Seoul fish shop sashimi takeout with Onnuri refund: Yeongjae Susan

When fall arrives, you've gotta eat the seasonal stuff, right? Raw shrimp is right in season these days, so I looked into getting some — but eating it at a sashimi restaurant or a bar gets pretty pricey. So this time I decided to go for better value and pack some myself straight from nearby Garak Market.

Garak Market has so many fish restaurants that it can be hard to know where to go on your first visit. Here's my honest review of packing a mixed sashimi platter and 1kg of raw shrimp at Yeongjae Susan.

Where is Yeongjae Susan, and which Garak Mall gate and parking level to use?

Yeongjae Susan is at Unit C-10, 1st floor of Garak Mall's sales building. Garak Market connects directly to Garak Market Station on subway lines 3 and 8, so it's easy to reach by public transit. Head out toward Exit 2 and go in through Garak Mall Seafood Gate 6 — the shop is right there, easy to find.

If you're driving, park near pillar E9 on basement level 3 and take the escalator up — easy to find from there. Parking is free for 3 hours, and you just need to mention it to staff after ordering.

How the Onnuri gift card refund event works at Garak Market

When I visited, an Onnuri gift card refund event was about to run. From September 16 to 20, you can get money back depending on how much you spend: ₩10,000 back on purchases of ₩34,000 or more, and ₩20,000 back on purchases of ₩67,000 or more. If your visit lines up with those dates, definitely take advantage of it.

Even outside the event period, using the Digital Onnuri app gets you a discount, so it's handy for packing sashimi at Garak Market anytime.

Inside Yeongjae Susan: the shop and the day's fish

First-timers at Garak Market can be a little startled by the touting from vendors — it's toned down a lot compared to before, but personally I prefer places I can browse comfortably, so I like deciding in advance where to go.

Yeongjae Susan had a really wide range — king crab, snow crab, sea bass, flounder, sea bream, jack mackerel, mullet, spotted flounder, bluefin tuna, salmon, croaker, rockfish, gizzard shad, and more.

Gizzard shad is especially in season in September, so it's been flying off the shelves lately — while I was waiting for my order, quite a few people came in just to buy gizzard shad.

White-leg shrimp were just as popular as the gizzard shad. From September to November, once the weather cools down, it's shrimp season, so this is the time to eat it. Some people eat it raw as sashimi and the rest grilled with salt or butter — that's why I picked up 1kg myself that day.

Yeongjae Susan is a partner store of Ineo Gyoju Haejeokdan (a mermaid-themed seafood delivery brand). With so many fish restaurants at Garak Market, if you're not sure where to go, it helps to compare prices and lineups ahead of time. The mixed sashimi platters also come in a range of sizes — mini, small, medium, large, extra-large — so you can order to match your group size.

Among the current seasonal fish, gizzard shad, jack mackerel, and sea bass are said to be especially popular right now. If it's hard to pick just one, going for a mixed sashimi platter with a bit of everything looked like a solid option too.

Sashimi platter sizes at Yeongjae Susan — how many people does each feed?

• Mini: good when you're eating another main like gizzard shad, shrimp, or king crab and just want a little sashimi on the side
• Small: 500g, for 2 people
• Medium: 700g, for about 3–4 people
• Large: 900g or more, for about 4–5 people

Appetite varies from person to person, so I'd recommend checking the gram weight before ordering.

Taking home the 65,000 won sashimi platter and 1kg of shrimp by bus

Yeongjae Susan packed everything so neatly that even after a bus ride home, I didn't have to worry about any fishy smell.

They even tucked ice packs inside, so everything stayed cold all the way until I got home.

The nonggwangchamhoe (sea bass, flounder, and sea bream) platter was ₩65,000. Since it combines sea bass, flounder, and sea bream, I got to taste several kinds of sashimi in one go. Using the Digital Onnuri gift card, you can get it down to the ₩50,000s, which felt like solid value for what you get. Best of all, each slice was cut nice and thick.

The fresh raw shrimp was ₩31,000 for 1kg. They were packed live and carefully sealed in a bag — so fresh that when I opened it up at home, some shrimp were still alive.

The shrimp were bigger than I expected, and 1kg turned out to be a pretty generous amount. I removed the heads and shells from the raw shrimp and ate them lightly dipped in vinegared gochujang sauce. The meat was plump and springy, with a subtle sweetness that came through more the longer I chewed — seasonal raw shrimp really is different.

I cooked the other half on the grill, and once cooked, the shrimp meat got even springier and the nutty flavor deepened, so I kept reaching for more.

With sashimi and raw shrimp spread out on the table, there was no way I wasn't having a shot of soju.

And I saved the shrimp heads separately, fried them up crispy with butter and minced garlic — the nutty butter aroma combined with the deep umami of the shrimp heads made it one of the best things I ate that day.

Who should order takeout from Yeongjae Susan?

Besides visiting in person for takeout, Yeongjae Susan also delivers through Coupang Eats, Baemin, Yogiyo, and Naver. If you want good-value sashimi takeout at Garak Market, or want to enjoy seasonal raw shrimp together with a mixed platter, it's worth a visit. If you're craving fall's seasonal raw shrimp and looking for a fish restaurant at Garak Market, keep this one in mind!