Jonggak bar for somaek, butter shrimp heads and croquette: Suksseong

A Jonggak Station sashimi restaurant recommendation: aged sashimi and grilled shrimp at Suksseong Susan (숙썽수산)

How close is Suksseong Susan to Jonggak Station, and do you need a reservation?

Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch is about a 3-minute walk from Jonggak Station, so we got there quickly after leaving the subway. 🏃🏻‍♀️ We booked through Naver Reservation before visiting, and I'd recommend booking ahead too!

Today I came to Suksseong Susan near Jonggak Station with a friend! ✨ Shrimp is in season right now, and we'd already had shrimp together recently, but this time we enjoyed aged sashimi and grilled shrimp together. Seafood in season just hits different, right? 😋

• 📍Location: 16 Samil-daero 19-gil, 3F, Jongno-gu, Seoul
• ⏰Hours: daily 12:00–23:30, last order 22:30
• 🍾Free corkage: up to 1 bottle per person, max 5 bottles (alcohol sold in the restaurant is charged)
• 🚗No parking: an outside parking lot is recommended

What are the seats and atmosphere like at Suksseong Susan?

The restaurant is fairly large, and everything is divided by partitions, so you can dine privately! It let us eat comfortably ☺️ The place is dim, so it's good for a date too!

Groups are welcome, and the tables come in a variety of types. If you prefer a window seat, those are a good pick too 👏

Suksseong Susan menu and what we ordered

We ordered the small aged sashimi platter (₩69,000), the red crab innards cream croquette (₩19,000) and the salt-grilled shrimp (₩29,000)! (The menu photos are from summer, but shrimp was on sale, so please keep that in mind!)

Besides aged sashimi, Suksseong Susan has snack dishes like yukhoe (Korean beef tartare), sea urchin, sweet shrimp and pasta, and a wide range of seafood like abalone, whelk and spear squid.

Side dishes: soft tofu with bonito flakes, beans and pickles

The side dishes at Suksseong Susan were soft tofu, beans and jangajji (pickled vegetables). Simple, but light things that are nice to have before the meal.

The tofu had bonito flakes on top, which made it even better! 🫶 Soft and nutty, filling your whole mouth!

Staff grill the salt-grilled shrimp and sauté the heads in butter

For the salt-grilled shrimp (₩29,000) at Suksseong Susan, the staff keep track of the grilling time, so we just had to wait. Shrimp first! Shrimp still jumping around…! Every year around this time I start craving shrimp… 🫶 Once you try it, it's so good!

Shrimp perfectly cooked on coarse salt!! You twist off the heads and hand them to the staff, and they sauté them in butter into a great drinking snack! Honestly the best… 👍 Nothing goes to waste, which I loved.

The shrimp were fresh, so the innards were rich and delicious too! We had it all with somaek, and we really did put away the drinks along with it 🎶

Red crab innards cream croquette: the fried shishito peppers are the kicker

Next up, the red crab innards cream croquette (₩19,000)! It came fried with shishito peppers, and the fried peppers were the kicker!

It was freshly fried and piping hot, so of course it was delicious! T_T The coating was soft and nutty with a faint sweetness. Great with beer, and the best with somaek!

Which fish came on the small aged sashimi platter?

The small aged sashimi platter (₩69,000) came with greater amberjack, tuna belly, anglerfish liver (ankimo), yellow croaker-type fish (jeomseongeo), sweet shrimp, red sea bream, salmon and olive flounder. The main event, the aged sashimi!! As the name suggests, Suksseong Susan specializes in aged sashimi! The special thing is that live fish is aged at low temperature for over 24 hours, giving a taste you can't get from regular live-fish sashimi, so I dug in with high expectations.

Greater amberjack, in season right now! It's called the summer yellowtail, a fish that lets you enjoy in summer the yellowtail that's best in winter, and it was delicious just as you'd expect from a yellowtail. Winter is coming soon, so maybe we can have the big yellowtail later?🫶

The tuna was the belly cut. Need I say more? Tuna belly is the belly cut, after all! We enjoyed it.

Ankimo, which a high-end sashimi place can't do without! The rich ankimo was good with other fish or on its own.

Maybe because the jeomseongeo was aged too, it had a chewy texture! The sweet shrimp was faintly sweet and rich, so good!

The red sea bream, scored and torched on the surface, was also chewy and delicious. The salmon and olive flounder also had a chewy feel, unlike regular sashimi.

Verdict: for a day you crave sashimi near Jonggak Station

Looking for a bar around Jonggak Station or Jongno and today you're craving sashimi? Then I recommend Suksseong Susan 👍 I was so busy looking at the menu that I forgot to photograph the drinks, and my friend and I had such a great time!