Aged sashimi platter at Bada Yakbang, a Yeonnam-dong sashimi bar

The weather was so nice that day that staying home felt like a waste. I figured I should get out and treat myself to something delicious for a change of mood. While thinking about what to eat, I suddenly got a craving for sashimi. So I looked up spots serving aged sashimi in Yeonnam-dong and came across this place, made a reservation, and headed over.

Where is Bada Yakbang in Yeonnam-dong, and what are its hours?

• Address: 266-11 Donggyo-ro, 1st floor, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Mon–Sun 11:30am–11:00pm
• Break time: 3:00pm–5:00pm
• Other: Group seating available, free Wi-Fi, reservations available

It's about a 10-minute walk from Hongik University Station, so the location was great.

Also, at the entrance you could see the popular menu items posted, which I liked.

What is Bada Yakbang like inside?

Feeling excited, I stepped inside, and the interior was well decorated with a nice atmosphere.

I also found out this place has appeared on various TV shows.

Knowing that a lot of celebrities had visited too made me even more excited.

What's on the menu at Bada Yakbang?

First we sat down and looked at the menu. The lunch specials included assorted aged sashimi set, premium assorted aged sashimi set, freshwater eel rice bowl, and loach soup (chueotang).

For mains, there was seasonal assorted aged sashimi, patented soybean-paste-aged large flounder, straw-fire-smoked large Spanish mackerel, and sesame-sauce mackerel vinegar salad.

They also sold monkfish liver salt gimbap, seasoned herbs with aged sashimi, mackerel roll sushi, and a full plate of sea urchin roe.

For sushi, you could order 2 pieces each of flounder, mackerel, salmon, smoked Spanish mackerel, aged kimchi flounder, skin-on red seabream, croaker, flounder fin, and flounder with monkfish liver.

For add-ons, there was extra aged sashimi for one, special spicy fish stew, special clear fish soup, monkfish liver, salt gimbap, grilled gim (roasted laver), self-serve sushi, plain rice, and ramyeon noodles.

For cooked dishes, there was bracken and sea urchin roe pasta, bracken and beef pancake, monkfish roe and milt kalguksu (hand-cut noodle soup), oak-smoked shrimp pancake, dried pollack and scorched rice soup, aged kimchi flounder sushi, monkfish roe and milt ramyeon, and cabbage with barley soybean paste. For sides, there was nothing missing — cucumber tang-tangi, sesame oil ice cream, garlic shrimp fried rice, all of it.

I filmed a video showing the full menu including drinks and alcohol in detail, so please check that out too.

Ordering the seasonal aged sashimi for two and the abalone intestine cream pasta

Among all these options, we ended up ordering the seasonal assorted aged sashimi for two and the abalone intestine cream pasta.

Once we ordered, they set up the basic side dishes.

Finally the mains arrived too. Doesn't it just look amazing? I wanted to dig in right away.

If you want to see it in more detail, check out the video.

How does the abalone intestine cream pasta taste?

First, the abalone intestine cream pasta.

It was mixed evenly all through, and I scooped up a big bite. This was seriously delicious.

There was also plenty of abalone in it, which was great to eat alongside the pasta.

What comes on the seasonal aged sashimi platter, and how to eat it

Next is the aged sashimi. The set included mackerel, salmon, spotted mackerel, flounder, red seabream, croaker, needlefish, sea urchin, bluefin tuna, and abalone, and they told us there was vinegared rice gimbap tucked underneath the sashimi.

They said white fish tastes best with salt, so we dipped the red seabream and flounder in salt — and wow, it was so good. Definitely a great spot for aged sashimi in Yeonnam-dong.

The abalone dipped in vinegar-chili sauce was also fantastic.

Salmon is a fatty cut, so how could it not be delicious?

Personally I really love sea urchin, and topping it on the vinegared rice gimbap was outstanding.

The mackerel paired really well with the sauce drizzled on top.

For reference, bluefin tuna is delicious on its own, but it really went well with gim (seaweed) too.

With so many types of sashimi, there was also the fun of picking and choosing what to eat.

Is Bada Yakbang worth it for aged sashimi in Yeonnam-dong?

For reference, topping the vinegared rice gimbap with sashimi was delicious, but topping it with the seasoned herb side dish was also really tasty. If you're looking for a place serving aged sashimi in Yeonnam-dong, or just a good restaurant in Yeonnam-dong in general, I'd recommend giving this place a try.