Pick-your-own combo sashimi with perilla wraps in Guwol-dong: Veteran

With the weather turning cool lately, I kept craving raw fish with a shot of soju. Fall is prime season for gizzard shad, and I kept seeing posts about it everywhere, so this time I decided to try gizzard shad sashimi.

Veteran General Fish Market Incheon City Hall Branch: a Guwol-dong raw fish restaurant with patio seating

The place I visited is Veteran General Fish Market Incheon City Hall Branch (베테랑종합어시장 인천시청점), near Incheon City Hall. It offers a wide variety of sashimi, a fairly spacious interior, and even an outdoor patio (yajang), so it looked like a great spot to enjoy raw fish outside on a nice day.

So if you're looking for good food in Guwol-dong and want raw fish, or you're after a patio-style sashimi restaurant with atmosphere, this one might be worth checking out.

Building the small combo sashimi platter with gizzard shad and salmon

What we ordered that day was the small size combo sashimi platter. What I liked was that you can choose which types of sashimi go into the combo. After some deliberation, we picked salmon and gizzard shad.

I really wanted to try gizzard shad since it's in season right now, and I figured pairing it with soft salmon would give us two different textures to enjoy.

Once the sashimi arrived, it looked better than expected. The gizzard shad in particular had noticeably thick, plump flesh, probably because of the fall season, and the color looked fresh.

How did the fall gizzard shad sashimi taste?

What stuck with me most from this meal was definitely the gizzard shad sashimi. People say fall gizzard shad is prized for its plump flesh and nutty flavor, and eating it in person confirmed that — the flesh wasn't thin at all, it was pleasantly thick with good chew.

Above all, the distinctive nutty flavor of gizzard shad really came through, and I kept reaching for more.

Perilla leaf wraps with garlic and ssamjang from the self-serve bar

We prefer wrapping our sashimi rather than eating it plain, so we grabbed a big pile of perilla leaves from the self-serve bar. We put a piece of gizzard shad sashimi on a perilla leaf, added plenty of garlic, dipped it lightly in ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), and the combination worked really well.

We both love perilla leaves, so we kept grabbing those over other vegetables, and we both love garlic too, so we ate quite a lot of that as well. Haha.

We also tried out the self-serve bar while eating. It had various vegetables, garlic, ssamjang and more, all available to take as much as you needed. As I mentioned, we really love perilla leaves, so we mostly grabbed those. Haha.

With perilla leaf, garlic and ssamjang added to each piece of sashimi, we ended up wrapping and eating almost every bite. The gizzard shad in particular tastes great on its own, but adding perilla leaf and garlic brought out its nutty flavor alongside the fragrant herb note — a totally different experience.

The salmon sashimi on the same platter

The salmon we ordered alongside was satisfying too. First off, the color was vivid and pretty, making it look appetizing, and when we actually ate it, the soft, moist texture was great.

Gizzard shad is nutty with good chew, while salmon goes down smoothly — switching between the two, each had its own distinct charm.

The salmon in particular felt like it melted softly in the mouth, and personally I enjoyed it quite a lot. Being able to choose gizzard shad and salmon within a single combo order, mixing whatever we felt like eating that day, was another plus.

Kimchi pancake from the self-serve corner

While browsing the self-serve corner, I noticed kimchi pancake (kimchijeon) was also available, so I tried it. After eating just raw fish, having warm kimchi pancake in between turned out to go together better than expected.

Adding a crispy, savory kimchi pancake here and there made the meal feel a bit more filling, and I ended up grabbing kimchi pancake even though we came just for the sashimi. Being able to freely grab whatever side dishes you need from the self-serve bar was definitely convenient.

What the patio and dining room feel like

Something else that caught my eye while looking into this place was the outdoor patio. In cooler weather like now, having a drink with raw fish outside in the breeze rather than indoors is its own kind of treat.

During my visit, the patio space was there, and I thought it would feel pretty great on a nice day.

It seemed like a good spot for a casual drink with friends, or for grabbing sashimi and a drink after work. The interior was spacious and comfortable enough to work well for family visits, group gatherings, or company dinners too.

Veteran General Fish Market Incheon City Hall Branch serves not just salmon but flounder, rockfish, red snapper and more, and apparently offers seasonal catches depending on the time of year. We picked gizzard shad this time because that's what we wanted most that day, but choosing seasonal menu items each time sounds like fun too.

Especially for group visits, where everyone might want something different, being able to customize the combo felt convenient.

Is Veteran General Fish Market in Guwol-dong worth a visit?

While looking for good food in Guwol-dong, we visited this place and had the small combo sashimi with salmon and gizzard shad — personally, the in-season gizzard shad was the standout for me. The flesh felt thick and the nutty flavor was great, and eating it wrapped with plenty of perilla leaf and garlic was genuinely delicious.

Salmon, on the other hand, was soft and moist, with a melt-in-the-mouth texture I really liked. Adding perilla leaf, garlic and ssamjang from the self-serve bar plus the kimchi pancake on the side made for a surprisingly hearty meal.

Above all, being able to choose the composition of the sashimi meant we could enjoy both gizzard shad and salmon, our favorites, in a single order — that was satisfying.

If you're looking for a sashimi restaurant in Guwol-dong now that the weather's cooling down, going for the in-season gizzard shad is a good call, and if you want to enjoy raw fish outdoors, this patio-style spot is worth considering. Next time I visit, I'd like to try other seasonal sashimi too. If you love fall gizzard shad, definitely try it while it's in season like now. 😋