Mangwon sashimi spot: squid, rockfish, clam-broth stew, Mapo Bamdada

I finally got back to Mapo Bamdada (마포밤바다), a sashimi restaurant in Mangwon! It's a great place for live squid in Seoul, and it's squid season, so I went to eat some~ Honestly, nowhere in Mangwon beats this place for raw fish! Here's my honest review.

Where is Mapo Bamdada, and is there parking?

Mapo Bamdada is a sashimi restaurant on the big Woldeukeop-ro road between Mangwon Station and Mapo-gu Office Station, less than a 5-minute walk from Mapo-gu Office Station. It's open daily from 12 p.m. to 1 a.m., closing at midnight on Wednesdays only.

This is my go-to when I want good-value sashimi around Mangwon~ They scoop the fish straight out of the tank out front, so it's very fresh every time!

It's a bit closer to Mapo-gu Office Station. There's no parking, since it sits on a big main road (sad face). They tell you to use a nearby public parking lot.

Does Mapo Bamdada have an omakase sashimi set?

Besides à la carte items like mixed sashimi, mulhoe (cold raw fish soup), live squid and yellowtail, Mapo Bamdada also has an omakase set. I usually order the mixed sashimi set, mulhoe, live squid or yellowtail, but next time I really want to try this omakase!

The free side dishes are already huge, so if I added omakase on top I'd probably walk out about to burst. haha

Inside Mapo Bamdada: atmosphere and seating

The inside has a warm, homey neighborhood sashimi place feel, and even early in the evening it was full except for one table. It's known as a Mangwon-dong favorite, so there may be a wait on weekend evenings!

If you push the tables together, it looks like they can seat a group of up to 12! It's not the kind of Mangwon sashimi place for quietly drinking alone, though!

There's one more table further inside. Some customers also take sashimi to go!

Mapo Bamdada menu and prices

On the menu, the omakase mixed sashimi for 2 with fried shrimp and spicy fish stew is ₩58,000, and 2 live squid are ₩45,000. The nice part is that you can also pick 1 live squid plus a fish of your choice!

• Omakase mixed sashimi + fried shrimp + spicy fish stew ₩58,000
• Live squid ₩45,000
• Live squid + sashimi of your choice ₩53,000
• Mackerel sashimi ₩35,000
• Live mackerel sashimi + flounder/plaice/salmon ₩55,000

• Large flounder / olive flounder ₩55,000
• Salmon ₩48,000
• Mullet ₩48,000
• Striped beakfish ₩85,000
• Mulhoe for 1 (meal size) ₩15,000
• Mulhoe for 2-3 ₩45,000
• Spicy fish stew ₩8,000
• Seafood ramyeon ₩8,000

There's a ton more on the menu too!

Lunch specials near Mapo-gu Office Station

There are also lots of lunch specials where one person can eat for about ₩10,000. I'd recommend Mapo Bamdada as a lunch spot for office workers near Mapo-gu Office Station. Mulhoe for 1 is ₩15,000, a great-value lunch near Mapo-gu Office!

Live squid + rockfish set and the free side dishes

This time I ordered the live squid + sashimi of my choice (rockfish) for ₩55,000. Once everything I ordered was gathered, the table was totally packed. Mapo Bamdada's spread is really generous!

Here are the free sides that come when you order sashimi at Mapo Bamdada.

• Clam soup
• Seasoned chamnamul (a wild herb)
• Braised half-dried pollack with bean sprouts
• Mulhoe (cold raw fish soup)
• Soy sauce shrimp
• Salad
• Corn
• Aged kimchi
• Seaweed
• Sushi

The free sides are so good~~ Every single one was tasty!!! The clam soup was so refreshing that I kept eating it until the very end.

Sides like the braised pollack, mulhoe and soy sauce shrimp feel like main dishes, so I got extra full! They kept refilling the aged kimchi, seaweed and salad whenever we ran low!

How do Mapo Bamdada's live squid and rockfish sashimi taste?

The live squid sashimi at Mapo Bamdada was clear in color and pleasantly chewy, and eating it with the rockfish kept it from getting boring. I came to this squid spot in Seoul for the in-season squid.

Look how clear the squid is!! Smooth and chewy, I ate it by the handful!! It was fresh to the eyes and to the mouth!

Rockfish, which I really love~ I just love rockfish sashimi, so it tastes great to me wherever I eat it!

If I'd had 2 squid only, I'd probably have gotten a bit tired of it, but with 1 squid and rockfish together, picking between them made it really fun and delicious!

Best wrap combinations for live squid and rockfish

There were lots of things to wrap with, so I tried all sorts of combos. Aged kimchi + rockfish + wasabi is the best!!!

Personally, for the squid, seaweed + sushi + flying fish roe + pickled radish + wasabi was the tastiest! I can't count how many times I wrapped it that way!~~

Mapo Bamdada's raw shrimp, peeled so neatly^^ The free sides were as good as the main dishes, so I cleaned everything up. I happily ate for 2 hours, hehe.

Mapo Bamdada spicy fish stew: the clam broth tip

The spicy fish stew at Mapo Bamdada is packed with fish meat, and when the broth cooks down, you can pour in the clam soup from the free sides and keep boiling, so no extra stock is needed. You can't skip the stew after sashimi!!!

It was packed with fish meat inside. It tasted like the textbook version of the spicy stew I love. Make sure you finish with the stew after your sashimi at Mapo Bamdada!!!

My spicy stew tip!!!!! Every time the stew broth cooks down, pour in the clam soup that came as a side and keep boiling. It tastes incredible.^^ I didn't need to add any extra stock!!!

A small gift from the owner and the final verdict

When I finished and left, the owner of Mapo Bamdada gave me a thoughtful gift: a voucher for 1 bottle of alcohol and this week's lottery ticket, haha! Little surprises like this are such a joy. ^0^

I left Mapo Bamdada stuffed! It seems to be well known near Mapo-gu Office Station already, because there were customers of all ages. If you're looking for a Mangwon-dong sashimi place, I recommend Mapo Bamdada.