Salt gimbap under the sashimi: Bada Yakbang, a Yeonnam-dong gastropub

Today I'm sharing a filling lunch at Bada Yakbang Yeonnam, which I recommend as a sashimi spot near Hongik University Station.

Getting to Bada Yakbang Yeonnam: 10 minutes on foot from Hongik Univ. Station Exit 3

Bada Yakbang Yeonnam is a 10-minute walk from Exit 3 of Hongik University Station, on the first floor of 266-11 Donggyo-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul. There are pretty cafés, little shops, and clothing stores nearby, so the walk there was fun in itself :-) Winding through the alleys felt like solving a maze!!

Inside Bada Yakbang Yeonnam

The interior had a really cozy feel! I came for a late lunch so there weren't many people, which meant I got to eat in a relaxed, comfortable way haha.

The Bada Yakbang menu: sushi, sashimi and Korean-style dishes

I'd tried the sushi here once before, and they made it with gondeure-bap (mountain vegetable rice) in a really unique twist that stuck with me!! There were plenty of sushi types and plenty of sashimi options too, so it seemed like a great place for drinks in the evening.

Salt gimbap (seaweed rice roll)

Since I'd already had the sushi on my last visit, this time I ordered sashimi!!! I'm a rice person, so I also ordered the salt gimbap haha.

Rolling the seasoned rice up in seaweed and topping it with sashimi made it feel like eating sushi. There was a generous amount of rice too, so eating it with the sashimi filled me right up!!!

It wasn't a particularly extraordinary dish on its own, but it was the perfect match with the sashimi!

Seasonal aged sashimi platter for two: a plate piled with fish

And then came the star of the show, the sashimi 🐟!! A single plate packed full of fish was amazing to see. So many kinds of sashimi, and the thick-cut pieces were dazzling...

The plating was beautiful and the restaurant's atmosphere was warm and inviting — I understood why it's recommended as a Yeonnam-dong date course!

Chojang (vinegar-chili sauce), salt, and soy sauce all came out together, and for me, dipping the sashimi in soy sauce brought out its flavor best. I'm usually a chojang person, but at Bada Yakbang I'm a soy sauce person :-)

They also gave us seaweed, but I didn't really reach for it much (probably because of the salt gimbap!!!)

They also gave us wasabi and myeongran (pollock roe) along with small servings of namul side dishes — such a nice touch. The gosari (bracken fern) was so good I nearly fainted.

Salmon, flounder, yellowtail and red snapper, plus sea urchin and abalone

Salmon sashimi is my favorite, and it started with thick-cut salmon, followed by flounder, yellowtail, red snapper, and more — such a varied spread. The pieces sliced with the skin still on set it apart from other places.

There was mackerel sashimi too, along with squid and tuna. How could one assorted sashimi platter be this varied ✨

There was sea urchin and abalone sashimi as well, and the abalone was seriously chewy and amazing!! The tuna melted the moment it hit my mouth.

Why the salt gimbap arrives under the sashimi

The best part is that salt gimbap was tucked underneath the mountain of sashimi piled sky-high!! I didn't know it came with the platter and ordered it separately anyway — so if you're ordering, keep this in mind 🌀 There's quite a lot of salt gimbap already layered in, so you might not even need to order extra!!!

The mountain of sashimi is still a wild sight even looking back at the photos. I dipped it in chojang, in salt, and in soy sauce with a bit of wasabi on top — being able to enjoy it so many different ways made it even better.

Of these, the mackerel and abalone sashimi were especially tasty 🍶 Each came topped with its own sauce, which made them work together even better!!

The sashimi was soft and chewy, the kind of flavor that makes you crave soju even during the day lol. There was no fishy taste at all — clean and light, which I loved.

Make sure to top your salt gimbap with myeongran. The saltiness makes it even more delicious!! haha

Shrimp chamnamul pasta at Bada Yakbang

Bada Yakbang also has a range of Korean-style dishes, with plenty of menu items combining Korean ingredients like shrimp chamnamul (aster) pasta and gosari yukjeon (bracken fern beef pancake). Among them, I re-ordered the shrimp chamnamul pasta, which I remembered enjoying before.

It has chamnamul, garlic, and shrimp, with a subtle garlic aroma balanced by the fragrant scent of chamnamul — totally addictive.

It's a savory, sweet-and-salty pasta that seems like it would please just about anyone.