Dangsan izakaya for abalone guts pasta and grilled rockfish: Kaken

On a day when I wanted a draft beer and dinner in one go, I headed to Kaken, an izakaya in Dangsan with a surprisingly wide menu. It caught my eye even from the street thanks to the floor-to-ceiling glass front, and once inside it turned out to be a cozy izakaya built around an open kitchen, with bar seats and tables together.

Kaken at a glance

• Location: 237 Dangsan-ro, 1st floor, Unit 101, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Sun–Thu 17:00–02:00 (last order 01:00), Fri–Sat 17:00–04:00 (last order 03:00)
• Seating: Bar seats + tables
• Vibe: An izakaya where you can watch fish and skewers grilling in the open kitchen
• Ordered this visit: Grilled rockfish (2) ₩18,000, abalone guts pasta ₩23,000, whole steamed squid ₩16,000, draft beer
• Why go: A Dangsan bar with everything from grilled fish and skewers to pasta and seafood, plus the fun of watching it all cook

Kaken's storefront and the today's fish chalkboard

Kaken sits on the first floor of 237 Dangsan-ro. I visited at night, and the lit-up KAKEN sign made the place stand out right away. The front is all glass, so you can see the mood inside even from the street, and with plenty of people already in there, it felt lively before I'd even walked in.

There was a chalkboard out front listing today's specials separately. Kaken seems to change its fish menu day to day beyond the fixed items, so if you love grilled fish, it's worth checking the daily board first.

Inside Kaken: are the bar seats good for drinking solo?

Walking into this Dangsan izakaya, the first thing you see is the open kitchen. A long bar runs along the front of it, with tables tucked toward the back and by the windows. The bar seats look perfect for a solo drink!

With wood tones and dark tile throughout, it didn't feel overly Japanese-themed — more clean and comfortable izakaya style. Being able to watch the kitchen grill things in real time made the bar seats especially appealing for a casual drink.

The tables aren't spaced super wide, but the setup suits a drink with friends or sharing a few dishes on a date.

What's on the Kaken menu, and what does it cost?

The menu had way more on it than I expected. The sashimi platter comes in small (₩36,000) or large (₩52,000). One of Kaken's signature items, the 10-skewer set, is ₩28,000. Individual skewers cover negima, heart, chicken skin, chicken tenderloin, chicken cartilage, shrimp, bacon-wrapped tomato, king oyster mushroom, garlic, and ginkgo nut — plenty of options for a few skewers with a drink.

There's a separate fish section too, where today's fish changes daily; the rockfish I ordered was two pieces for ₩18,000.

Kaken's cooked dishes go well beyond skewers

I liked that this isn't just a fish-and-skewers izakaya. The menu also has futomaki (limited quantity, ₩28,000), abalone guts pasta (₩23,000), uni cream pasta (₩23,000), whole steamed squid (₩16,000), plus nabe, fried items, and sides — great for a group with different tastes. We ordered a spread ourselves: one fish, one pasta, one squid.

Leave a Naver receipt review and you get a free cheese sausage — good to know.

The complimentary snack and draft beer at Kaken

We started with draft beer — no izakaya visit is complete without it. Alongside the cold beer came a basic banchan of quail eggs soaked in soy sauce.

Such a simple side dish, but why is it this good, haha. Snacking away while waiting for the food~

Abalone guts pasta, 23,000 won

Kaken's abalone guts pasta is ₩23,000. We hadn't eaten dinner before coming, so I ordered this expecting a snack, and the sheer look of it surprised me. I'd never seen a pasta with this much sauce, ha. It's a cream base with abalone guts mixed in, giving it a darker color than a regular cream pasta and a real seafood punch. The sauce wasn't just a light coating — there was plenty of it, so every bite of noodles stayed moist. A big chunk of abalone sits right on top.

The chewy texture of the abalone with the creamy sauce made this feel more like a full meal than a typical izakaya side dish.

Ordering this rich, savory pasta alongside the lighter grilled fish and squid worked out well as a combo. This wasn't a throwaway bar pasta at all — it ate like a main dish.

Whole steamed squid, 16,000 won: how did the guts taste?

Kaken's whole steamed squid is ₩16,000. The whole squid arrives as is, so the presentation alone makes an impression. The body is scored at even intervals for easy eating, and it comes out with the legs still attached.

Cutting into it, the guts were still inside, giving it a much richer flavor than a plain steamed squid. Having the guts in there made it heavier and more intense than usual — personally, I'm not a huge fan of that kind of rich, funky flavor, so it felt a bit much for me, but my friend loved it and ate it right up. If you enjoy that savory, intense guts flavor, this one's likely to be a good match.

The squid meat itself is thick with a good chew, and pairing it with the guts makes it even more savory and rich. Lemon and wasabi come on the side, so you can eat it plain or switch things up with a squeeze of lemon or a bit of wasabi along the way.

This squid dish especially went really well with draft beer.

How long is the wait for Kaken's fish of the day?

The last dish, the rockfish, wasn't something that came out right away. Since they grill the fish fresh after you order, it took noticeably longer than the other dishes — but with Kaken's open kitchen, the wait didn't feel boring at all.

I could watch my rockfish grilling to a golden brown right over the fire, and there was fun in glancing over at other tables' fish and skewers cooking too. Watching it all actually got me curious — 'what fish is that?', 'those skewers look good too' — and gave me ideas for next time.

Grilled rockfish, two for 18,000 won

Kaken's grilled rockfish is ₩18,000 for two. Of everything we ordered, this felt the most like classic izakaya food. Ever since I first tried grilled rockfish in Tongyeong, I've been hooked on it, and here two whole rockfish came out perfectly grilled.

The skin was properly charred, with golden color and clear grill marks still intact. It looks like it'd be crispy on the outside, but pull the flesh apart with chopsticks and it's the complete opposite inside — the white flesh is moist and flakes off soft and tender.

Grilled fish can dry out fast if it's cooked even a bit too long, but you can see in the photos that the moisture stayed right in the flesh.

Rockfish isn't an oily fish so much as a light, clean white fish, so it worked well eaten in between bites of the richer abalone pasta and squid.

A squeeze of lemon or a touch of wasabi makes it even cleaner-tasting. If you come to Kaken, I'd genuinely recommend ordering whatever the day's grilled fish is.

The food was so good it called for one more round!

The verdict on Kaken

From moist grilled rockfish to abalone guts pasta to whole steamed squid, Kaken is an izakaya with real fun in picking your way through the seafood menu.