Boryeong live seafood shop: 2kg flounder filleted by hand, Nokdo Susan

I came back to Daecheonhang Fish Market for the first time in ages during a Boryeong trip. It's prime season for prawns and blue crabs, so every tank in the market was alive with movement — just watching with the kids was fun.

This time I stopped at "Nokdo Susan," located at units 57 and 58 near the entrance of Daecheonhang Fish Market. We picked out a good-sized flounder to take home, and while the freshness of the sashimi was great, watching the second-generation owner's filleting skill up close was just as entertaining.

Where is Nokdo Susan, and what are its hours?

Nokdo Susan is at 334 Daecheonhang-ro, near the entrance of Daecheonhang Fish Market in Boryeong, Chungnam. Hours are Mon–Fri 09:00–22:00, Sat 08:30–23:00, Sun 08:30–22:00, closed the second Tuesday of every month, and takeout/delivery are both available.

• Name: Nokdo Susan
• Address: 334 Daecheonhang-ro, Units 57 & 58, Boryeong-si, Chungcheongnam-do
• Location: Near the entrance of Daecheonhang Fish Market
• Hours: Mon–Fri 09:00–22:00 / Sat 08:30–23:00 / Sun 08:30–22:00
• Closed: Second Tuesday of every month
• Service: Takeout and delivery available

Nokdo Susan sits fairly close to the entrance of Daecheonhang Fish Market, so it wasn't hard to find.

They occupy units 57 and 58 together, so the shop is on the larger side, and the big yellow "Nokdo Susan" sign is easy to spot. If you're heading to a Boryeong sashimi restaurant or a Daecheonhang sashimi spot for the first time, the market has so many shops that it's easy to freeze up wondering where to go — but this one was easy to find right from the entrance.

Tanks of shrimp and blue crab: how much seafood Nokdo Susan keeps live

In front of Nokdo Susan there's a long row of tanks. From live flounder, rockfish, and red snapper to prawns, blue crabs, squid, abalone, and shellfish — just browsing before picking anything took a while.

Familiar live fish like flounder, rockfish, and red snapper were swimming alongside sharply striped rock bream, and the fish all looked so lively that the kids stared for a long time.

And true to autumn at Daecheonhang, the prawns and blue crabs really caught the eye.

The prawns packed the tank so densely that almost none of them sat still, and the blue crabs were tangled together, legs constantly moving.

In the next tank over were squid, poking their heads up above the water as if saying "let me out of here!" — the kids and I laughed for a good while.😂

There was a whole tank full of abalone too, plus scallops, conch, and clams sorted by type. A separate freezer had flounder and squid ready to grab frozen.

Fitting for a favorite of Daecheonhang Fish Market, Nokdo Susan let us browse and choose everything in one spot — live fish, prawns, crab, squid, abalone, shellfish.

100% hand-filleting, now in its second generation

After a long look around, what we picked was "one good-sized flounder." And this is where it got interesting.

The filleting process at Nokdo Susan is completely divided into stations. Outside, the female owner quickly baskets the fish and seafood customers pick and sends it inside, where three people handle rough prep, slicing, and packing in sequence. Stepping into the back work area, everyone's job was so clearly split it felt like a tiny sashimi factory (haha), hands moving in perfect rhythm.

He said he took over the family business from his parents and is now running it as second generation — 40 years of accumulated skill doesn't come out of nowhere. A lot of places slice sashimi by machine these days, but this shop is 100% hand-done. Yet the owner's knife moved so fast I wondered, "isn't this faster than a machine?"😂 A few passes of the blade and suddenly the whole flounder had become neat rows of sashimi. The kids were fascinated too, standing still beside him and gasping the whole time.^^

Packed with plenty of ice, plus a free serving of sea squirt

After we picked the flounder, the owner threw in a few sea squirts for free. He cleaned the fresh sea squirt, packed it separately, and even included chojang sauce — an unexpected extra that made it even nicer.

Once the fillets were finished, he wiped off the moisture, sliced everything to an even thickness, and packed it neatly. I liked the packing process too. He filled the cooler generously with ice so the sashimi would stay cold during the trip, and at the end even made a carrying handle out of tape. It might sound minor, but small touches like this make a real difference while traveling. For anyone who has to carry sashimi from Boryeong all the way back to their accommodation, "a shop that packs properly" is a genuine advantage.

Opening the flounder package: why does this sashimi look so glossy?

When we got back to the accommodation and opened the package, that was honestly our first reaction.

Why is this sashimi glowing like that?

We hadn't even turned on any extra lighting, but the surface of the snow-white flounder sashimi had this glossy sheen running through it.

It already looked neat and pretty in the package, but plated up it looked even more appetizing. Spread out wide, white and translucent, the flounder sashimi had this shy, bride-like quality to it.😂

Looking closer, the slices were neither too thick nor too thin, and when I picked up a piece it held its shape firmly instead of going limp. Just the bounce I felt lifting it with chopsticks already raised my expectations!

How the flounder sashimi tastes: chewy first, then sweet

The first bite was soft, then immediately "chewy!" — a springy texture kicked in right away.

It wasn't the kind of sashimi that's tough to chew through — a few bites in, the texture softened and that gentle flounder sweetness slowly rose up. Barely any fishy smell, clean and mild, but the more you chewed the more savory and sweet it got. That's the fun of eating truly fresh white fish. Chewing slowly on a single piece of sashimi, it's such a small thing but somehow made me happy.😊

My kids love sashimi too, and that day the chopsticks from all four of us barely stopped. At just over 2kg, it wasn't a small portion either — at first I thought, "can we really finish all this?" but watching the plate empty in no time made me laugh.

The sea squirt the owner gave us was fresh too.

The orange flesh was soft and plump, and biting into it released a briny, fragrant ocean flavor that went perfectly between bites of flounder sashimi.

Flounder over seasoned vinegar rice turns the room into a sushi bar

Beyond eating the sashimi plain, there's one more course my family never skips: chodaeribap (vinegared sushi rice)!

A bite-sized ball of sweet-and-sour seasoned rice, a tiny dab of wasabi, then a thick slice of flounder on top. Dip it into my husband's "super special soy sauce blend" and it's done. Pop the little homemade nigiri off the spoon in one bite and the subtle tang of the rice, the mild sweetness of the flounder, and the sharp kick of wasabi arrive in sequence. It matched even better than eating the sashimi plain, with the flounder's sweetness coming through more clearly.

"Wait, are we still at our accommodation?" It felt like a fancy sushi restaurant had briefly materialized in front of us.😂 In the end we kept making sushi bite after bite until we'd cleared the entire flounder.

Is Nokdo Susan worth it? A home cook's verdict

Daecheonhang Fish Market has so many sashimi shops that it's hard to know where to buy from on a first visit. Nokdo Susan was a genuinely good experience from start to finish — the fun of picking fresh seafood in person, the friendly owner, the fast hand-filleting, and the careful packing. Watching the skill built up over two generations was especially fun to see up close.

But in the end, what matters most is whether the sashimi actually tastes good — and the chewy, tender, increasingly sweet flounder had the whole family satisfied. If you're looking for a Boryeong sashimi restaurant, a Daecheonhang sashimi spot, or trying to decide where to pack sashimi from at Daecheonhang Fish Market, Nokdo Susan is worth a stop. It's somewhere we'd like to come back to next time we're craving fresh sashimi in Boryeong.😊