Jongak seafood pub with curtained couple seats: Suksseong Susan

Three days before the family meeting between our families, we met up with my boyfriend for one last planning session, choosing Jongak as our midpoint. Looking for somewhere we could talk quietly but still eat well, we found this sashimi bar and pub near Jongak Station: Suksseong Susan.

Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch: hours and how to reserve

Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch is open daily from 11:00 to 24:00, with last order at 23:00. You can book through Naver Reservation, and pretty much everyone who shows up without a reservation ends up waiting. I really recommend booking ahead!!!

No elevator, so it's stairs up to the 3rd floor we go

This whole thing is the reservation list

What the curtain-divided private seats are like

The tables at Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch are privately sectioned off with curtains. I didn't get to see the whole place, but it looked like every table was set up this way — perfect for quiet conversation at this Jongak Station sashimi bar and pub.

We ordered aged sashimi small (for 2), cuttlefish perilla oil noodles, and snow crab innards cream croquettes -

Prices are a bit on the higher side, but they also sell a lunch menu, so I'd guess a lot of office workers nearby come by too

Isn't this review event such a steal? Giving us seafood too, ㅠㅠㅠ. Apparently this Jongak Station sashimi bar and pub only uses top-grade fish and uses a premium aging technique that leaves only the natural umami of the fish ദ്ദി

Complimentary starters and how the table is set

The basic side dishes were green peas, soft tofu, and... dried mustard leaf kimchi maybe?

There's a cute little fish on the soy sauce dish 🐟

Oh but my boyfriend brought me a cute bunch of flowers for once, haha

Cuttlefish perilla oil noodles and snow crab innards cream croquettes

While we nibbled the side dishes and waited, the cuttlefish perilla oil noodles came out first.

Is it real that there's caviar in this? And why does caviar photograph so sparkly and pretty ✧

The aged sashimi for two followed right after. This too had a generous amount of caviar ✧ Each fish came with its own name tag, which I loved 🙆🏻‍♀️

Waiting for the croquette...

Probably because it's fried, the snow crab innards cream croquette came out last

We took the group photo, so let's dig in already

I figured the crab innards croquette would taste best hot, so we ate that first

Inside the thin fried shell, it's packed full of snow crab innards cream ~ the outside is genuinely crispy while the inside is unbelievably good with the savoriness of crab innards and the softness of the cream... It could be a bit rich, but the chipotle sauce drizzled on top adds a little spice that cuts right through the richness.

Mixing is usually my job, but I passed the gloves to my boyfriend so I could film (he did NOT do a good job)

👩🏻 Let's get a shot of you holding it / 👨🏻 Like this? Like this? / 👩🏻 ........?

Actually I took the gloves back to try filming it myself, but it turned out to be harder than expected, haha. Anyway, the cuttlefish perilla oil noodles came with a spicy-sweet sauce plus the full nuttiness of perilla oil, loaded with chewy, sweet raw cuttlefish — a very filling dish!

With side dishes this good, not drinking would be against the rules 🟨

Aged sashimi platter for two: how each fish tastes

Suksseong Susan's aged sashimi small (for 2) came with salmon, tuna, amberjack, largehead hairtail, red seabream, flounder plus flounder fin, monkfish liver, and caviar, each with its own name tag.

Salmon - tuna. I'm one of those people who dislikes salmon, and its aroma really came through strongly, so it was a bit much for me. The tuna, though, was so soft it just melted away in my mouth.

Amberjack - largehead hairtail - red seabream. The amberjack had a bit of fattiness with a chewy texture that I loved, and the hairtail was thick, so you could really feel its firm texture. The red seabream had a gentle sweetness with a nice bite from the skin `· .

Flounder - flounder fin. Flounder is the nation's favorite sashimi, need I say more. The fin especially was sliced thick, and that's exactly my type 🔫

Eating caviar for the first time: what went wrong

Monkfish liver - caviar. Honestly, neither of us knew how to eat caviar, so we looked it up and had it open while we ate ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Following instructions, I ate it with white fish and kept the soy sauce and wasabi to a minimum, but honestly... I needed more soy sauce.

My boyfriend ignored Gemini's advice completely and piled caviar onto red fish with a ton of wasabi. If you're going to do that, why even look it up ㅋㅅㅋ

Oh but I do have to give credit for wrapping flounder with white kimchi — that combo was genuinely good

By the end it was full-on wasabi and caviar bombs ㅋ.ㅋ

Does Suksseong Susan work for a first date or a quiet talk?

This Jongak Station sashimi bar and pub is great for chatting away in your own little space like this. The vibe is nice too, so it might work well as a blind date spot >.<

The restroom is inside the restaurant too, and the women's restroom has 2 stalls at least. Clean. If you're looking for somewhere to go in Jongno, I recommend this Jongak Station sashimi bar and pub, Suksseong Susan