Private-room mulhoe restaurant in Pohang for families: Seolmeori

The weather suddenly got so cool, right? :-) I was strolling along the Yeongildae coast and trying to decide where to have lunch, so I searched around and ended up going to Seolmeori Hwetjip, famous for mulhoe (cold raw fish soup)!!!!!

The exterior and fish tank on the Yeongildae coastal road

It's on the road heading from Yeongildae toward Yeonam-dong, and the building is so huge it caught my eye right away.

There's a fish tank out front, kept so clean it was almost see-through haha.

Location and parking

• Seolmeori Hwetjip Pohang Yeongildae main branch
• Address – 243-2 Haean-ro, Buk-gu, Pohang-si, Seolmeori Hwetjip Yeongildae branch
• Hours – Daily 11:00–21:30
• Parking – Yes, lot in front of the restaurant

Every seat inside is a private room, with group seating too

Right from the entrance, true to a famous Pohang mulhoe spot, there were autographs from well-known visitors.

Seolmeori Hwetjip is well known in Pohang for its private-room seafood restaurant setup! The whole interior is made of private rooms, so it's great for eating quietly with just your own group, and each room has sliding doors so it can be opened up wide for groups or company dinners.

The owner, who's swept up all kinds of certifications and takes the food seriously!

Seolmeori Hwetjip has a secret mulhoe broth! Curious? Then come eat it *_* haha.

We visited with 4 adults and 2 kids, called ahead by phone, and were seated right away. It's such a popular spot there can be a wait, so I'd recommend booking ahead.

Drinks and alcohol are set out in a cold fridge inside! Nice that you don't have to order them specially :-)

The table has paper cups, chojang (spicy vinegar sauce), soy sauce, tissues, and a sanitized utensil holder. The water is barley tea rather than plain bottled water, which I liked.

Disposable aprons are also ready to go.

How we picked the menu

The owner explains the menu depending on whether you want mulhoe or hoe (raw fish). We ordered 3 servings of wild-caught mulhoe, live fish sushi, and homemade pork cutlet.

From the basic side dishes to the spicy fish stew

Even the basic side dishes came out really neat and tidy — they had that solid, fundamentals-done-right flavor!

Somyeon noodles and the secret mulhoe broth aged for 72 hours — my heart was racing haha.

The spicy fish stew came out first.

Usually gas burners are used, but this was a different kind! It felt less hot and somehow safer in an enclosed room, which I liked.

Plenty of fish and radish made it refreshing and clean-tasting. It gets richer the longer you simmer it, so we kept it on low heat while eating.

Homemade pork cutlet for the kids

Homemade pork cutlet for the kids to eat! Made in-house with domestic pork loin, it was super crispy with thick meat. The two kids polished off a whole one by themselves haha. At a seafood restaurant it's usually hard to find something for kids, so I loved that there were so many side menu options *_*

The amount of fish and the secret broth ratio in the wild mulhoe

The wild-caught mulhoe came out quickly too. As a Pohang local I've had mulhoe at plenty of places, and the amount of fish in this one is easily top 3 I've had haha. Seolmeori Hwetjip really loads it up generously.

Can you see how generous the portion is? Amazing, amazing!

The owner strongly recommends mixing in about 2-3 ladles of the secret broth to get exactly the right flavor, so I followed that recipe exactly, and I immediately understood why lol. The sweet-and-tangy slushy broth meeting the fresh fish and vegetables is the ultimate combo *_*

Adding in the somyeon noodles and mixing it all together made it even better — kind of like a raw fish noodle dish haha.

The freshly sliced raw fish melts in your mouth :-)

The quality of the flounder sushi

That day, flounder sushi was also served.

The sushi was also freshly sliced and made to order, so it was so delicious *_* — quality that's not far off from a proper sushi restaurant.

Since they use fresh raw fish as the base for everything, none of the dishes could really taste bad. Seolmeori Hwetjip, a Pohang mulhoe restaurant with private rooms and cool, generous mulhoe — highly recommend!!