Ansan sashimi spot, mini seabream-flounder combo: Eochongye 1beonji

Is Ansan's Bandalseom really a ghost town?

When I actually went, Bandalseom in Ansan turned out to be a much hotter tourist spot than Geobukseom. I'd been to Geobukseom plenty of times, but this was my first time at Bandalseom. I searched "what is Bandalseom?" and somebody had written that it was a ghost town, so I went thinking, a restaurant in a place like that?? But what the heck!! Who called this a ghost town, hahahahaha

Tourist spots always have a good restaurant. And since Bandalseom is right by the sea, there was one under the slogan "Happiness caught from the sea": Eochongye 1beonji (어촌계1번지)~

Is there a wait at Eochongye 1beonji on a Friday evening?

When we got to Eochongye 1beonji at about 7:30 on a Friday evening, there was only one table left...! We had to either wait or have a table set up outside!

There's a ton of seafood outside Eochongye 1beonji, and the size of the tanks alone is enormous. Maybe because it's squid season, there were lots of live squid, plus sea cucumber, spoon worm, sea squirt, live octopus, rock sea squirt, scallops... so much fresh seafood it would make any seafood lover's eyes pop.

The Bandalseom branch of Eochongye 1beonji reportedly handles only live fish and seafood brought in the same day from Yeonan Pier.

Maybe that's why there were so many kinds of sashimi, and the prices were really good.

Can you combine mini-size sashimi at Eochongye 1beonji?

At Eochongye 1beonji you can choose the size for each fish, and since there's a mini size, a mini + mini combination is possible too! So we put together a mini red seabream + mini flounder. Of course we ate a few other things as well.

• Red seabream sashimi (mini) ₩39,000
• Flounder sashimi (mini) ₩35,000
• Whole rockfish spicy stew ₩32,000
• Steamed rice ₩2,000
• Gimmakki (seaweed rice roll) ₩8,000

Because Eochongye 1beonji also has side dishes like these fried items,

plus all kinds of seafood~ and several stews too, so it would be a real shame to eat only sashimi!

What are the free seaweed soup and sauces?

As soon as you order sashimi, Eochongye 1beonji brings seaweed soup as the default soup. The seaweed soup, simmered long and slow, is so good. Silky soft~ And the corn salad was so tasty that I refilled it twice.

Lots of sauces come out for the sashimi too: ceviche sauce, shiitake wasabi, Eochongye house ssamjang (fermented bean paste), and salted hairtail guts. Pick whatever suits you! I like mixing the ssamjang into chojang (sweet chili vinegar sauce), so I made it ahead of time~

How thick and tasty is the mini red seabream sashimi?

The mini red seabream is here! Eochongye 1beonji slices its sashimi plump, so the seabream is plump too~ It's prepared by a Japanese-cuisine chef with 30 years of experience, so naturally there isn't a single bone. Perfect.

And this was the last red seabream of the day~ After we ordered, the seabream disappeared from the kiosk. They had premium fish like grouper too, and somehow it felt oddly proud to order the last one and watch it sell out right away.

I'd only tried the fresh ceviche sauce, olive oil with lemon juice, with flounder before, but it was refreshing and delicious with the seabream too. The classic soy sauce + wasabi is great as well~

The shiitake wasabi was good too, but

the sashimi itself is so good that dipping it in just a tiny bit of soy sauce, or eating it with my favorite sauce, the ssamjang, was the best. But there were so many kinds of wraps too, so I tried a bit of everything~

Mini flounder: sekkosi or regular sashimi?

For flounder at Eochongye 1beonji you can choose between two kinds, sekkosi (thin-sliced with the small bones) and regular sashimi, and we chose regular! Sekkosi has fine bones that crunch as you chew, so it's not my style haha. And then the flounder sashimi comes out~

But this long-sliced flounder is so good~ That subtle sweetness flounder is known for comes through gently~

Flounder really is better when you eat two or more pieces at a time.

The fin is good even by itself~ hahahahahaha Flounder fin dipped in ssamjang had a popping texture that I loved.

Gimmakki and the Bandalseom sunset view

The gimmakki at Eochongye 1beonji is ₩8,000, made with sushi rice packed with flying fish roe and pickled radish. I can't escape carbs, so I end up ordering the maki, hahaha. The rice is seasoned really well and it's loaded with roe and pickled radish, so every mouthful is pure happiness.

And around mealtime, this gorgeous sunset view~ It would have looked even clearer outside, but the maki was so good that I couldn't go out,,, haha

And a service dish from the owner~ fried eggplant! At first I thought it was shrimp and figured I couldn't eat it in case of an allergy,, but the inside was soft, and it was fried eggplant!

Bone stew or whole rockfish stew?

The spicy stews at Eochongye 1beonji are ₩10,000 for the bone stew and ₩32,000 for the whole rockfish stew. Which did I pick to finish? The whole rockfish stew!!

A whole rockfish really does go in, just like that. Since it's a whole fish, of course there's lots of meat~ and the hot, spicy broth has fish roe in it too~ It was a bit spicy for someone who can't handle heat, but it was a great way to finish with a kick.

What about the review event and parking?

Eochongye 1beonji's review event has good per-person perks! I didn't take part, but if four people join, the ₩10,000 bone stew is simply free~

It's a newly built building, so it's clean, has lots of parking spaces, and gives plenty of parking time, Eochongye 1beonji~! If you visit Bandalseom, GO to this restaurant~