Seongseo, Daegu seafood ttukbaegi and boil for two: Sin Yeongung

Where to eat a seafood boil in Daegu

While hunting for good restaurants in Seongseo, Daegu, I found the seafood boil my wife, 35 weeks pregnant, had been curious about — and we finally got to try it. A while back she suddenly said to me...

"There's this American-style seafood dish, I want to try that!"

Turned out she meant seafood boil! Shrimp, crab, clams, and other seafood cooked together with potatoes, corn, sausage and so on, then tossed in a spicy Cajun-style sauce — an American seafood dish. These days it's sold a lot as meal kits too, so she said "should we just buy one and try it at home?" But that comment kept nagging at me haha.

Since it was our first time trying it, I figured we should have it properly made somewhere first rather than starting with a meal kit. Searching for places in Daegu that serve seafood boil, I found Sin Yeongung Cheonggukjang Haemulttukbaegi (신영웅청국장해물뚝배기) Seongseo Moda Outlet branch. It happened to be the exact day my wife entered week 35 of pregnancy, so we headed out together to eat something delicious. :)

First impression: Sin Yeongung is no ordinary neighborhood diner

The first thing that caught my eye walking in was the display near the entrance of various media features and brand materials. There was an intro to MBN's Lee Seung-yoon's Great Food Journey, information related to a Consumer Preferred Brand award, and a whole row of posters.

Usually when places slap this kind of thing up everywhere it looks messy, but here it was arranged like a little tour of the brand's story, so it was fun to look at piece by piece walking in. Inside the restaurant too, there are interesting food-related posters and framed pieces scattered around that you end up glancing at haha.

Inside Sin Yeongung: warm brown tones and a hidden back room

Walking inside, the overall first impression is clean + warm.

The interior is centered on brown tones, giving it a sense of calm — closer to a Korean restaurant where you'd comfortably eat with family, rather than the loud, chaotic vibe typical of seafood places. But going further in, the space was much bigger than expected.

What especially caught my attention was the group seating area for up to about 38 people! It looked great for company dinners or group gatherings, and interestingly, it's not fixed as group-only seating — it can also be divided with blinds for a more private family setup. The open area feels warm and family-friendly, while the back has this separable space too. Family meals, dining with parents, gye-moim (savings club) gatherings, company dinners — it seemed pretty versatile.

Where to park at the Seongseo Moda Outlet branch

We got lucky and parked right in front of the restaurant. But as soon as we walked in, a staff member let us know that if the parking in front was full, there's a much bigger public parking lot behind the building. Looking at it myself, it was a wide space that could easily fit dozens of cars.

Parking can be a real stress when eating out around Seongseo, so even if the spots out front are full, don't give up right away — check the public lot behind the building! Especially when moving around with a pregnant wife like us, not having to walk far because of parking really mattered.

Self-serve banchan bar and free coffee bar at Sin Yeongung

There's a self-serve bar set up on one side of the restaurant, so you can comfortably grab as many extra banchan (side dishes) as you need.

There's also a coffee bar available after the meal. Little things like this might seem minor, but they really do raise satisfaction when you're actually eating there. Not having to keep calling a staff member for side dishes, plus a coffee after the meal — overall it felt like they thought carefully about guest convenience.

What we ordered: just two dishes

Today's goal was clear haha.

• Seafood boil, medium (中): ₩49,000
• Seafood hot pot: ₩15,000
• Total: ₩64,000!

At first I thought since we came for the boil, maybe we'd just order that — but the restaurant's name is literally "Sin Yeongung Cheonggukjang Haemulttukbaegi" (신영웅청국장해물뚝배기), so I figured we should try the hot pot too... and honestly, if we'd only ordered one, we would have really missed out. They're completely different in appeal.

The banchan, and a surprising onion salad

While waiting for the main dishes, we started on the basic banchan, and one that stuck with me was the onion salad! It was so refreshing at first I thought it might be apple salad haha.

It's onion, but instead of a sharp spicy kick, it has a light, refreshing feel that's perfect for resetting your palate between bites of seafood. The mains were so strong that these basic sides ended up getting a lot of attention too.

The star arrives: a full tray of seafood boil

Wow...

The moment this hit the table, you couldn't not take a photo. A huge tray piled with all kinds of seafood — "ah, so this is why they call it a 'panful.'" haha

But that wasn't all. The staff member didn't just set the dish down and leave — she actually trimmed and prepped the harder-to-eat seafood piece by piece herself. Especially the big legs — I was wondering "how am I supposed to eat this?" — and she cut them right down into bite-sized pieces.

Seafood is delicious, but peeling, cutting, and prepping it can get tiring before you even start eating — so having it prepped in advance was really convenient. Watching her cut everything up piece by piece, I thought, "we really made the right call ordering the boil today." haha

Why there's a smiling potato on top of the boil

Looking closer, one of the potatoes on top of the boil... is smiling. Haha A cute little smiley face right on the potato. Such a small thing, but it's the kind of little detail that sticks in your memory when you're taking photos. A potato grinning happily on top of a huge seafood platter — my wife and I both cracked up.

Gloves, soy sauce and wasabi: the small touches that work

When we were about to dig into the seafood properly, they even gave us plastic gloves.

