Seongnam seafood restaurant for a ₩40,000 course: Haeseon

Haeseon’s ₩40,000 aged sashimi course near Sunae Station

A hidden aged-sashimi favorite near Sunae Station that only Bundang locals seemed to know about! It is not a huge, flashy seafood restaurant, but order the ₩40,000-per-person course in its cozy atmosphere and the food just keeps coming until you are bursting. This is Haeseon, a Sunae Station favorite 🍺🥂

Haeseon exterior and basic information

It is at Unit 112, 11 Sunae-ro 46beon-gil, Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do. Hours are 16:00 to 00:30 the following day. It is closed on Sundays; parking is free for 2 hours, then ₩2,000 per additional 30 minutes.

Haeseon is a Bundang seafood spot with such a small sign and storefront that you could easily walk straight past it. I was assigned to the Sunae Station area two years ago, and it was the first seafood restaurant I tried. It has also become a truly beloved spot for this Bundang office worker whenever there is a work dinner.

There is an aquarium outside like this. Today was my fourth visit to Haeseon, a Bundang favorite for aged sashimi~

Until last year, there were two courses, one for ₩35,000 and another for ₩43,000. The menu was revamped, and it is now a single ₩40,000 course.

Aged sashimi course menu and lineup

There is just one menu: the aged sashimi course, ₩40,000 per person.

• Beef-and-vegetable porridge / clear soup
• Grilled king oyster mushrooms in butter or corn butter
• Live octopus beef tartare
• Assorted aged sashimi
• Grilled red sea bream head
• Assorted fried dishes
• Seodeori maeuntang (spicy fish soup made with fish trimmings)

Loft seating and why I recommend reserving

Haeseon near Sunae Station is quite small inside, but it has a loft layout. On the first floor, there are three or four tables for four people, and

they will push tables together for a group work dinner. I sat like this when a whole crowd of us came last time. Still, the restaurant is not very large, so groups of more than 10 might be a liiittle difficult.

Haeseon has an unusual loft layout, and the second floor is cozier. I sat upstairs last time, and it was so private—like visiting an attic room—that I loved it.

Oh, and because Haeseon has limited seating, I recommend making a reservation rather than walking in. Reservations can be made by phone.

From pre-meal porridge to live octopus beef tartare

Haeseon’s pre-meal porridge and miso soup

First, pre-meal porridge and miso soup come out to warm your stomach before the sashimi.

Chopped live octopus and beef tartare

Super-fresh live octopus and beef tartare arrive. Mixing the beef tartare with the chopped octopus makes it even tastier! I cannot believe a ₩40,000-per-person course includes live octopus and beef tartare too~ Such great value.

Butter-grilled mushrooms or corn butter

Sometimes butter-grilled mushrooms come as the appetizer,

and sometimes corn butter comes out instead. Last time I visited, it was grilled mushrooms; this time, it was corn butter.

Personally, I like the corn butter better, but the mushrooms were delicious too when they were grilled with butter like this! Drool 😻

Same-day-aged sashimi and warm dishes

The main aged sashimi

The sashimi is served aged. Haeseon says it selects top-grade live fish itself, ages it that day, and serves it.

Tiny labels identify the flounder, sea bream, and rockfish sashimi. This is the first platter, and a party of four gets another plate of sashimi.

The sashimi was aged beautifully, so it was nutty and clean-tasting, and there was plenty to share nicely without fighting. 🐟

Grilled red sea bream head

This grilled fish head was the warm dish that arrived midway through the sashimi.

It was grilled red sea bream head. There was not a huge amount of flesh, but the cheek meat had an outstandingly chewy texture.

They also cut it into four pieces so everyone could take one—GOOD!

Coconut shrimp and fries

It was my first time seeing fries at a seafood restaurant, haha, and I ate all of these. The coconut fried shrimp was so delicious..

Coconut was mixed into the shrimp batter and fried, and it was seriously delicious. Honestly, it tasted like it would sell well even if it were developed as a separate drinking snack.

Finishing with seodeori maeuntang

Finally, the last course~ seodeori maeuntang! It would be a shame to eat sashimi without spicy fish soup, right? The weather suddenly turned chilly, but one bowl of this soup left my stomach warm and satisfied.

At the lovely price of ₩40,000, Haeseon near Sunae Station let us enjoy delicious aged sashimi, chopped live octopus, and beef tartare. The day before this visit, I had gone to a famous sekkoshi (thin-sliced fish served with bones) restaurant in Gangnam, and this lineup was much better.

Haeseon is small but packed with good things! I highly recommend it for family gatherings, work dinners, or anytime you and your friends want aged sashimi.