Dongdaemun seafood restaurant A set with spicy fish stew: Simdo Hoetjip

As someone firmly on team seafood rather than team meat, I had been craving sashimi and seafood for ages, so I visited Simdo Hoetjip, a good seafood spot near Gyeongdong Market. Order a set here and you can taste fresh assorted sashimi, seafood, albap (fish roe rice), and spicy fish stew all at once. We ate so deliciously and so fully that I thought I would leave a happy record of it.

Simdo Hoetjip hours and information

• Tuesday–Friday 15:00–24:00 / last order 23:00
• Weekends 12:00–24:00 / last order 23:00
• Regularly closed every Monday
• Paid corkage available, free parking available, no pets allowed

Inside the restaurant and the tables

Simdo Hoetjip is not huge inside, but it has a good variety of tables for two and four. The whole place felt tidy, and the chairs had baskets for storing bags or clothes.

We visited for dinner, and it felt like a hidden neighborhood gem in Jegi-dong. There were quite a few people, with a steady stream of visitors. The spacing between tables might feel a little close, but partitions between them seemed sufficient for eating and chatting. I think there were around 10 tables.

Live-fish sashimi and seafood menu

Menus were posted all over the walls, so they were easy to spot and read from anywhere. Along with fresh live flounder and rockfish sashimi, there were all kinds of seafood, including sea squirt, sea cucumber, abalone, live octopus, and sweet shrimp. Besides live-fish sashimi and seafood, there was mulhoe (chilled raw fish soup), a summer specialty, as well as steamed scallops, steamed rockfish, and gujeolhoe naengchae, a cold seafood platter. Side dishes included jjambbong ramen, raw-fish bibimbap, albap, and grilled herring.

Since shrimp are in season now, there were shrimp dishes too, such as raw shrimp sashimi and salt-grilled fresh shrimp. They also had flatfish sashimi and a flatfish assortment that were not written on the menu. There are so many kinds of live-fish sashimi that it would be nice to choose according to your taste.

Generous banchan before the main event

On the table were chojang, soy sauce, soju glasses, and a bottle opener. They were also running a Naver review event: write a review and receive ₩2,000 immediately plus a ₩3,000 coupon.

Out came wrap vegetables, Cheongyang chili peppers, makjang, garlic, and wasabi—everything that sashimi needs. There were also steamed egg, corn-mayo salad, steamed clams, and aged kimchi. Lately, I feel like any sashimi tastes great wrapped in aged kimchi, so I had wanted to eat it that way; it was perfect that aged kimchi arrived as a side dish.

Seaweed soup came out to enjoy alongside the sashimi, and its portion was very generous too. Next came kimchi pancake. Simdo Hoetjip’s banchan really seem to come in an impressive variety. The crisply fried kimchi pancake was a wonderful palate opener before the sashimi and seafood main course. A little oil to line the stomach first~

Then came grilled herring. It was so large that one bowl of rice with the herring alone would have been filling. The flesh was tender, not fishy, and clean-tasting, so it was easy to enjoy even without rice; shredded scallions and a subtly sweet sauce on top made it even more flavorful. The nutty herring, crisp scallions, and gently sweet sauce went together so well. The banchan had already earned a perfect score, so I was excited for the live-fish sashimi and seafood to come.

The small A Set for two

Just look at that springy, thick-cut sashimi ㅠㅠ!

The two of us ordered Set A. It includes three kinds of assorted sashimi, five kinds of seafood, albap, and spicy fish stew. We chose the small size, which cost ₩73,000. The three kinds of sashimi were flounder, rockfish, and red sea bream. Daikon sprouts and lemon came with it for a fresh touch. The sashimi looks so fresh, right~? I personally love thick-cut sashimi, and Simdo Hoetjip serves it nice and thick too!

Complimentary gim-maki! Two pieces.

They explained that it is delicious to place sashimi on the gim-maki and dip it in soy sauce or chojang! With chojang, it almost has a raw-fish bibimbap feel? It was so good that I considered ordering more, but there were so many other dishes that I did not. Ordered separately, it is ₩5,000 for three pieces.

The flounder fin that came with the assorted sashimi was wonderfully soft and almost melted in the mouth because it was richly fatty. They say fatty cuts pair well with wasabi, and it was so good with wasabi and soy sauce.

My favorite sauce for sashimi is makjang. It contains sesame oil, so it is incredibly nutty. Sashimi dipped in makjang, placed on a perilla leaf, and wrapped with aged kimchi and daikon sprouts was such a great combination. Sashimi needs soju, of course, but we had driven because of our schedule, so sadly we substituted cola. A little cola refreshment here and there~

The best thing about assorted sashimi is getting to try several kinds of fresh live fish. Flounder was clean and mild with a subtle sweetness; rockfish had a chewy texture and plenty of savory flavor. Red sea bream had a wonderfully firm bite, while the flounder fin became more deeply nutty and fatty the more I chewed it. This is a lineup where you cannot give up a single thing! I definitely recommend the assorted sashimi.

Five kinds of seafood, from abalone to clams

The five seafood items were abalone, sea squirt, sea cucumber, octopus, and clams. I started with my favorite, abalone, dipped in the accompanying sesame oil sauce! The abalone was wonderfully bouncy and chewy. Abalone sashimi really pairs perfectly with sesame oil sauce—the nutty flavor doubles as if by magic!

For the remaining octopus, sea squirt, sea cucumber, and more, I dipped them in chojang to enjoy their ocean aroma. Eating such fresh seafood made it feel as though I were in Jeju. I have gone to Jeju and eaten loads of seafood, and this was fresh enough to feel exactly like what I ate there.

Finishing with albap and spicy fish stew

Albap arrived just as we were finishing the sashimi and seafood! Flying fish roe, mayonnaise, and seaweed flakes were mixed in just right, cutting through the richness of the sashimi and seafood.

Even without special ingredients, flying fish roe alone seems to make rice delicious. Since it came with a set, I thought the albap portion might be small, but I was surprised by how much there was. The final course of the set was spicy fish stew! It bubbled away, topped with lots of fragrant perilla leaves, which was completely my kind of thing.

I feel like fish stew at sashimi restaurants usually has very little fish, but Simdo Hoetjip’s had plenty of large pieces of fish and bones, which impressed me. The broth was refreshing, spicy, and addictive enough to keep reaching for. I thought it would be so delicious with rice stirred into it, but I was truly too full to manage any more rice.

Apparently, Simdo Hoetjip’s dishes are prepared by a chef with 40 years of cooking experience, including work at overseas embassies! No wonder it is known as a good restaurant in Cheongnyangni! I completely agree!

Simdo Hoetjip runs lunch by reservation for a private, relaxed lunchtime. Reservation guests receive a tasting portion of braised sea bream or flounder jeon made with fresh live fish, so anyone visiting for lunch should call ahead to reserve.

If you want to properly enjoy fresh live-fish sashimi and a range of seafood, I recommend visiting at least once. Both the sashimi and seafood were fresh, making every bite fun to try, and it was a satisfying meal overall. I also really liked that free parking made it easy to visit by car.