Jongno sashimi spot for a couple's dinner after a play: Suksseong

A Jongno sashimi restaurant after a Daehangno play: Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch

Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch (숙썽수산 종로본점) is an aged sashimi restaurant on the 3rd floor of a building in the Jongno food alley. We went for dinner with my spouse after seeing a play in Daehangno. It had been a while since we'd been out in Jongno, and the place was absolutely buzzing in the evening: every alley packed with people, lines in front of the popular restaurants.

It was one of those nights when going straight home after the play felt like a waste. So we decided on sashimi and a drink.

• Address: 16 Samil-daero 19-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 3rd floor
• Hours: daily 11:00–23:30 (last order 22:30)
• Groups welcome / reservations available

Is the seating private at Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch?

Each table is set apart with a tent-like divider, so you're naturally separated from the next table. It's not a fully closed room, but it feels private enough to chat with your group over dinner.

Suksseong is said to be known for sashimi aged at low temperature for over 24 hours and for seafood dishes. Maybe that's why the first things you notice when you walk in are the fish tanks and the aging fridge. We had reserved ahead, and the restaurant was already full of customers.

Side dishes and tablet ordering

Side dishes arrive as soon as you sit down: silky soft tofu heaped with bonito flakes, pickled mustard greens (gat), and green peas. The tofu is especially soft, and scooping it up with the bonito flakes wakes up your appetite.

You order on the tablet at the table. The menu is quite varied, centered on aged sashimi, with single dishes, hot pots and fried items too.

What comes in the small aged sashimi platter?

We ordered the small aged sashimi platter, cuttlefish perilla-oil makguksu (buckwheat noodles) and clam odeng soup (fish cake soup). The small platter comes with greater amberjack, yellowtail (amberjack), croaker, bluefin tuna, red sea bream, flounder, salmon and raw shrimp, plus flying fish roe and monkfish liver (ankimo).

The aged sashimi grabs your eye from the first look. The generous platter looks delicious just sitting there. What I liked was that every piece is labeled with its name. You may love sashimi, but when many kinds arrive at once it can get confusing, so being able to check the name as you eat is nice.

I usually go for live-fish sashimi, but trying aged sashimi that day, the difference was clear. It's much softer, with deeper savory flavor.

Yellowtail and red sea bream

Let's dig in, piece by piece. The amberjack's charm is its rich nuttiness. The fat is nicely distributed, so it chews soft and the savory flavor lingers in your mouth.

The red sea bream was cut thick. Despite the thickness it isn't tough; it loosens softly in your mouth, with a nice balance of chewy and tender flesh. A subtle sweetness rises the more you chew.

Salmon, fatty tuna belly, large flounder and croaker

The salmon is soft and moist. It melts in your mouth with its characteristic richness, and eating a piece between the other aged fish gives it a different charm.

The fatty tuna belly was a personal favorite. You barely need to chew. It melts the moment it touches your tongue, with that deep tuna flavor rising up.

The large flounder feels a bit softer than ordinary flounder. It's clean-tasting on its own, but with a little wasabi on aged white kimchi it's even better. The tang of the white kimchi really brings out the flounder's mild flavor.

The croaker starts mild and gets more savory the more you chew. It isn't strong, so it was good to eat between the other fish, and you can really feel that soft aged texture.

Sweet shrimp, and tuna–ankimo seaweed wraps

Last, the sweet shrimp: springy in texture, with a sweetness that grows as you chew. Eaten between the fish, it totally changes the mood in your mouth.

I put a little ankimo and wasabi on the tuna and wrapped it in seaweed. No words needed.

What does the cuttlefish perilla-oil makguksu taste like?

Suksseong's cuttlefish perilla-oil makguksu is buckwheat noodles with a nutty perilla oil aroma, generously topped with cuttlefish and plenty of vegetables including water dropwort (minari). I was looking forward to it as much as the sashimi, and it too grabbed my eye the moment it arrived.

The cuttlefish is crunchy and chewy. It isn't tough, and a subtle sweetness comes through as you chew, so it goes quite well with the noodles. With the nuttiness of the perilla oil, the spicy-tangy sauce, the fragrance of the minari and the chew of the cuttlefish, your mouth is busy. Eating the noodles between bites of sashimi also revived my appetite.

A bottle of tokkuri sake with the aged sashimi

Faced with aged sashimi and noodles, we ended up ordering a bottle of cool, crisp tokkuri (sake served in a small flask). You just can't not order a drink with food like this. A sip of fragrant sake, then a piece of aged sashimi. We really planned tonight's course well.

Finishing with clam odeng soup

Suksseong's clam odeng soup is a big pot with fish cakes plus plenty of shellfish, including clams, scallops and mussels. With a drink in us, it was time for something hot and brothy, so we picked it last, and it looks hearty from the first glance.

The broth drawn from the shellfish is cool-tasting and clean. The fish cakes aren't overcooked, just right, chewy yet soft. One bite of fish cake, then another sip of tokkuri. It seems like a dish you'd crave even more once the weather turns a bit chilly.

Verdict on Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch

• Aged sashimi, matured over 24 hours, that's soft and deeply savory
• Many kinds of fish, so comparing them is part of the fun
• Side dishes like cuttlefish perilla-oil makguksu and clam odeng soup were satisfying too
• Private-feeling space, good for dates and gatherings

Even we, who usually love live-fish sashimi, were completely won over by the soft, rich flavor of aged sashimi that day. If you're looking for a sashimi restaurant in Jongno, or a Jonggak Station sashimi bar where your group can drink with a bit of privacy, I recommend Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch.