Mapo seafood restaurant: raw shrimp sashimi in Seoul

The mornings and evenings have been getting chilly lately. Unlike last year, when the late-summer heat was in full swing, autumn has suddenly arrived. To welcome autumn, I went for seasonal raw shrimp sashimi. I had only tried shrimp as saeu-jeot-style marinated shrimp before, so this was my first time having it as sashimi—but it was springy, sweet, delicious, and full of umami.

Mapo Bamdada near Mapo-gu Office Station

This time, I visited Mapo Bamdada (마포밤바다), a popular sashimi restaurant in Mangwon-dong. It sits between Mapo-gu Office Station and Mangwon Station, just a three-minute walk from Exit 4 of Mapo-gu Office Station.

Head straight along the main road and you will come across Mapo Bamdada near Mapo-gu Office Station. Its blue sign really stands out, even from a distance. They have raw shrimp sashimi and gizzard shad, both in season right now.

What really caught my eye was the immaculately maintained fish tank!! Plump fish were swimming inside, haha. Just seeing how well it was kept made me trust the place.

A quiet sashimi restaurant with a retro mood

Mapo Bamdada, a sashimi omakase specialist in Mangwon-dong, has wood-toned tables and is kept nice and tidy. The retro atmosphere gives it a distinctive feel, too. More than anything, I liked that it was somewhere you could actually have a quiet conversation rather than deal with a noisy dining room.

Mapo Bamdada menu and how to order

Here is the menu at Mapo Bamdada, a sashimi bar and drinking spot near Mangwon Station. There are two types of sashimi set menus as well as individual dishes, and seafood is also available separately. The sashimi selection is varied, including flounder, olive flounder, sekkoshi (bone-in sliced fish), salmon, red sea bream, sea bass, and large flounder.

There is a roulette event where everyone wins. It caught my eye because there are no losing results—you are guaranteed to score one sea squirt, haha.

You can order at the kiosk. The raw shrimp sashimi was the very first thing that caught my eye, haha.

The country-of-origin information is clearly posted, too. Other than the salmon, all the various fish are domestic. Mapo Bamdada is a place where you can eat with confidence.

The banchan spread includes mulhoe, clam soup, and braised pollock

This was the basic spread at Mapo Bamdada, a sashimi restaurant in Mangwon-dong. There was such a variety of banchan (Korean side dishes). I had come in expecting good things after seeing so many reviews praising the side dishes, and I loved that there was mulhoe (cold spicy raw-fish soup), clam soup, and braised pollock, too. The clam soup broth was refreshing, and the mulhoe had lots of fish with an incredibly refreshing broth.

After whetting my appetite with the cabbage salad.

I tried the braised pollock and, wow, the spicy seasoning and tender pollock flesh were seriously delicious.

Raw shrimp sashimi ₩49,000 Cass beer ₩5,000

We ordered raw shrimp sashimi and Cass beer. I wanted soju, but went with beer instead~ The beer actually paired surprisingly well with the raw shrimp sashimi.

Twenty raw shrimp and butter-grilled shrimp heads

The raw shrimp sashimi comes with 20 shrimp, and the removed shrimp heads are served complimentary, butter-grilled. You can enjoy a generous meal without wasting a thing.

The plump shrimp flesh had such a lovely bite, and it was so fresh with absolutely no fishiness. It was my first time trying raw shrimp sashimi, and I totally fell for the taste of fresh raw shrimp. Haha. The shrimp's signature umami made it even tastier.

I tried dipping it in chojang (sweet-spicy red chili sauce). The sweet-and-spicy chojang went beautifully with the shrimp's gentle sweetness.

With radish sprouts and seasoned sauce alongside, it was the perfect finishing touch. Having different sauces made it fun to eat. The shrimp were not small, either, so I was full by the time I was done. The butter-grilled shrimp heads were crisp and delicious, with a lovely buttery flavor.

Mapo Bamdada is a retro drinking spot near Mangwon Station and a sashimi omakase specialist where you can enjoy seasonal raw shrimp sashimi and gizzard shad. I recommend the raw shrimp sashimi at atmospheric Mapo Bamdada on a crisp autumn day.