Songnae Station seafood restaurant in Bucheon: salt-grilled prawns

[Bucheon] Veteran General Fish Market | Seasonal grilled salt shrimp at a Songnae Station raw fish restaurant

Today I'm introducing Veteran General Fish Market Bucheon Songnae Branch, a well-loved raw fish restaurant near Songnae Station. Veteran General Fish Market has quite a few branches, and I'd always noticed the Songnae branch was packed whenever I passed by, so I'd been wanting to try it. And you can't talk about autumn without seasonal raw shrimp, right? While looking for a place near Songnae Station to eat seasonal raw shrimp, I found this spot and went to try the delicious grilled salt shrimp and fresh sashimi myself!

Where is Veteran General Fish Market Bucheon Songnae Branch, and where do you park?

Veteran General Fish Market Bucheon Songnae Branch is at 21 Buil-ro 199beon-gil, Wonmi-gu, Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, 1st floor, right in front of the Bandal public parking lot by Songnae Station. Hours are 11:00 - 22:30, with a break time from 15:00 - 16:00. If you're driving, I'd recommend the nearby Bandal public parking lot — ₩900 for the first 30 minutes, ₩500 per additional 70 minutes, up to ₩9,500 max.

Veteran General Fish Market Bucheon Songnae Branch, right in front of the Bandal public parking lot by Songnae Station.

It's close to Songnae Station so it's easy to get to, and with the public parking lot right out front, it was also convenient to visit by car.

I came to eat some grilled salt shrimp to welcome autumn ✨

Inside Veteran General Fish Market: main hall and group seating

At Veteran General Fish Market Bucheon Songnae Branch you go up a staircase to reach the restaurant, and going up half a floor further gets you to group seating in the back. Even on a weekday evening it was completely full.

Right from the entrance you get that cozy neighborhood raw fish restaurant feel.

The fish tanks are kept nice and clean too.

The inside was bigger than I expected, and even on a weekday evening it was full of office workers enjoying sashimi with a drink!

Going up half a floor, there's group seating in the back too — it seems like a popular spot for company dinners and gatherings.

What's on the menu: jeoneo (gizzard shad) and seasonal prawns

There's a wide range of raw fish sashimi options and set menus, plus all kinds of seafood and side dishes. There's a lot to choose from and it seemed like good value for money!

They also had jeoneo (gizzard shad) sashimi and grilled jeoneo, a classic autumn treat!

And the reason I came today — the seasonal shrimp menu! You could choose from mini, small, or medium sizes, which made it easy to order according to the number of people and how much you wanted.

Salt-grilled king prawns, small 400g, 30,000 won

The small grilled salt shrimp (400g) is ₩30,000. They came out fresh, still flipping around. Seeing the live shrimp made me feel a little bad, but... my mouth was watering too 😂

The delicious grilled salt shrimp was ready 🤤 The shrimp were plump and fresh, so sweet.

Mini red seabream sashimi, 35,000 won, cut maskkawa style with the skin on

The mini red seabream sashimi is ₩35,000. I thought ordering the mini size would mean a small portion, but it was surprisingly generous — great value.

I especially love eating red seabream maskkawa style (skin-on), and it came that way by default — such a nice touch.

With delicious grilled salt shrimp and red seabream sashimi, you obviously need some soju too 😆

Free side dishes and the self-serve kimchi pancake bar

The basic side dishes at Veteran General Fish Market Bucheon Songnae Branch include pollack roe, corn cheese, seaweed soup, and seasoned raw fish. There's also a spot in the vegetable self-bar corner where you can make your own kimchi jeon (kimchi pancake).

The pollack roe that comes as a basic side dish, combined with minced garlic chili and sesame oil, is seriously so good 🤤

The corn cheese, seaweed soup, and seasoned raw fish were all great quality. Sometimes seaweed soup at raw fish restaurants can taste fishy so I don't usually go for it, but here I even went back for seconds 🤤

And at Veteran Songnae Branch, there's a spot in the vegetable self-bar corner where you make your own kimchi jeon! You get to pan-fry it your own way and show off your skills, which made it fun 😂

Even if you pan-fry it carelessly, the kimchi jeon batter turns out delicious, so it's perfect as a drinking snack! My partner and I each made a pancake — can you guess which one is mine? 〰️👀

A heart made out of the delicious shrimp 🧡

Don't skip the butter-grilled prawn heads

The shrimp heads can be gathered up separately and butter-grilled.

The butter-grilled shrimp, cooked golden in butter, was savory and crispy — the best. It's a delicacy you have to try at the end after eating the shrimp 🤤

Busy pulling off the shrimp head horns 😂 Pop it out and eat it in one bite — that savory, crispy taste, you know it?

Finishing with spicy fish stew, 8,000 won

The spicy fish stew is ₩8,000 and came out in a big, generous pot. It was great that you could add as much instant noodles as you wanted from the self-bar too.

Honestly, the fish stew at raw fish restaurants is often a letdown, but this place was a fish stew standout 🤤 There was plenty of fish bone in it, so the longer it simmered, the richer the broth got — the soju really kept flowing! I got to enjoy sashimi, shrimp, and fish stew all in one satisfying meal!

Is Veteran General Fish Market worth a trip to Songnae Station?

After visiting Veteran General Fish Market Bucheon Songnae Branch myself, I understood why it's so popular in the neighborhood. The freshness of everything, from the sashimi to the seafood, was really good, and even the mini-size red seabream impressed me with its maskkawa presentation and quality. I also loved being able to enjoy the seasonal grilled salt shrimp, the butter-grilled shrimp, and the fish stew all together. It's a great place to visit when you want to enjoy fresh sashimi generously at a reasonable price, and I'd definitely want to come back. If you're looking for a raw fish restaurant near Songnae Station for a group dinner or gathering, I recommend Veteran!