Sadang bar for instant shrimp jang and shrimp-head butter: Susan

One day a friend mentioned that shrimp is in season right now, and suddenly I really wanted shrimp...? So I went looking for somewhere to eat it and ended up at Susan Sadang Main Branch, an aged-sashimi izakaya near Sadang Station. They said you can get freshly selected, daily-aged sashimi, savory beef sashimi (yuksashimi), and even warm fish cake all in one place, so I just went for it.

Where is Susan Sadang Main Branch, and what are the hours?

Susan Sadang Main Branch seems to be the closest spot to Sadang Station Exit 9! It's tucked inside the Sadang food alley.

Hours are Mon–Thu 16:00–01:00 (last order 00:20), Fri–Sat 15:00–02:00 (last order 01:20), and Sun 15:00–23:00 (last order 22:20).

First floor full? Head down to the basement annex

The sign alone makes Susan Sadang Main Branch, this Sadang bar for aged sashimi, feel like a real Japanese restaurant, right? So I walked in, but there were no seats...? I had no idea it was this popular. The owner asked me to wait a moment, then suddenly told me to go left and head down to the basement..? Turns out there's a separate annex!

At this Sadang bar where you can enjoy aged sashimi, fish cake, and beef sashimi, if you look at the bottom of the photo above, there's a basement level too!! So glad I could still eat there.

Next to the stairs going down to the basement there was this huge menu board thing, and everything looked so good I was still deciding what to eat on the way down.

Susan Sadang Main Branch menu and QR ordering at the table

I sat where the staff showed me, and it turned out Susan Sadang Main Branch, this Sadang bar for aged sashimi, uses QR ordering. So I scanned the QR code and went in, and...

There was the signature menu! The half-beef, half-beef combo looked good too, and the gwangban and yeonban series... I wanted to eat everything (guess I was hungry).

Raw shrimp sashimi was right there in the signature menu, so I mentally reserved that and kept scrolling through the rest. Susan Sadang Main Branch is known as a Sadang bar for aged sashimi, but it's also an izakaya, so there were so many drinking snacks too!

Among the specialty items there was mukbap (acorn jelly in cold broth) and hotteok ice cream, which was so intriguing. Hotteok ice cream?! I really wanted to order it.

And there were so many drink options too, which made choosing kind of fun. So what did I order? I went with the seasonal raw shrimp sashimi and one bottle of Saero. I really wanted the raw shrimp sashimi first, and figured I could add other dishes later anyway!

What the basement annex looks like inside

The basement annex of Susan Sadang Main Branch, this Sadang Station bar for aged sashimi, had such a curious layout. On one wall there's a Susan sign hanging like this,

??? Wait, aren't we in the basement? Somehow right next to where I sat there was a tree like this. It's very, very likely fake, but still, having something like nature nearby felt nice.

Um... isn't this Yeonjin's weapon...? (haha, inside joke, never mind)

Every table came equipped with a portable burner, pepper, soy sauce, wet wipes, utensils, small plates and everything else you'd need, so I never had to call over staff, which was great. And the wet wipes seemed to come as a set, which somehow made me feel extra motivated haha.

There was also tissue paper hanging on the wall, which was handy.

Once my plate and utensils were set, they brought over a tokkuri cup as a pre-meal drink, and of course I couldn't resist trying it right away. Cheers! The tokkuri was good too, and I considered ordering a full one, but ended up just going with Saero instead.

Seasonal raw shrimp sashimi: how big is it, and how does it taste?

The raw shrimp sashimi finally arrived!! Doesn't it look amazing?

Maybe because Susan Sadang Main Branch is known as a Sadang bar for aged sashimi, the raw shrimp sashimi was so fresh and huge! They even arranged two shrimp into a heart shape — such a nice touch, don't you think?

It might not look that big in photos, but the actual size was seriously massive. Writing this is making me want it again.

There was pickled radish (rakkyo) and something next to it I forget the name of, but that was really tasty too. A little spicy, which cleansed the palate nicely. Plus seaweed..! Wrapping the shrimp in seaweed had to be extra delicious.

They served a chipotle-style sauce alongside vinegar-chili sauce (chojang), and personally, the chojang was the truth.

Can you see it? This glossy, thick, huge raw shrimp sashimi.. dipped right into the chojang,

eaten together with seaweed, it was really, really good.

Making instant shrimp jang with the soy sauce on the table

And then I soaked some in soy sauce like this to make instant shrimp jang on the spot,

Wow... you really have to try it this way too. It was genuinely so good. Salty, with the sweetness of the raw shrimp sashimi coming through clearly.

Finishing with butter-grilled shrimp heads

Lastly, the butter-grilled shrimp heads came out — honestly I didn't even know you could eat shrimp heads. I learned how this time.

Now I finally understand why people eat shrimp heads.. After finishing all the raw shrimp sashimi, I soothed my regret with the shrimp heads..

If you love raw shrimp sashimi, you have to visit and try this. Everything else on the menu looks delicious too, so I'd recommend having a drink and enjoying a few more dishes while you're there!