Jongno izakaya aged sashimi and sea cucumber: Parang Haenyeojip

It's been a while since I visited a restaurant in Jongno. Today's menu: seafood! Haha. I heard there was an aged sashimi spot around here so I headed straight over. Apparently it's a Korean-style izakaya where every dish — from fish aged perfectly to the season, to bossam (boiled pork wraps), crab roe soup, and whole whelk soup — is made with real care.

Where is Parang Haenyeojip Jongno Branch, and what are its hours and booking rules?

Parang Haenyeojip Jongno Branch is at 37 Ujeongguk-ro 2-gil, Jongno-gu. Hours are Sun–Thu 16:00–01:30 and Fri–Sat 16:00–02:00.

You can book through Naver or Catch Table up until 7pm; after that, you'll need to call the restaurant directly for a reservation.

The bright blue exterior of Parang Haenyeojip

Arrived at Parang Haenyeojip. This is the Jongno main branch, and apparently there's a directly-run branch in Sinsa too. The menu photos on the sign already had me drooling!

The exterior is all blue, giving off a cool, breezy sea vibe. You can tell right away it's a seafood restaurant. There's also a menu board outside so you can see everything at a glance.

Inside Parang Haenyeojip: an ocean-themed LED interior

Once inside, the walls are lined with ocean-themed LED lighting, so it genuinely feels like you've stepped onto a beach.

The atmosphere is even nicer with the indoor lighting level — really liked it, haha. And even though we arrived before 6pm, the place was already nearly full... glad we booked ahead.

What's on the menu at Parang Haenyeojip Jongno Branch?

Parang Haenyeojip has a wide range of seafood dishes.

• Assorted seafood / Assorted aged sashimi
• Haenyeo Box (aged sashimi, blanched cuttlefish, futomaki, steamed shrimp/sea squirt/scallop, steamed abalone)
• Octopus bossam / whole steamed squid / squid sashimi / cold seafood noodles (mulhoe makguksu)

They also sell sea squirt and sea cucumber as single orders, which is great for adding one on partway through the meal. Corkage is ₩10,000 per bottle of wine and ₩20,000 for whiskey!

What we ordered: assorted aged sashimi (small), sea cucumber and Jinro

A basic side of tot (hijiki seaweed) and miyeok (seaweed) comes out first, which is great to nibble on while waiting for the main dishes. Plus a mini seaweed soup on the house! That seaweed soup is seriously punchy, haha.

The water isn't plain bottled water but barley tea! Nice and nutty and refreshing.

What's in the small assorted aged sashimi platter, and how does it taste?

Today's star! The assorted aged sashimi arrived. I loved that it was mostly white-fleshed fish, which we like — probably flounder, sea bream, and mullet! A few slices of salmon came along too.

It came with lemon, wasabi, pickled radish, cabbage salad, ssamjang, and hot pepper. If any of the side dishes run out, you can ask for more — we refilled the seaweed soup and the hot peppers.

The well-aged sashimi is soft on the bite and gets sweeter the more you chew. The salmon was rich and fatty too. None of the aged sashimi had any fishy taste at all — really good, haha.

Seaweed and perilla leaves came alongside too, so you can wrap the sashimi if you like. The small size was just the right amount for two people sharing with other dishes.

Sea cucumber for 15,000 won: best dipped in sesame oil sauce

We ordered sea cucumber as an extra. The crunchy texture was so good — it's ₩15,000 and comes in a generous portion for one order. We ended up eating our fill of it that day. Cabbage salad comes alongside the sea cucumber too.

The sea cucumber was super fresh and delicious. It's good with vinegar-chili sauce too, but personally I think it's best dipped in sesame oil sauce! Just ask and they'll bring you some — definitely try the sea cucumber with sesame oil sauce. If you're looking for a Jongno restaurant known for aged sashimi, I'd recommend Parang Haenyeojip.