Hongdae sashimi restaurant with an English menu: Eosa Chulto

A Hongdae sashimi restaurant to visit before yellowtail season: Eosa Chulto Hongdae Branch

Eosa Chulto Hongdae Branch (어사출또 홍대점) is a sashimi restaurant on Donggyo-ro 27-gil, near Hongik Univ. Station. I went late in the evening, and walk-in customers kept coming in and delivery orders never stopped.

I'm a sea fish person rather than a land meat person. Especially flounder and yellowtail. Yellowtail season is coming back soon, yarr! I'd been buried in busy daily life and kind of forgot, but since I was in Hongdae to get my nails redone, I came to this Hongdae sashimi favorite to blow off stress with raw fish. Even late at night, customers kept arriving and delivery orders kept rolling in. Total local favorite, confirmed!

What's in the Chulto Set for two at Eosa Chulto Hongdae Branch, and how much is it?

The Chulto Set (for 2) is ₩59,000 and comes with assorted sashimi (small), 2 kinds of seafood, and spicy fish stew (maeuntang).

Honestly, given Hongdae prices, I figured it would be a few stingy slices of fish, you know? But when it arrived, it was a perfect amount for two. The sashimi was cut thick, so every piece felt substantial, and after finishing with the stew I walked out patting my belly, haha

Is it a good Hongdae sashimi restaurant to take foreign friends?

The menu at Eosa Chulto Hongdae Branch is neatly laid out in English, so foreign guests can order comfortably. Hongdae is full of foreign tourists, right? Sashimi restaurants can be intimidating because the menu names are hard, but here that worry seems much smaller.

If a foreign friend comes to visit Korea and you think "I want them to try Korean sashimi!", this place would be perfect. Sashimi lovers, report for duty at Eosa Chulto~ 🫡

Beondegi (silkworm pupae) at a sashimi restaurant

Eosa Chulto Hongdae Branch served beondegi (boiled silkworm pupae). Do you all eat beondegi? Isn't it rare these days for a sashimi restaurant to serve it? It tasted exactly like what I ate from paper cups at Children's Grand Park as a kid, so memories fully summoned 🥹

The set's two seafood items: sea squirt and abalone

The two seafood items in the Chulto Set were sea squirt (meongge) and abalone. I had work the next day so I wasn't going to drink.... but I couldn't not, so just one glass haha

The sea squirt is fragrant and bittersweet, with a sweet finish. Isn't eating sea squirt without soju kind of cheating? Eating only sashimi can get a little tiresome, but taking breaks with abalone and sea squirt in between meant I enjoyed it to the end.

The assorted sashimi (small): thickness and freshness

The assorted sashimi (small) in the Chulto Set was cut thick and generous, exactly my taste. The cross-sections were smooth, so the knife work was clearly clean, and the flesh was glossy and springy, so the freshness showed even to the eye.

Served on cold stone to stay fresh to the end

The stone the sashimi sat on kept it cold, so even though I ate slowly while chatting, it stayed fresh to the last bite. A sneakily important point for anyone who hates lukewarm sashimi! It's me

How is the spicy fish stew that comes with the set?

The Chulto Set includes maeuntang (spicy fish stew), so I finished properly. Drinking without a spicy stew just feels incomplete. The broth is spicy yet has deep flavor from the fish, and it warms up a stomach chilled by raw fish all at once.

I'm more of a veggie person who likes the bean sprouts and radish than the fish in the stew. Anyone else like me? (That's why I like to ladle my own.) The photo came out so much to my taste, but there was actually plenty of fish in the stew 🐟 Just, I personally don't like boiled fish, hehe,,,

Oh, almost forgot, Eosa Chulto Hongdae Branch has a clean restroom inside the building!

Overall verdict on the Chulto Set at Eosa Chulto Hongdae Branch

A tight two-person set that starts with thick sashimi and ends with spicy fish stew

Warm up lightly with beondegi, then the main game begins with thick-cut sashimi. Chewy, springy flounder and salmon that melts richly, all clean with no fishy smell. For this price, this quality means the sashimi simply passes. Chewy abalone and soy-dipped sea squirt gave me breaks in between, so I never got tired of it, and the spicy stew put a neat full stop on the meal 🍲

The place is clean and comfortable too, a great atmosphere for a cozy plate of sashimi for two. For breaking my "just one glass" resolution the night before work, I'll report for duty again in yellowtail season 🫡🐟