Sokcho seafood restaurant crab feast with Dokdo shrimp, Palpal Hoesenta

A food parade starting with the snow crab set for two

When you travel to Sokcho, it feels such a shame to just pass by Daepo Port, right? Once you look at the sea and browse the fish market, you naturally start craving delicious seafood!! This time, I absolutely demolished an incredible, table-bending feast~~ Honestly, lots of places end the meal after the snow crab, but Palpal Hoesenta Sokcho Daepo Port Market Branch (팔팔회센타 속초대포항시장점) keeps bringing food from beginning to end~ We ordered the snow crab set for two, and one plate after another began filling the table until there was hardly any empty space left 😳 Owner, I love you~

Daepo Port Fish Market location and visitor information

It occupies units 13, 14, and 15 on the first floor of S Building at Daepo Port Fish Market, so it is easy enough to find while looking around Daepo Port~ It is open daily from 11 AM to 10 PM. You can visit from lunchtime through dinner, so it works well with a travel itinerary. For parking, use Daepo Port Public Parking Lot; you may also receive a parking discount when dining. There are group tables too, so it is good for a larger visit with family or friends. The menu is varied, so a group could try even more delicious things across different types hahaha.

Snow crab and shrimp in the tanks

Before sitting down, I looked at the tanks first. They had snow crab and king crab, along with spotted shrimp and dak shrimp. The tanks were so clean too~ Being able to see the seafood alive and moving in the tanks makes waiting to see what ingredients will arrive fun🦐 Up close, the snow crab legs looked wonderfully hefty. Palpal Hoesenta has apparently been around since 1988, and having operated at Daepo Port for so long, everyone was incredibly kind!! So generous too~ On a weekend evening, customers kept coming in, so making a reservation in advance could be a good idea if you are planning to visit.

We ordered the snow crab set for two. And this is where the food parade begins hahaha. When one plate arrived, I thought that might be it—then another dish appeared, followed by yet another new plate.

The closed season is over now~

Since I was in Gangwon, I had Gangwon soju~~~ Spin, swirl, swoooosh!! With the sea right in front of us, the drinks tasted especially good.

Dokdo shrimp and seafood from the snow crab set

It even comes with Dokdo shrimp!! And then the Dokdo shrimp I had not expected at all appeared. Having Dokdo shrimp with the snow crab set made the spread even more spectacular. Dokdo shrimp are not something you come across often, so I was extra happy to see them~~ Their flesh was plump, and their heads were packed with roe; when you eat them, a rich, nutty flavor spreads through your mouth! 😍

They were jumping around, but... I enjoyed eating them very much~ Truly sweet and delicious~ a heavenly flavor! The platter also held spotted shrimp, abalone, sea cucumber, silk sea squirt, and live squid. Even sitting on the plate, the live squid moved slightly, so you could immediately see how fresh it was. It was chewy and sooo good when I tried it.

A full spread continuing with mulhoe and assorted sashimi

While waiting for the snow crab, I also tried mulhoe (chilled raw-fish soup). It had plenty of seafood such as squid, abalone, and sea squirt. Ice cubes floated in the cold broth, so each spoonful cooled down my whole mouth. The sweet-and-tangy broth whetted my appetite, and a bite now and then between the warm dishes freshened my palate. Some places serve mulhoe with mostly broth, but this one was generously packed with raw fish and seafood—completely satisfying!

Then assorted sashimi came out too. The fish was not sliced paper-thin; it had a satisfying thickness, so each piece felt firm when picked up with chopsticks. One bite had that springy, bouncy texture, and you could really taste the clean flavor of the ingredients. We had already been eating sashimi and seafood for quite a while before the snow crab, so we were gradually getting full hahaha. But the main event was still to come.

Whole snow crab with meat packed inside

At last, the whole snow crab arrived 🦀 Seeing steam rise from it made me think, yes, coming here for snow crab was absolutely the right choice~~ When you lift a leg, you can feel its satisfying weight; split the shell and pull out the meat, and it is packed full inside.

What a dazzling sight~~

When you pull out a chunk of snow crab meat and eat it, it is lightly salty with a subtle sweetness. The meat itself is tender, so you just keep reaching for more.

When a whole long piece of meat slides out of a crab leg, it feels oddly satisfying hahaha 😆 I opened the shell and found plenty of tomalley inside too. It was richly nutty and salty, delicious on its own, but of course I was most excited to eat it with rice! Ureongi got happy holding the snow crab hahaha.

Crab-shell fried rice and reservation-service red crab ramen

Then the truly final dish, crab-shell fried rice, appeared. The remaining tomalley inside the crab shell was stir-fried with rice, and that nutty aroma really came through. Even after eating my fill of snow crab, the crab-shell rice came out and I ate more hahaha. This is my piggy power. One spoonful was rich, nutty, and salty, with the deep flavor of the tomalley soaked into the rice. It was so good that I scraped every bit from inside the shell 😋

But then red crab ramen came out too. They gave it to us because we had reserved through Naver! A whole red crab leg was in it, infusing the broth with a refreshing yet deep crab flavor. As I slurped the noodles and spooned up the broth, I was completely full but somehow kept reaching for more. But there was still spicy fish stew left hahaha. They said it was really good... but I was so full that I simply could not eat itㅠㅠ

I went in thinking only about snow crab and came out having thoroughly eaten everything through the final crab-shell fried rice hahaha. If you visit Daepo Port during a Sokcho trip, set out a delicious seafood feast and really dig in! Even though I left completely stuffed, it somehow felt extra satisfying because it was a meal I had while traveling~~