Grilled prawns at Neoul, a Gongdeok sashimi restaurant in Seoul

I've come back to Neoul often because not just the aged sashimi but all the other dishes are so good! They now have the trendy grilled prawns and raw prawn sashimi too, and they've opened up the big windows for open-air seating, so highly recommend for anyone who wants that vibe. I booked for 6:30pm on Naver but the open-air tables were already full haha. Here's our recap of three girls demolishing 4 dishes.

Where Neoul Gongdeok Direct Branch is and when it opens

Neoul Gongdeok Direct Branch is at 1F, 2 Saechang-ro 6-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, a 1-minute walk from Exit 10 of Gongdeok Station. Hours are Monday–Saturday 16:30–01:00.

It's close to the Gongdeok Station galmaegisal (pork skirt steak) alley and the Gongdeok jokbal (pig's trotters) street, so it's great for a first and second round. There's a wait starting around 7pm, so book ahead, and if you want the outdoor seats you should get there before 6pm!

Open-window outdoor tables and parking at Neoul Gongdeok

Neoul Gongdeok Direct Branch's most popular seats are the open-air ones with the big windows thrown wide. We had a 6:30pm reservation and it was already full.

The weather's been so nice lately that the windows were wide open — such a refreshing look! Neoul is a real find for open-air seafood dining near Gongdeok Station. I really wanted that spot but it was already taken, damn it. As you can see, there's no parking right in front, but you can use the Modu's Parking Lot app to park at 'Hi Parking Airport Railroad Gongdeok Station branch' for ₩1,800 an hour, just FYI.

This is the interior around 10pm. The dishes come out generously as full platters, and the tables were nice and wide.

Neoul Gongdeok Direct Branch menu and prices

I love places with lots of menu variety, and this place has enough to go straight into round two — passed with flying colors haha.

• Grilled prawns Medium ₩45,000 from / Large ₩65,000 from (market price)
• Raw prawns & butter-grilled heads (10–15 prawns) ₩38,000
• Aged sashimi platter Small (2 people) ₩55,000 / Medium (3 people) ₩75,000 / Large (4 people) ₩95,000 (complimentary clam soup)
• Seafood platter Small (2 people) ₩42,000 / Medium (3 people) ₩62,000
• Steamed seafood Small (2 people) ₩45,000
• Whelk soup / freshwater shrimp spicy soup / clam hot pot / abalone-clam wine steam / clam soup ₩20,000–₩30,000
• Scallops steamed or raw ₩35,000
• Abalone steamed or raw ₩28,000
• Mul-hoe (cold raw fish soup) ₩28,000
• Abalone intestine udon ₩23,000
• Cooked squid sashimi ₩23,000
• Spicy pollock roe steam ₩23,000
• Octopus minari pancake ₩18,000
• Rice cake tteokbokki / jjapa fries / spicy clam ramyeon / pineapple sherbet ₩8,000–₩9,000

Started off with a refreshing lemon highball~

Aged sashimi platter for two, 55,000 won — enough for three

We ordered the small aged sashimi platter first, and it came out as a generous full spread. It's sized for two but the amount of sashimi was... seriously great value!! The quality was so good too — my friend who came late from overtime said she had no appetite, but after eating the sashimi she went 'oh, turns out I did have an appetite' haha. It's cured and aged at low temperature, so the umami was excellent and the texture was top notch.

Lots of side dishes to go with it too, great great. We wrapped it in gim (seaweed) and perilla leaves — there was also a soybean-powder minari (water dropwort) salad that went perfectly with it. It also came with cho-deri-bap (vinegared soy sauce rice), which made it even more filling.

Grilled prawns so fresh they were still flapping

I've had raw prawn sashimi many times already, so today we went for the grilled prawns instead! The portion was huge and they were so fresh. The prawns were flapping around so hard haha, my friend had to hold the lid down.

Their strength was no joke haha. I went to Haemulgiwa near Gongdeok Station for raw prawn sashimi before, but this place has way better value and the prawns seem bigger!! If I'd known earlier I would've come here for raw prawn sashimi too — a bit of a shame.

That gorgeous orange color... they were so big that even after shrinking a bit, they were still chunky with plump, plump meat. Who needs the beach?!

Butter-grilled prawn heads for 3,000 won more

Pay ₩3,000 extra and they'll butter-grill the heads like this! The staff kindly explained an easy way to crack them open. One of my friends said it was her first time trying butter-grilled prawn heads and was like, 'wait, it's THIS good?' haha. Crispy and so delicious~

Round two: octopus and minari pancake with pineapple sherbet

Let's keep going here for round two~ so we ordered pineapple sherbet and octopus minari pancake. As an octopus fanatic, the octopus minari pancake was insanely good. We were already stuffed from the aged sashimi and grilled prawns but somehow kept eating, lol. Neoul is already famous as a go-to spot for aged sashimi near Gongdeok Station in Mapo, and I've been back often, but this time I wanted to try the grilled prawns too and soak up some outdoor dining vibes~ such a satisfying revisit!