Anyang aged sashimi restaurant with a 10-fish platter: Namhae Mulgogi

I like live fish sashimi too, but I prefer aged sashimi for its deep savory flavor and chewy texture. When I want something expensive but really delicious, I head to an aged sashimi restaurant.

I went last week to Namhae Mulgogi (남해물고기), a sashimi restaurant near Beomgye Station. The aged sashimi is the star, but every single dish was so good that it's perfect for a meal with people who matter to you.

Where is Namhae Mulgogi near Beomgye Station, and how do you get there?

Namhae Mulgogi is on the 4th floor of the building (Jungang Plaza) across from the KB Kookmin Bank building near Beomgye Station, the one with KT and Ora Piercing on the ground floor. It's open 11:30–23:00 and closed every Monday. Parking is free for 2 hours, but it's mechanical parking, so SUVs, EVs and vehicles over 2 tons can't get in.

If you come through the middle of the Pyeongchon food alley, you may not spot the sign, so just look for the building with KT, Ora Piercing and so on on the first floor.

Plenty of places serve live fish sashimi, but aged sashimi restaurants aren't that common. So a clean, tasty one is always packed. I went at a late weekday lunch and it was quiet, but apparently Namhae Mulgogi is a hugely popular Beomgye Station restaurant in the evening.

Do you need to reserve at Namhae Mulgogi?

The restaurant runs on reservations, so I recommend booking ahead. The hall isn't huge, but it has several tables for 4 to 6 people, and in the evening they keep 1–2 walk-in tables.

I love a clean atmosphere like this!

Namhae Mulgogi menu: à la carte, lunch and set menus

The menu is split into à la carte, lunch and set (hansang) menus.

The menu runs from à la carte dishes all the way to omakase sets. We ordered the omakase for two, the "Sashimi Omakase Hansang," a course of starter porridge + appetizer + assorted aged sashimi + seasonal dish + fish dish + fried dish + hot pot.

Sashimi Omakase Hansang for ₩78,000: a course that nails value and variety

The two of us ordered the Namhae Mulgogi Sashimi Omakase Hansang course (₩78,000). The lineup is so generous for the price that we were very happy with the whole course.

First came abalone porridge (jeonbokjuk) to warm up the stomach. It's full of the rich flavor of abalone innards, and after polishing off a bowl and then trying the sweet and sour mulhoe (cold raw fish soup), my appetite totally woke up.

What fish come in the aged assorted sashimi?

The aged assorted sashimi came with 10 kinds of fish, 2 pieces each: herring, croaker (minyeo), flatfish (gwangeo), large yellowtail (daebangeo), Spanish mackerel (samchi), marbled flounder, olive flounder (dodari), greater amberjack, sea bream and salmon. They told us the types change with the season.

And here comes the main dish I'd been waiting for, the "aged assorted sashimi"!

It caught my eye from the looks alone, and the slices were cut at just the right thickness, so you really feel the bite. Unlike ordinary live fish sashimi, the aging process means there's no fishy taste at all, and the moment it's in your mouth that chewy texture and savory depth just burst out.

I tried it dipped in the tasty sashimi soy sauce, and also with a little wasabi on top. As expected, summer is croaker season, and it was delicious.

At home I sometimes make kelp-aged salmon (kombujime) from a simple salmon fillet, and raw salmon and aged salmon sashimi differ clearly from the aroma onward. The texture gets so much better with aging that it's no exaggeration to call it a different fish.

After the sashimi: grilled Spanish mackerel, yuringi and clam pasta

Once you finish the sashimi, the Namhae Mulgogi omakase hansang continues with hot dishes like grilled Spanish mackerel, yuringi (Korean-style fried chicken with a tangy soy-vinegar sauce) and bouillabaisse-style clam pasta.

This is the grilled Spanish mackerel. I don't like fishy stuff, but I love grilled Spanish mackerel and cutlassfish, so how did they know to give me mackerel?^^ It was crispy outside and moist inside, so I ordered a bowl of rice later to eat it with.

Yuringi at a sashimi restaurant? It felt a little unfamiliar, but the batter was crispy enough to rival a proper Chinese restaurant, and the sauce went so well with it. The key is that the fried chicken and the sweet and sour yuringi sauce cut through the richness.

Bouillabaisse-style clam pasta came out too. Eating the refreshing, spicy broth and the noodles soaked in sauce made me feel really full. By this point I started getting confused: is this a sashimi place? Italian? Chinese? Haha. Not just the sashimi, every dish that comes with it is top notch.

Futomaki (thick sushi roll) came out, and I liked that the size was just right. It's nice when a futomaki has lots of different fillings, but some places cut it so big that it's hard to chew. Namhae Mulgogi cuts it to a good size and packs in a variety of fillings, which I liked.

Finishing with maeuntang, rice and grilled Spanish mackerel

The course ends with maeuntang (spicy fish stew). You'd call it a leftover-bones stew (seodeoritang), but there's an awful lot in it. I was full, but you've got to have the broth! A bubbling pot of maeuntang arrived.

Spicy, savory broth, packed with fish and all kinds of vegetables.

One taste of the broth and I couldn't hold back. I ordered a bowl of rice. I'd ordered it thinking of the grilled Spanish mackerel too, and if I hadn't had rice, I'd have kept thinking about that fish. You've got to put the grilled mackerel on top of the rice~

The spicy, deep broth was the real deal. The nutty flavor from the fish bones blended with the spicy seasoning, and even though I was full, I wolfed down a bowl of rice and picked the fish meat in the maeuntang clean.

Who is Namhae Mulgogi near Beomgye Station recommended for?

I strongly recommend this Beomgye Station sashimi restaurant, Namhae Mulgogi, to anyone who wants to enjoy tasty aged sashimi and a generous course meal, or who is looking for a date spot or a place for a gathering. The sashimi is a given, and the side dishes that come with it were all perfect too.