Late-night 1.16kg snow crab at a Gijang Market restaurant in Busan

Why pick Gijang Myeongpum Daegae among the crab restaurants at Gijang Market?

Whenever I pass by Gijang Market, I think about how many great crab restaurants there are around here. Since the neighborhood is so famous for snow crab, there's no shortage of options, but when you actually go to eat crab, the price can feel intimidating. Since crab isn't a menu item where weight or market price is immediately obvious, I always worry about getting ripped off, and I've heard stories of places playing tricks with the weighing, so it's not something I go out of my way to eat often. So when picking a Gijang Market restaurant, I'm especially careful about crab places, and today's spot, Gijang Myeongpum Daegae, turned out to be a place with relatively honest pricing and a reasonable setup that let me enjoy crab without the usual worry. It's been a while since I could focus on the food itself rather than price anxiety, so I'm recording this Gijang Market restaurant visit.

Where Gijang Myeongpum Daegae is and what the storefront looks like

Gijang Myeongpum Daegae sits in the section of Gijang Market packed with crab restaurants, so it wasn't hard to find. Walking around, you'll see crab restaurants lined up wall to wall, but Gijang Myeongpum Daegae stood out for its sheer size even from the outside. A big "Myeongpum Daegae" sign and a large crab-shaped sculpture mounted above the building catch your eye from far away. Of all the Gijang Market restaurants I checked out nearby, this one looked the biggest and most polished, and there was a long tank at the entrance where you could check the condition of the crabs and king crabs before going in.

Walking further in, you'll find even more large tanks than what's visible from outside. True to a Gijang Market restaurant famous for crab, the tanks were quite sizable, holding not just snow crab but red crab and king crab as well. It wasn't just a couple of crabs on display — every tank was packed full, which made for a satisfying sight, and being able to check their condition with your own eyes was a plus.

Weighing the crab without the basket: a 52,000 won difference

What I liked most about this place was how transparent the weighing process was. The crab I picked that day, placed on the scale without a basket, came out to exactly 1.16kg, priced at ₩80,000 per kg for a total of ₩92,800. But for comparison, when I put it on the scale together with the basket, the weight jumped to 1.82kg, and at the same unit price that would come out to ₩145,600. Just by including one basket, the difference comes to a whopping ₩52,800. Since crab prices are determined by weight, this kind of thing tends to bother me, and Gijang Myeongpum Daegae's practice of weighing only the crab itself, without any basket-padding trick to inflate the price, definitely earned my trust.

Is Gijang Myeongpum Daegae big enough for family or group meals?

The interior was, as suggested by the exterior, quite spacious. The tables weren't packed too tightly, and there were plenty of large tables good for seating a group, making it a fine option for a family gathering or group meal. Even though I visited fairly late, there were still quite a few customers, and I noticed a lot of foreign tourists in particular. Since Gijang Market itself draws a lot of tourists, there were plenty of foreign visitors here for crab, and I also spotted several families eating together. Overall, the place felt spacious and clean, and among Gijang Market restaurants, it seemed like a good choice for bringing your parents or hosting a family gathering.

What the 5,000 won per person self-serve bar includes

There's a self-serve bar here for ₩5,000 per person, and honestly, at first glance it wasn't a huge buffet-style spread. But looking closer, it was solidly filled with items that go well with crab — stir-fried dishes, fried items, kimchi, and salad. Once you start grabbing a little of this and that, you end up reaching for it more than expected, and it's especially good for filling up a bit before the crab arrives.

I grabbed a bit of everything from the self-serve bar, and overall it was decent enough. From salads and pasta to fried items, corn, and stir-fried dishes, it was good for whetting your appetite before the crab arrives. Nothing stood out especially, but it was more than enough for a light bite of variety.

Steamed snow crab served pre-cleaned, plus a free abalone

Finally, the main event — the steamed crab — arrived, and it looked the part from the moment it landed on the table. The legs and body came almost fully cleaned, so I didn't have to wrestle with the shell, and with a big plate piled high with orange crab, it definitely had the presence of a main dish. The crab shell was served separately so I could easily get to the innards, and on top of that, they threw in one whole abalone as a complimentary item, making the spread feel even more generous. I'd been bracing myself for a messy hands-on cleaning session eating crab at a Gijang Market restaurant, but with everything already prepped for easy eating, I could just focus on the crab itself.

How much meat the 1.16kg snow crab yielded, and how it tasted

From the first bite, I could tell the meat yield was solid. Cracking open the leg shells, the meat was packed in without gaps, and it was substantial enough to pull out in long strands. It wasn't a case of a big shell with barely anything inside — every leg I ate had a satisfying amount of meat. The texture was moist and springy rather than dry, and the crab's mild sweetness and savory saltiness came through nicely. The body section also had plenty of meat, which made picking it apart enjoyable, and overall the condition was good enough that it really felt like eating crab at a proper Gijang Market restaurant.

The complimentary abalone

The abalone given as a complimentary item wasn't the small kind usually tossed into samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) — it was satisfyingly large and plump. The meat was chewy yet tender, and even the innards had a nice savory flavor, so I ate every bit of it without waste. Getting a proper whole abalone as a freebie was quite impressive.

Finishing with crab-shell fried rice and crab doenjang stew

I wrapped things up, as always, with crab-shell fried rice and doenjang stew (soybean paste stew). The rice, fried right in the crab shell, was properly infused with the savory, salty flavor of the innards, and the flying fish roe on top popped as I ate, making every last spoonful delicious. The doenjang stew that came alongside was also excellent — with crab inside, the broth was much more refreshing and deeply savory than a regular doenjang stew. Right as the crab started to feel a bit heavy, a hot spoonful of that stew cleared my palate completely.

A meal where the joy of eating far outweighed the hassle of cracking shells

Verdict on Gijang Myeongpum Daegae in Gijang, Busan

There are so many crab restaurants around Gijang Market that it's hard to decide where to go, but Gijang Myeongpum Daegae satisfied me on both price and overall composition. Above all, seeing the crab weighed accurately without a basket built trust right from the start, and the crab that came out really did have a solid meat yield, so it genuinely felt like getting proper crab at a fair price. The cleaning was done neatly for easy eating, so there was no need to wrestle with the shell, and the finish — with the complimentary abalone, self-serve bar, crab-shell fried rice, and refreshing crab doenjang stew — was great too. The restaurant itself was spacious and clean, making it well suited not just for bringing your parents but also for group dinners with several people. If you want to ease the price worry while still enjoying crab properly at a Gijang Market restaurant, this is a place worth coming back to.