Group dinner for six at Rigo Susan, a Jeonpo Station sashimi

Today I visited Rigo Susan, a Jeonpo bar and Jeonpo Station favorite spot for live aged sashimi!

Rigo Susan Jeonpo branch location and hours

• Address: 13 Jeonpo-daero 216beon-gil, Busanjin-gu, Busan, 1st floor
• Location: about a 6-minute walk from Jeonpo Station
• Hours: Weekdays 17:00–01:00 / Fri–Sat 17:00–02:00
• Menu: live shrimp sashimi, assorted sashimi, mackerel roll sushi, spicy fish stew, and more

※ Hours can change, so I'd recommend double-checking before you go!

Six of us at 6pm, and the inside atmosphere

When we walked in there were a lot of people already, so I took the photo from an empty spot. As time went on the place filled right up. Such a clean interior! There were six of us, and we'd reserved for 6pm.

The complimentary popcorn snack and the water — it wasn't just plain tap water. Sign of a good restaurant.

You order the menu at your table! They had dalma shrimp sashimi too, and I really wanted to try it, drool...

Straight into a somaek (soju-beer mix) for me.

They had highballs too, so my friend who can't drink much had a plum highball. Sweet and delicious 🥹

The assorted sashimi's base spread and banchan

This is the base spread that comes with the assorted sashimi. The dishes seemed to vary a little depending on what you order! We got the live shrimp sashimi and assorted sashimi.

Once everything came out, the table was completely full. Everyone was digging in, and the okonomiyaki was a real standout snack. You know that fun of picking at the banchan (side dishes) one by one while you wait for the main sashimi at a sashimi restaurant, haha. Here they bring out a big variety, so it was perfect for snacking while we waited.

Assorted sashimi — why the salmon disappeared first

Finally, the assorted sashimi!! You can just see the freshness, can't you... especially the salmon!! Ever since I moved here I've had bad luck with salmon and my friends have teased me for even bothering to order it, but the salmon here is genuinely amazing!!! It was the first thing to disappear, haha.

A whole new level of technique.

So delicious, not fishy at all!!!!!! When sashimi is bad it gets that fishy smell and I can't eat it, but this really went down easy and tasted fresh..!!!!

Sashimi has to be with chojang (vinegar chili sauce), right?

Live shrimp sashimi still twitching on the plate

And then the moment we'd been waiting for, the live shrimp sashimi 🦐 wait, the shrimp were actually alive, haha. They were literally still twitching on the plate — you could see the freshness with your own eyes. Freshness doesn't even begin to describe it... My friends who'd never had live shrimp sashimi before were shocked and took photos, haha.

Can you see the tail still twitching..? Poor thing, but into my mouth it goes...

And that's the full spread!!! This is exactly the kind of spread I wanted. The shrimp were in season too, I think, because they were delicious and had that satisfying bouncy texture...

They fry the shrimp heads for you

Once you cut off the shrimp heads, they'll fry them up for you. They told us that if you cut them with scissors a lot of the meat falls off, so it's better to pull them apart by hand, but my friend just went at it with scissors anyway.

And here comes the fried shrimp! It's basically shrimp chips in real life. My husband, who normally can't eat shrimp heads, said this was delicious and finished it all.

Finishing with spicy fish stew

And of course, spicy fish stew 🔥 It always feels like something's missing if you don't finish a sashimi meal with maeuntang (spicy fish stew), but this one was delicious too.

Look at how packed it is with ingredients.

Spicy and with a rich broth, it was the perfect way to wrap up the sashimi! We kept saying we were full, but then the stew arrived and we were all eating again anyway, haha.

The mackerel roll sushi exceeded expectations

And the thing that exceeded expectations was the mackerel roll sushi!! Insanely good, ugh. The distinctive mackerel flavor was there but hardly any fishy taste, and eating it with the rice brought out this savory, umami richness — but since there were six of us, we each got just one piece and it was gone. Next time I'm coming with just one other person. We ordered it almost as an afterthought, a side dish, but it ended up being one of the most memorable things we had. If you go to Rigo Susan, I'd definitely recommend ordering the mackerel roll sushi too!!

To sum up

This is a Jeonpo Station favorite for live aged sashimi that's great for a proper full sashimi meal, but also works as a Jeonpo bar for something simpler!!! Overall, the freshness was great across the board — from the live shrimp to the assorted sashimi — and I was especially happy that the sashimi had almost no fishy taste. The banchan came in a good variety too, and the mackerel roll sushi and spicy fish stew were both delicious, so the menu combination worked really well!

If you're looking for a place to eat live shrimp sashimi in Jeonpo, or just a sashimi restaurant in Jeonpo in general, Rigo Susan is worth a visit 🦐🐟 Next time I go, I'm definitely ordering the live shrimp sashimi and the mackerel roll sushi again, no question, haha.