Nampo tuna restaurant with tuna belly and special cuts: Ppong Sashimi

Ppong Sashimi (뽕사시미) is a Japanese restaurant in Nampo, Busan, where a chef with 30 years of experience personally sources fresh sashimi and seafood every dawn. The table was so full it nearly bent under the food, and I was amazed. If you want a special meal during a Busan trip, or a course restaurant to take your parents to, I really recommend it!

Where is Ppong Sashimi, and where can you park?

Ppong Sashimi sits between Busan Station and Jungangdong Station, and you park in the paid public street parking lot in front of the restaurant. It's easy to reach for travelers, and looked convenient from a hotel too!

Public transport access is good too, so it's easy to visit. It's open daily 11:30–22:00 (last order 21:00), with a break from 14:30 to 17:00. Takeout, high chairs and group seating are available.

Does Ppong Sashimi have private rooms and group seating?

The inside is split into a hall and rooms, and there's even a space that holds up to 38 people. The hall is also divided by partitions, so it feels fairly private. You don't have to worry about the next table, and your group can chat comfortably over the meal!

There are rooms for different party sizes too, and they looked great for family dinners as well as wedding-invitation gatherings or club get-togethers. With the space for up to 38, it would work perfectly for a company dinner!!

There were high chairs, so it's good for visiting with kids. On the day I went there were families, and also lots of middle-aged and older guests who seemed to be longtime regulars, which gave off a real local-favorite vibe, you know?

One wall was covered in autographs of famous visitors, from Lotte Giants players like Jeon Jun-woo and Kim Won-jung to the internationally known actress Tang Wei. Lots of stars whose names you'd recognize have been here!!

What's on the Ppong Sashimi menu?

The menu runs from lunch specials starting in the ₩20,000s to sushi, omakase, courses by price, and à la carte sashimi. This Nampo tuna restaurant had a much wider menu than I expected. There are à la carte sashimi dishes that suit a casual drink, so you can choose depending on the occasion, which I liked.

What comes in the Tuna B Course (₩60,000)?

I ordered the Tuna B Course (₩60,000) for two. It includes sushi and starters, a seafood platter, tuna sashimi, special cuts, assorted hot dishes, a rice dish and soup, and it's so generous that even two adults can hardly finish it!

Starters: abalone porridge and sushi

The B course opens with starters: a spicy seaweed soup, rich abalone porridge, cold sliced pork and a salad. The abalone porridge was nutty and deep in flavor, a perfect gentle way to open the appetite!

The sushi served alongside was better than expected too! The fish slices were long and thick, and the rice seasoning was just right. I'd like to come back just for the sushi next time, haha. The other starters, like boiled octopus and salad, each came out neatly, so it was a good start.

Soon the seafood, assorted small side dishes (skidashi) and tuna sashimi come out. I waited so I could photograph everything at once, but the next course arrives after a set gap following the starters! The staff kept coming and going, and the next dish arrived about when we finished, so we could eat comfortably.

Seafood platter: tako wasabi, sea squirt, turban shell and sweet shrimp

The B course seafood platter lays out tako wasabi (marinated raw octopus with wasabi), sea squirt, turban shell, sweet shrimp and more all at once. It looks like it's begging for a drink!

They said the chef picks the seafood himself at Jagalchi Market every morning, and it showed: neither the sea squirt nor the turban shell was fishy or less than fresh, just clean and delicious 🐚

Tuna sashimi: tuna belly is the star

The tuna sashimi in Ppong Sashimi's B course was mostly reddish tuna belly, and it was overwhelming from the look alone! Seeing the glossy tuna, I understood why so many people come here, haha.

Each piece melted the moment it hit my mouth, with no frozen smell or fishiness at all, as fresh as tuna just cut. The skill of a chef with 30 years of experience clearly shows in details like this!

The rich, fatty nuttiness balanced with a faint tang, and it was such delicious tuna.

It's good on its own, but eating it on seaweed with radish sprouts brought out much more flavor, and as the staff recommended, having it with pickles gave it another charm!!

The tuna yukhoe (Korean-style raw tuna with seasoning) served with it was delicious too. The nutty tuna and special sauce go together so well, it's a treat? A totally different charm from ordinary beef yukhoe.

Special tuna cuts: cheek and neck

The B course had tuna cheek and neck cuts that are hard to find elsewhere, and the texture was really unique. Chewy, with a nutty flavor rising the more you chew, like eating premium raw beef sashimi?! Since only a small amount comes from one tuna, it felt all the more special. If you want to properly enjoy the special cuts, go to Ppong Sashimi, the Nampo, Busan tuna spot!

Hot dishes: grilled fish, hot pot and thread-thin shrimp tempura

After the cold part of the course, hot dishes start arriving: grilled abalone, cheese scallops, cheese shrimp, grilled sea bream head, beef hot pot and shrimp tempura. These weren't filler either; every one was tasty!

The grilled abalone was tender and got nuttier the more I chewed, the cheese scallops paired salty cheese with chewy scallop beautifully, and the cheese shrimp was great thanks to the plump shrimp meat!

The grilled sea bream head had a lot of meat on it, clean yet nutty, and I was busy scraping it up with a spoon, haha.

The beef hot pot was somewhere between sukiyaki and shabu-shabu. Plenty of tender beef in a sweet broth, filling and nice!

And the hidden star of the day was the shrimp tempura. Instead of an ordinary batter, it was fried thin and crisp like threads, and the texture was insanely good. I was already full but kept reaching for it.

To finish: clear fish soup and roe rice

The B course closes with jiri-tang (clear fish soup) and a bowl of albap (rice with flying fish roe) for each person. The soup made me exclaim: cool yet deep in flavor, the kind you eat to sober up and then suddenly want a drink again. I picked up the bowl to drink it, it was that good.

In the roe rice, the popping texture of flying fish roe went well with the nutty sesame oil aroma! I was too full to finish it, but looking at it while writing this post, I regret leaving some, haha.

Is the Ppong Sashimi Tuna B Course worth it?

Ppong Sashimi, the sashimi restaurant in Nampo, Busan, isn't just about tasty tuna; the whole course is really well made. From starters to seafood, tuna, special cuts, hot dishes and the meal, nothing felt careless, and you could feel the care in every dish.

• Anyone who wants a proper Japanese course during a Busan trip
• Anyone looking for a restaurant to take their parents
• Anyone who needs a place for an important gathering

I'm happy to recommend it to all of you!