Mapo sashimi restaurant, 55,000-won shrimp and mullet set: Mapo

I've been seeing raw shrimp sashimi all over social media and around me lately, so I wanted to try it myself — and since I had a dinner plan with a friend, we went to < Mapo Bamdada > to eat the trendy raw shrimp haha🥰

It was my first time eating raw shrimp sashimi, so I was curious how it would taste, but the portions were more generous than I expected and the banchan (side dishes) came out in a nice variety — a solid place!

Where is Mapo Bamdada, and is there parking? 5 minutes from Exit 4, Mapo-gu Office Station

Mapo Bamdada sits between Mapogu-cheong Station and Mangwon Station, and the closest one is Mapogu-cheong Station on Line 6 — from Exit 4 it's about a 5-minute walk toward the restaurant, so it was easy to get to by public transit. It's also walkable from Mangwon Station, so it's nice to combine with a stroll around Mangwon Market!

As for parking, there's supposedly some parking space around the building, but it may not be very spacious, so if you're driving I'd recommend checking with the restaurant in advance🚘

What Mapo Bamdada looks like inside and out

When we arrived, the exterior had a pretty flashy look(?) — with signs for seasonal raw shrimp sashimi and gizzard shad sashimi hanging up, I thought, this is definitely the right place! haha

There's also a weekday lunch special that's pretty good value for the price, and you can even take squid sashimi to go🦑

We visited in the evening, and once we got inside it was almost fully packed, which made for a lively, buzzing atmosphere. More customers kept coming in the whole time we were eating🫢

It felt less like a quiet dining spot and more like a place to grab sashimi and soju with friends or come for a group gathering. Seeing customers keep streaming in made it clear this is a popular spot — it gave us the feeling we'd stumbled onto a real hotspot~

Menu and ordering: 12 raw shrimp sashimi + small mullet plate for 55,000 won

Ordering at Mapo Bamdada is conveniently done via kiosk, and especially if you like sashimi or seafood, there's a wide range of options so you can pick according to your taste haha

What we ordered was 12 raw shrimp sashimi + 'choose your own sashimi' mullet upgrade for ₩55,000‼️ At first I wondered whether to just get the raw shrimp alone, but since you can pick a sashimi of your choice to add, I went with mullet after some thought🐟

+) There's a Naver receipt review event that gives a bottle of alcohol and a guaranteed-win roulette spin, so keep that in mind and give it a try😆

Which side dishes come with the set?

After a short wait, the table was filled up, and it was way more generous than I expected🙌🏻

First, the basic banchan came out — vegetable salad, corn, soy-sauce shrimp, mulhoe (cold raw fish soup) and more — so it wasn't just sashimi on its own; we got to try a little bit of many dishes, and it filled us up pretty fast.

The clam soup in particular was slightly spicy and just right for sipping spoonful by spoonful,

and the soy-sauce shrimp and mulhoe were better quality than expected too, so we were satisfied~

How do the raw shrimp and mullet sashimi taste?

Finally, the main event — raw shrimp and mullet✨ The raw shrimp looked really appetizing from the start, with the shells already peeled and neatly arranged so we could eat right away without any prep work. Taking a bite, that signature bouncy texture was great👍🏻

Dipping it in soy sauce, chogochujang (vinegar-chili sauce), or flying fish roe, and wrapping it in seaweed, let us enjoy a variety of flavors, and the mullet sashimi in between kept things from getting repetitive🦐

Butter-grilled shrimp heads and the complimentary grilled fish

Also, if you order raw shrimp sashimi at Mapo Bamdada, they give you butter-grilled shrimp heads at no extra charge — this was my first time eating shrimp heads this way, so it felt a bit unfamiliar, but once I tried it, it was actually delicious? Grilled crispy with a nutty butter flavor, I kept reaching for more🫳🏻

They also gave us complimentary grilled fish on top, with plump flesh and a bean sprout + spicy sauce combo that really worked well together😋

Finishing the meal with seafood ramyeon

Last but not least, the finishing seafood ramyeon🍜 Honestly, after the raw shrimp, sashimi and all the banchan, I was already pretty full, but my friend said she could eat more, so we ordered it🍽️

I didn't expect much since it's ramyeon at a sashimi restaurant, but my friend said there was a lot of seafood in it~ It's reasonably priced but comes with abalone and shrimp, so if you're looking for a spicy soup to finish off your sashimi meal, the seafood ramyeon isn't a bad option😌

Verdict: who should eat at Mapo Bamdada?

This time, my friend and I went to Mapo Bamdada to try the trendy raw shrimp sashimi, and since it was my first time, I was curious — the bouncy, slightly crunchy texture was fun, and getting to eat mullet sashimi alongside it was a nice bonus. What I liked most of all was how varied the banchan spread was!

If you're looking for a place to eat raw shrimp sashimi or sashimi in general near Mapogu-cheong Station, or a sashimi restaurant with a generous banchan spread, this seems like a solid choice — and if you're trying raw shrimp sashimi for the first time like me, it's worth giving it a shot :)