Since boil dishes usually involve eating with your hands, the plastic gloves were genuinely useful. Something else that stood out to me was the soy sauce and wasabi — the wasabi wasn't just dolloped out but individually packaged, which felt clean and hygienic! It was also a bit different from the usual sharp, nose-tingling wasabi you get at restaurants, so it paired nicely with the seafood. You can really see a restaurant's thoughtfulness in these small touches.

By the way, the boil comes coated in plenty of red sauce, so an apron is basically required haha. Don't end up with sauce spots all over your clothes — grab an apron first!

What does the seafood boil sauce taste like?

Then I took a bite. Hmm... how do I even describe this flavor? There's a distinct buttery richness, plus a familiar hint of something like tomato pasta sauce, layered with the aroma of spices and the umami of the seafood.

But it's not simply "buttery" or "tomato sauce-y," and it's totally different from the seasoning of a typical Korean haemuljjim (spicy steamed seafood). In a word: hard to describe, but a deep flavor you keep going back for.

While eating I was supposed to be thinking about how to write it up for the blog... but honestly I was just too busy focused on eating haha. This is the blogger's occupational hazard — when something's delicious you're supposed to jot down notes on the flavor, right? But that day it just became "eat first, figure it out later." Haha

Not just shellfish: roe and milt in the boil too

As we kept eating, something else nice showed up. Gonad and milt! I genuinely love that. And there it was in the boil, plump, along with roe too. On top of that, plump shrimp, scallops, clams kept coming. It's not a dish you finish in one bite — you keep poking around the tray wondering "what should I eat next?" haha

The shrimp especially had plump meat, and the scallops and clams matched the sauce really well. Interestingly, this boil is plenty delicious even without dipping in soy sauce or wasabi — the seasoning and flavor of the sauce itself is already complete, so I preferred eating it plain.

Pasta noodles hiding under the seafood

And that's still not the end. Eating our way through the seafood, I looked underneath and there were pasta noodles laid out! That's basically cheating haha — the noodles had soaked up all the umami from the seafood and the buttery red sauce, so we could keep enjoying it all the way to the end.

On top of that, there was rice cake (tteok) that everyone loves. The corn was great too, pulled apart with sauce on it, plus more potatoes — eat some seafood, have a rice cake, back to the pasta noodles... the food just kept coming. So even though it was the medium size and I wondered at first "will this be enough for two?", with the seafood hot pot added it turned out to be really filling.

The seafood ttukbaegi arrives bubbling at the table

While we were distracted by the boil, the seafood hot pot we'd ordered (₩15,000) arrived too. The moment it came out, it was bubbling away like crazy. Looking inside the pot, it was packed with seafood — scallops and more, and as we ate, roe and milt showed up again too, which was a nice surprise.

If the boil is about enjoying the flavor of the sauce, the seafood hot pot is definitely about enjoying hot, refreshing broth + the natural flavor of the seafood itself. One spoonful in and I thought, "ah, they didn't put 'haemulttukbaegi' in the restaurant name for nothing."

Boil sauce vs soy sauce and wasabi: our conclusion

Going back and forth between the two dishes, we landed on a fun conclusion. Boil → tastes best eaten plain, without soy sauce. The sauce is already flavorful enough that you don't need to add soy sauce. On the flip side, seafood in the hot pot → tastes much better dipped in soy sauce + wasabi!

The seafood in the broth was cooked plainly, so a little soy sauce and wasabi really brought the umami to life. So the conclusion we landed on as a couple was haha — "eat the boil plain, dip the hot pot seafood in soy sauce!" That combination.

Boil or hot pot: which one would we order again?

Honestly, we came here today curious about the seafood boil specifically. But after finishing everything, the seafood hot pot turned out to be absolutely no afterthought.

The boil has that generous visual + unique sauce + variety of seafood + the fun of picking through pasta noodles and rice cake, while the seafood hot pot has hot, refreshing broth + plenty of seafood + a distinctly Korean flavor that makes you crave rice. So one has that special Western-style flair, and the other has the warm, comforting taste Koreans can't help but love. Going back and forth between the two, there's never a chance to get sick of either one — one spoonful of broth and your hand is reaching for the boil again haha. I'd recommend this combo of medium seafood boil + seafood hot pot pretty highly.

A special meal out at 35 weeks pregnant

It all really started with one offhand comment from my wife not long ago — "I want to try a seafood boil." Today happened to be exactly 35 weeks into her pregnancy, so before ordering a meal kit, we figured we'd try it properly made somewhere first, and I'm really glad we came. :)

With not much time left until the birth, these ordinary moments of us going around eating good food together somehow feel more memorable lately. Most of all, getting to eat the dish my wife had been curious about, saying "this is so good!" while picking through everything together — that was a genuinely fun time.

Worth it if you want something different in Seongseo, Daegu

If you want to enjoy seafood in a way that's a bit different from the usual haemuljjim or haemultang, this is a place worth visiting at least once.

• A distinctive menu item: seafood boil
• Staff who trim and prep the seafood for you
• A generous spread from seafood to gonad/roe, pasta noodles, and rice cake
• Hot, refreshing seafood hot pot
• A clean, warm brown-toned interior
• Space for everything from family meals to group gatherings of up to about 38
• Private seating separable with blinds
• Self-serve bar and coffee bar
• Convenient parking out front plus a public lot behind the building