Incheon sashimi restaurant with thick-cut flounder: Veteran Guwol

The weather's been getting cooler lately, and I kept craving good seasonal hoe (raw fish), so I went hunting for a well-known sashimi restaurant in Guwol-dong. This time I visited Veteran General Fish Market Incheon Guwol Branch, a place that nails both value and taste with fresh live-fish sashimi and a generous all-you-can-eat self-bar! Here's my honest, thorough review.

How to get to Veteran General Fish Market: walking from Yesulhoegwan Station, basement parking

Veteran General Fish Market Incheon Guwol Branch is just 471m from Exit 6 of Yesulhoegwan Station on Incheon Subway Line 1, so it's an easy walk. If you're driving, there's convenient basement parking right in the building, making it stress-free to visit by car. If the lot fills up, you can use the nearby Guwol Agricultural Wholesale Market parking lot instead. Close to the station with solid parking support, it's a perfect spot for gatherings or company dinners.

Veteran General Fish Market Incheon Guwol Branch / 22 Inha-ro 507beon-gil, 102-ho, Namdong-gu, Incheon, South Korea / Daily 11:00 – 03:00

The fish tanks were kept spotlessly clean, and all kinds of fish, live squid, and seafood were stored fresh.

Inside Veteran General Fish Market: group tables and terrace seats

Walking inside, I was greeted by a space far more spacious and open than I expected. It's one of the roomiest sashimi restaurants I've seen in Guwol-dong, with clean standard tables, spacious group seating, and even atmospheric terrace seats. We visited on a weekday evening and the big space was still packed with customers, so I could really feel how popular this place is.

What makes this place extra special is that they use only fresh live fish, hand-picked from the dawn market every single day. They serve seasonal seafood at its peak and in its best condition, so you're never taking a risk on freshness no matter when you visit. Lately it's been getting a lot of buzz for its in-season gizzard shad and savory daeha shrimp!

The menu is really varied, so it was nice being able to try a bunch of different things. The prices aren't intimidating either, which makes it a great spot for gatherings. For anyone visiting during the day, I hear there's also a well-put-together, budget-friendly lunch special, so I'd recommend it for lunch too.

What's in the self-bar? Unlimited kimchi pancake, ramyeon and sujebi

The hidden charm of Veteran General Fish Market Incheon Guwol Branch is its well-stocked self-bar corner.

• Unlimited kimchi pancake: there's batter set up at the self-bar so you can grill your own golden, crispy kimchi pancake (kimchijeon) as much as you like before the hoe arrives.
• Unlimited ramyeon and sujebi noodles: for anyone ordering the spicy fish stew, there's unlimited instant ramyeon noodles and hand-torn sujebi noodles at the self-bar. Loading the spicy, fiery broth up with sujebi and ramyeon really fills you up!

The basic side dishes were kept nice and clean too, so I could help myself to as much as I wanted without feeling awkward about it — very satisfying.

Flounder sashimi sliced thick, not as bone-in sekkoshi

Out of the various seasonal options, we finally decided on flounder sashimi (도다리회). Usually flounder is served as sekkoshi — sliced bone-in — so that's mostly all I've had before, but here it came sliced thick like regular sashimi instead of sekkoshi! It had a completely different kind of charm.

The basic side dishes were also well put together, just the right selection to actually eat. When there are too many dishes but nothing worth eating, you end up not touching them, but here the lineup was really solid. The grilled saury in particular was well-seasoned and had an amazing nutty flavor.

I picked up a piece of the flounder sashimi with my chopsticks and tasted it — the texture was incredibly springy and chewy, it was art! The more I chewed, the more the flounder's signature nutty, sweet flavor spread through my mouth, and thanks to it being live fish delivered fresh every dawn, there was zero fishy smell or off taste, just an explosion of umami.

It instantly made sense why so many people rave about the flounder sashimi at this Guwol-dong sashimi restaurant. If you visit, I highly recommend trying the regular-cut flounder sashimi alongside the sekkoshi version!

Best ways to eat the flounder sashimi at Veteran Guwol

Topped with pollack roe on seaweed, it's delicious! Wrapped in white kimchi (baek-kimchi), the crunchy texture pairs amazingly with the springy sashimi! It's good no matter how you eat it, so make sure to try the flounder sashimi!

Dessert coffee and ice cream to finish

After enjoying the sashimi, the finish was perfect too. In one corner of the restaurant, there was a neatly set-up dessert coffee machine and sweet ice cream. Finishing off the meal with a scoop of sweet ice cream after all that raw fish left me feeling great. If you're looking for a Guwol-dong sashimi restaurant that checks all three boxes — fresh quality sashimi, a generous self-bar, and friendly service — definitely visit Veteran General Fish Market Incheon Guwol Branch! You'll get a satisfying meal you won't regret.