4-person sashimi platter with free crab tempura in Cheonan: Donghae

Today I'm introducing Donghae Bada Hoetjip, a seafood restaurant in Dujeong-dong, Cheonan.

Donghae Bada Hoetjip / Hours ⏰ Daily 11:30–22:00 / Parking 🚘 Free / 🚻 Separate restrooms for men and women / ✅ Local currency accepted

Free parking, and a bus works too

We took a bus from the station, but it would've been a nice walk too! The building is pretty big, right?!

The parking lot is quite spacious!! You can park comfortably. Since it's big and free, I'd actually recommend driving here.

Being a seafood restaurant, there's a big fish tank — I guess you'd call it that? It was pretty large.

Walking into the store, there was decor and signage worth looking at. We checked it out on the way in.

Private rooms and a spacious open hall

Going further in, the space is pretty large. There are private rooms as well as an open area, so it seemed great not just for family meals but for work dinners too.

The menu is posted and each table has a tablet, so ordering is easy. Looked like they had grilled shrimp too — I'm planning to come back just for that🙂↕️ We ordered the mixed sashimi platter plus seafood stew for four.

A course you could fill up on from the banchan alone

After ordering, they bring out seaweed soup first. It was a generous portion and, true to a seafood restaurant, nicely refreshing.

They gave us jeon (savory pancake), silkworm pupae, and salad. The jeon was just the right chewy, and the salad was fresh and tasty! I can't eat silkworm pupae, so I can't really say how that was 😅

They also gave us grilled fish, which was delicious. Not sure what kind it was, but it was tasty!!

Surprisingly, they also served boiled pork (suyuk). It was tender, and the dried radish side was really good. All the banchan were so good that you have to watch out — you might fill up before the sashimi even arrives, haha.

So how does the mixed sashimi platter come out?

Finally, the sashimi arrived. Doesn't it look amazing? There were three types of red-fleshed fish in the center, with matching types symmetrically arranged on either side.

Putting everyone's opinions together, these two were the best. Three out of the four of us preferred the red-fleshed fish, and one preferred the more basic white fish! Bottom line: it was all delicious, haha. Instead of just piling the sashimi up, they arranged it neatly on a pretty stone — doesn't that look great? Somehow it tastes even better when it's presented nicely!

This is how the whole table looked. We really ate it all up, deliciously and thoroughly.

Round two: seafood stew, prepped for you

Once we'd eaten for a while, they brought out the seafood stew (haemul-tang) — the portion was huge. It was loaded with all kinds of seafood.

They came by and prepped it for us to some extent. Things like abalone are tricky to clean yourself, so having staff prep it right there made it much easier to enjoy. The broth was refreshing and the seafood varied — perfect as round two after the sashimi!

The crab tempura you get for writing a review

If you write a review, they also give you crab tempura. This thing is a gem. You have to try it!! Crispy outside, with moist crab meat inside — so good!!

Lastly, the restrooms are separate for men and women, and clean too! Easy to use.

Was the price worth it?

When I first looked it up, the price felt a bit steep for me, so I was a little worried — seafood restaurants can really overcharge sometimes 🥲 So I was pretty nervous, but from the very first banchan everything was so good that the price didn't feel disappointing. Out of all the seafood restaurants I've been to, this had the neatest, most polished-looking sashimi.

The sashimi portion was a little on the small side, but with the generous seafood stew and other side dishes, looking at it as a whole course, I felt properly full and satisfied! The restrooms are clean and separated by gender, and with private rooms available, it's a great spot for family meals or work dinners too!! I'd recommend Donghae Bada Hoetjip for enjoying sashimi and seafood stew comfortably.