Window-room sashimi and salt-grilled shrimp in Jongno: Suksseong Susan

I went all the way to Jongno hunting for good aged sashimi. I heard I could get salt-grilled shrimp there too, so I headed to Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch (숙썽수산 종로본점) with high expectations. Let me introduce this Jongno favorite, Suksseong Susan.

Where is Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch, and what are the rooms like?

Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch is on the 3rd floor of a building at 16 Samil-daero 19-gil, Jongno-gu. Heads up — there's no elevator, so you'll have to take the stairs! Climb all the way up to the 3rd floor and you'll find Suksseong Susan.

The private atmosphere won me over the moment I walked in. Every table is curtained off like its own room, so it seemed like a great spot for gatherings too.

Since we booked through Naver Reservation, they seated us in a room by the window.

We sat in the window-side room and the big window was wide open, which gave it a bit of an outdoor pojangmacha (street tent bar) vibe. There was a nice breeze that day too, which put us in an even better mood.

Suksseong Susan menu prices and the side dishes served first

Suksseong Susan also serves a lunch menu, along with aged sashimi, seafood, and mulhoe (cold raw fish soup) among other dishes.

If you leave a Naver receipt review, you get to pick one free item from abalone, sea cucumber, stone sea squirt, whelk sashimi, or the croquette — I'd definitely recommend doing this.

The basic side dishes were soft tofu and green peas.

The soft tofu topped with bonito flakes was silky, and the deep umami of the bonito flakes was seriously addictive.

Aged sashimi set, small (for 2) ₩69,000 / Salt-grilled shrimp ₩29,000 / Crab innard cream croquette ₩19,000

Aged sashimi set for two, 69,000 won: the six fish on the plate

The small aged sashimi set is ₩69,000 for two people, and it came out with six kinds of fish, each labeled with a name tag.

You get to try six kinds of fish: olive flounder, salmon, red seabream, bluefin tuna, yellowtail amberjack, and jeomseongeo.

They use the complete bloodletting method and age the fish for 24-36 hours using the Tsumoto low-temperature method, apparently. Maybe that's why it tasted even better — the texture and flavor were clearly upscale... soft yet chewy, and I felt happy with every single piece.

We also ordered vinegared rice to eat alongside the sashimi. The sashimi is delicious on its own, but eating it with the vinegared rice made the meal even more filling.

Wrapping it in seaweed was so good too~

Salt-grilled shrimp, 29,000 won: the season's last call

Suksseong Susan's salt-grilled shrimp is ₩29,000, but the menu is now out of season. They're currently serving raw shrimp sashimi instead. I caught the very last call for the salt-grilled shrimp~~~! Fresh shrimp flipping around on a bed of buttered salt.

When the shrimp are just about done, a staff member comes and turns off the heat, so you get to eat them at the exact perfect moment.

Plump salt-grilled shrimp — grilled on that buttered salt, the seasoning was spot on and savory. I usually get a headache if I eat more than two shrimp because of that distinct shrimp smell, but I didn't get one here at all, so I ended up eating every single shrimp my boyfriend peeled for me. Proof of how hard we worked peeling shrimp, haha.

What do the 19,000-won red snow crab cream croquettes taste like?

The crab innard cream croquette is ₩19,000, and it's fist-sized — too big to eat in one bite!

Crispy fried on the outside with a soft crab innard cream filling inside — pure crispy-outside, gooey-inside perfection. The sauce tasted like pizza sauce, so it felt a bit like eating a pizza-flavored croquette. Croquettes can get a little heavy after a while, but they also fried up some kkwarigochu (shishito-style green peppers) to go with it, and the combo was seriously great.

Is Suksseong Susan worth it for aged sashimi in Jongno?

From aged sashimi to salt-grilled shrimp to crab innard cream croquette, we got to try such a variety of dishes that the two of us left completely stuffed. I especially loved the six-fish sashimi set for being clean and chewy, and the curtained rooms made it a great spot for a private drink over sashimi. If you're craving aged sashimi in Jongno, check out this Jongno favorite, Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch.