so I walked in with huge expectations.

Big tables that work for groups too

Since a lot of group customers come here, the big tables are set up spaciously and comfortably — and the whole 'pile it on, we thrive on generosity' vibe caught my eye instantly. I was so curious how much they'd pile on.

The moment we sat down at our assigned table, this sign caught my eye haha. The owner clearly loves Na Hoon-a and Song Joong-ki — 'Song Joong-ki, please come visit Jukdo Market once.'

What's on the menu?

The menu has set courses, regular assorted sashimi platters, and individual dishes too.

• Bakdal Special – origin: Russia
• Lobster Special – origin: Canada
• Snow Crab Special
• Domestic Bakdal Special – not available right now, they said it'll be back around November
• Red Snow Crab Special / Dokdo Shrimp Special, etc.

Just pick a main and the course comes out loaded!

What comes with the Bakdal Special 3-person set?

We ordered the Bakdal Special 3-person set.

Pufferfish skin dish, raw shrimp sushi. The pufferfish skin, marinated in a tangy-sweet sauce almost like acorn jelly salad, had a chewy texture that got my appetite going. The raw shrimp sushi was 'mal-mo-mal-mo' good too!

Raw sea squirt and conch? Flounder sashimi salad. Sea squirt isn't something I eat often, so that ocean scent bursting in my mouth really made me feel like 'ah, I'm really by the sea' hahaha. Great dipped generously in vinegar-chili sauce, and great plain too..

Bamboo glutinous rice, bang-a leaf salad, spicy squid salad. The squid salad had a generous amount of fresh spring onion — not pungent at all, crunchy and sweet, almost like apple in texture! Amazing with the chewy squid.

Fried crab. Crispy all the way down to the legs — perfect beer snack! Kids can enjoy it easily too!!!!!

Corn cheese, whelk salad, nakji tangtangi (chopped live octopus). Corn cheese is unmissable at any sashimi restaurant — a flavor you already know is good, haha. The nakji tangtangi seemed to be a free extra..? Felt the suckers grip the roof of my mouth again after a long time hahaha, dipped it properly in sesame oil salt.

4 Dokdo shrimp for 35,000 won — how were they?

We also ordered the Dokdo shrimp as a side dish? 4 for 35,000 won, my first time trying them — you take off the head and eat just the springy flesh, no sauce needed! Maybe because I have cheap taste hahahaha, I just thought 'oh, fresh raw shrimp' hahaha but given how hard they are to catch, I do recognize the value.

Aaaaaahhh and they immediately took the cut-off heads and fried them for us. This is seriously a delicacy........ Maybe because it's such a pricey ingredient, but frying just the head was genuinely delicious.

Assorted sashimi and icy-broth mulhoe

Assorted sashimi and mulhoe (cold raw fish soup)!!!!!! Honestly getting even this far in felt (for me) already pretty full haha.

Gotta have mulhoe when you're in Pohang. This wasn't Pohang's gochujang-based mulhoe but an icy-broth version. The abalone was sliced ready to eat, so mixing it in and scooping up a big spoonful — chewy abalone with spicy-tangy raw fish — sluuurp!!!!!!! Ah seriously so good.........

The main event: steamed bakdal snow crab plus free clams and shrimp

I'm already about to burst but now the main dish arrives hahahaha. Steamed bakdal snow crab + silky clams + shrimp. Apparently the shrimp and clams were added extra, on the house..?????? What kind of restaurant gives this much for free? ㅠㅠ

Time to put on the plastic gloves and start picking meat. Imitation crab sticks, step aside — bow down to real bakdal crab hahahahaha. It's so hot but so good, I just kept shoveling it in ㅠㅠ

Once things calmed down a bit, sworn brotherhood over shrimp and leg meat. At first, seeing how much crab there was, we said 'let's just pack the clams and shrimp to go' — but huh? We ate it all hahahahahaha. Even our genuinely small-eating elementary schooler couldn't resist the steamed crab.

There was crab tomalley underneath the steamed crab too — when it first arrived I said 'no way I'm having rice too' but somehow ended up ordering rice anyway.......? hahahaha This photo was taken mid-meal so it might look like less than it was. And the kimchi was seriously insane ㅠㅠ great with rice, amazing with ramyeon too.

The finale: crab ramyeon

The truly, finally final finale.. crab meat with ramyeon noodles all tossed together. We even threw in the bit of leftover nakji tangtangi hahahahaha. Not sure if it was resolve or pure pride not to leave anything behind, but my jeans nearly wouldn't zip — still, after a quick bathroom break, we came back and scraped the ramyeon clean too.

Paying up~~~~~*^^ Being a proud daughter of Pohang, there were lots of photos of artist Jeon Yu-jin around too. The food was great, but what really made me want to come back was how kind the owner and staff were from start to finish — Yeonggwang Hoe Daegae Center at Jukdo Market! Next time I'll bring my parents, lalala.