Gijang, Busan snow crab eaten without soy sauce: holiday meal for 3

Why a family of three chose Gijang Myeongpum Daegae for the holiday

Went to eat snow crab at Myeongpum Daegae, a Busan Gijang restaurant everyone raves about 🦀 It's only a 20-minute drive from home to Gijang!! We were talking about eating something other than holiday food, and suddenly all I wanted was crab, so we headed to Myeongpum Daegae in Gijang.

There are so many crab restaurants around Gijang Market that I agonized over which one to pick, but I saw the tank packed with snow crab and king crab and decided on this place.

📍 5 Chaseong-dong-ro 73beon-gil, Gijang-eup, Gijang-gun, Busan, South Korea / public parking lot, parking fee supported

There's no way you'd miss that it's a crab restaurant from the entrance — huge sign! hahaha There were a lot of foreign customers too, and the crab steamers were stacked up endlessly.

How the tank weighing works: basket weight taken off and explained

The first thing you see as you walk into Gijang Myeongpum Daegae is the tank, and it was seriously packed with snow crab and king crab haha. It looks like a lot even in photos, but in person it feels even more crammed. Guys, are you even breathing in there...?

The king crab in particular was genuinely huge, so I stared at it for a while — a foreign tourist was so amazed by it that the staff let them hold it and take a photo haha. I wanted to do that too,,,🤭🤭 The legs were thick and the size was really impressive, so my expectations went up.

Being able to see the crabs right in front of the tank made them feel fresher and it was fun to look at them. Also, here they actually deduct the basket weight and explain how much the crab itself weighs versus the whole basket, comparing the difference in detail — so I trusted that the pricing was honest.

I was debating between king crab and snow crab, and even though king crab is more expensive, they told us the snow crab was in better condition that day haha, which raised my trust even more 👍👍

The second-floor dining room and seating

At Gijang Myeongpum Daegae, you order your crab and then head up to the 2nd floor — I was surprised there was even a gacha and candy vending machine up there haha. Feels like it would drain your wallet if you came with kids haha.

Further inside there's a private space like this, and the restaurant was cleaner than I expected. When I think of a crab restaurant I imagine loud and chaotic, but here the seating is organized and the interior is on the tidy side!! There were also tables big enough for a group, so it seemed fine to come with family too. We took our seats and started waiting.

A salad bar instead of banchan (side dishes)

The basic table fee is separate, and at Gijang Myeongpum Daegae you get a salad bar instead of banchan (side dishes).

This is the salad bar! There was quite a variety — karaage, sweet and sour pork, steamed corn, shredded cabbage, seaweed stems, fried items, and more.

Snow crab served with no soy sauce or wasabi: how does it taste?

And finally, the crab we'd been waiting for arrived haha 🦀 There's time built in for the crab to go into the steamer and get prepped in-house, so it's good to plan for some extra time! It was a holiday and there were tons of people, so it took a bit longer that day.

This was the amount for a family of three, and even though it wasn't peak snow crab season, the meat was genuinely packed full, chewy, and so delicious. On top of that, the prep work was so well done that you could just pull along the pre-scored cuts and get perfect bite-sized meat with nothing to throw away!!

I was puzzled that there was no dipping soy sauce or wasabi here, but the reason was haha — the meat was so clean-tasting yet subtly sweet that it was delicious just steamed, no dipping needed!! Our family got so focused picking out the meat piece by piece that nobody said a word until we ordered the fried rice haha. Everyone was that locked in on eating crab.

Personally I don't like crab guts, but here the gut part wasn't bitter or fishy at all — eating it together with the crab meat actually made the savory flavor come through even stronger. Looking at the photos again makes me want to eat it again... (I was torn between this and king crab until the very end, but this flavor blew that debate away)

10% off with a prepaid Naver booking, and plans for the next visit

You get 10% off at Gijang Myeongpum Daegae if you pre-order and prepay through Naver, so next time I'm thinking of trying king crab that way!! The fried rice mixed in the crab shell at the end was also amazing, and I was so curious about the crab ramyeon at the table next to us, but my mom wouldn't let me have ramyeon so I held back,,,, (Mom, I'm an adult, come on,,,)

The atmosphere is clean enough that it'd be nice to bring your parents, or to come here for a proper meal while visiting Gijang!! It would work well as a course too — look around Gijang Market or the Gijang area, then have crab for dinner. It had been a while since our family ate our fill of crab together, and it was satisfying, and my parents loved it so much that I felt proud too!! If you want to eat snow crab on a Busan trip, I recommend Gijang Myeongpum Daegae.