Snow crab B course for 4 and red crab ramyeon in Sokcho: Hanggu Hwareo

I'm currently posting the restaurants and takeout spots from day one of my recent overnight trip to Sokcho for summer vacation. This post is the super-super highlight of the whole trip, the main event! Here's my honest review of the priciest and tastiest snow crab spot I ate at in Sokcho, "Hanggu Hwareo."

Getting to Hanggu Hwareo and booking an ocean-view window table

Hanggu Hwareo is a raw fish restaurant in Building S of Daepo Harbor Fish Market in Sokcho, less than a 10-minute taxi ride from our stay in Joyang-dong. Since it hasn't been long since the trip, everything's still fresh in my memory, so I'll write it as honestly as I can. We'd made a reservation, and someone who seemed to be the owner greeted us with such a bright smile that I was in a great mood the moment we walked in.

On top of that, maybe because we had a reservation, I genuinely felt like we got the most premium table in the whole restaurant for enjoying the ocean view as a group of four.

The view was so good that the women in our group didn't even sit down at first, just kept taking photos. An ocean-view spot worth the hype, right?

What comes with the B course for four at Hanggu Hwareo

Here's a look at the Hanggu Hwareo menu. Coming to Sokcho without eating snow crab would be a shame, right? There were four of us, so we ordered the B course, which comes with two snow crabs for a party of four. The course includes snow crab, assorted raw fish (hoe), mul-hoe (cold raw fish soup), spicy fish stew, and the basic side dishes.

Here's the tank at Hanggu Hwareo. You can tell how well they maintain it, can't you? Just from the photo it looks crystal clear, so transparent you can see straight through. All the seafood inside looked incredibly fresh because of it. King crab, snow crab, squid, sea cucumber, abalone and more — kept this well, there's no way it wouldn't taste good.

Is Hanggu Hwareo dog-friendly? Bringing a dog to Daepo Harbor

Oh, and this is a dog-friendly snow crab restaurant at Daepo Harbor! At a table far from ours there was actually a dog in a stroller. Honestly, a lot of the raw fish restaurants around Daepo Harbor are pretty small, so many probably don't allow pets. But Hanggu Hwareo is big enough that dogs are totally welcome.

Hanggu Hwareo also runs a receipt review event, which we joined — the perk is one free bottle of soju. We were going to drink soju anyway, so getting a free bottle out of it felt like a no-brainer, haha.

We got settled in and ready to eat properly. On the side of the table there's a utensil holder and napkins.

Side dishes, mul-hoe and the seafood starter platter

As soon as we ordered, the table setting began quickly. The basic side dishes were laid out very neatly first — acorn jelly, seasoned vegetables, salad, followed by takoyaki, cold buckwheat jelly soup, and kimchi pancake.

Then came the mul-hoe (cold raw fish soup)! It was so full of shaved ice that at first I didn't even realize it was mul-hoe. Once I mixed it a little with the vegetables using a spoon, it turned out to be mul-hoe, haha. Hanggu Hwareo's version had a difference from others I've had — the broth had a slightly spicy kick. Maybe because of that, it actually worked as a palate cleanser between other dishes.

The basic side dishes also included an assorted seafood plate. Freshly caught raw squid, sea squirt, and abalone came out, and honestly this alone could take down a few bottles of soju, haha.

Flounder, amberjack and sea bream: the sashimi plate

While we were happily working through the side dishes and enjoying the view, the supporting-cast assorted sashimi platter arrived. We'd ordered the crab set mainly for the crab, but the sashimi quality was so good it almost felt unfair — three different types came out.

First, the most basic one: flounder sashimi, sliced thick right down to the fin, absolutely top-tier taste. The middle photo is amberjack (busori) sashimi — a type often confused with yellowtail, and apparently amberjack is at its best in summer. The texture was springy and chewy, right up my alley. The last photo is sea bream. Isn't it kind of unfair for sea bream to show up in an assorted platter? The texture on that one was outstanding too, really delicious.

We kept going, refreshed and steady. The main star hadn't even shown up yet, but the mul-hoe, seafood, and sashimi alone would have been more than enough to enjoy the meal.

This photo looks like a piece of art. A friend who came with us took it — he zoomed in the moment the crab arrived, and the hot steam turned the shot into this hazy scene, haha.

The Sokcho snow crab itself: how good was the meat yield?

Okay, the star of this post — Sokcho snow crab. I got lucky enough to eat snow crab twice this year, in 2026. This felt different from the crab I had in winter, and honestly, if I'm talking Sokcho snow crab spots, it's Hanggu Hwareo. It passes on yield, and it passes on quality too.

They pre-cracked the shell so it's easy to get the meat out, and the yield was so good that meat from a single leg was enough to fill your mouth. They also left the innards in the back shell, and dipping the crab meat in it was pure bliss! Eventually we gathered all the crab meat and mixed it into the shell to eat together.

Fried rice is a must, red crab ramyeon honestly is not

After eating a good amount of crab, you start craving carbs. That's when you order the fried rice, right? This umami-packed fried rice is an essential order. You absolutely have to get it!!

It's delicious plain, but even better with crab meat piled on top, right?

Our feast at Sokcho's snow crab spot Hanggu Hwareo wasn't over yet — the last item was red snow crab ramyeon. It's ₩20,000! I really wanted to try it, so I ordered it. You can taste the red crab's umami clearly, but honestly, it doesn't quite reach the same level as the snow crab. The red crab ramyeon is take it or leave it, haha. (Maybe I was just full from the fried rice?)

It was such a happy feast with the snow crab set for four. Even now, writing this post right after getting back from vacation, I still want to run back to Sokcho and eat crab at Hanggu Hwareo again. It's a bit pricey, but I recommend it without hesitation, haha.

Sokcho's snow crab spot — is it just the crab that's good? The view is delicious too, at Hanggu Hwareo

The crab is delicious, the sashimi is delicious, the seafood is delicious, and even the view of Daepo Harbor is romantically delicious — Hanggu Hwareo has it all. From the moment we walked in, the warm hospitality won me over; the tank was so clean it looked first-grade water quality, which was satisfying; and the quality of everything from the side dishes to the main menu was fully satisfying. If you're traveling to Sokcho looking for a great Daepo Harbor snow crab spot, I strongly recommend Hanggu Hwareo :)

Hanggu Hwareo hours, address and reservation details

• Name: Hanggu Hwareo
• Address: 59 Daepohanghuimang-gil, Sokcho, Gangwon, South Korea (Daepo Harbor Fish Market, Building S, Unit 9)
• Hours: 11:30–02:00 (last order 00:30)
• Regular closed day: Every other Wednesday
• Features: Ocean view, dog-friendly, groups welcome, corkage-free, pickup/drop-off service (reserve a day ahead)