Pohang crab restaurant: red crab set for two at Dongnam Hoe Sikdang

I went on a trip to Pohang with my mom this time 💕 Instead of rushing around tourist spots, we planned a slower itinerary — good food, some sea views, and actual rest. Since we were in Pohang, I wanted to eat proper seafood, so for dinner we headed to Dongnam Hoe Sikdang, a Jukdo Market restaurant known for its crab.

Dongnam Hoe Sikdang

Where is Dongnam Hoe Sikdang, and where do you park?

Dongnam Hoe Sikdang is at 36 Jukdosijang-gil, Buk-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk, on the crab-and-hoe street inside Jukdo Market. For parking, you can use Jukdo Market Public Parking Lot 1 or Lot 3, and you get parking support if you eat at the restaurant, so it was fine to visit by car.

It was also a great spot to grab a meal while wandering the market. Apparently it's popular with Pohang locals too 😎

Inside the tanks, everything from red crab to bakdal daege, flounder, and sea squirt looked clean and well kept, even at a glance.

The red crab was practically waving at me haha — hi there, I'm delicious 👋🏻 Snow crab was out of season, so it was bakdal daege only!

Ordering the red crab set for two — and eating with a child

I went back and forth between bakdal daege and the red crab set, but since we had more daege planned later on the trip, we went with the red crab set for two at Dongnam Hoe Sikdang! For anyone visiting with a child, they have high chairs and kids' tableware ready, and you can request roasted seaweed flakes or baby abalone porridge — a solid pick for families too.

What comes before the crab: mulhoe, kodari and sashimi

When you go out for daege or red crab, you're not just eating the main event — there's a whole spread to enjoy along the way. Corn cheese, fried bites, slushy mulhoe (raw fish in chilled broth), seasoned seaweed, soy-marinated crab, flying fish roe rice balls, pickled sauce, sea squirt, abalone, and kodari (dried pollock) — such a range that the mouth was watering from the start.

Even the mini-sized slushy mulhoe had a surprising amount of sashimi in it, and it was easy to keep scooping spoonfuls in between other dishes.

You get to try a little of everything, so there's fun in picking and choosing, and it's a proper spread even before the main dish arrives 👍🏻 ✔️ Make sure to mix the flying fish roe rice ball into the soy crab shell!!

The shrimp, abalone, and sea squirt were all really fresh, and the kodari was something my mom especially liked!

There was also a generous serving of sashimi included. Someone recommended piling seasoned vinegar rice and sashimi onto seaweed, so I tried it exactly that way — and yep, the no-fail combo strikes again 🥹

Red crab pre-cut at every joint — no cracking needed

The red crab we'd been waiting for finally arrived!

Even in photos you can tell it was a solid size, but best of all, they'd cut a slit at every joint to make it easy to eat. The claws were packed with meat too, which was satisfying.

The red crab itself was seasoned just right, so as I ate the meat that distinct sea aroma and deep umami really came through. Red crab can be a bit of a hassle when you have to pick it apart yourself, but since it was already prepped for easy eating, I could just chat with my mom and enjoy it without any fuss.

Fried rice in the crab shell, spicy stew and seafood ramyeon

Once you've worked through the crab, you can't skip the innards left in the shell, right? This is the real treat!! You can just pick the meat and eat it with the innards, but I didn't even hesitate to add crab shell fried rice haha.

The rich, savory flavor of the crab innards soaked right into the rice — even with a pretty full stomach, the spoon kept going in.

I thought there was no way we'd have room for spicy stew after the red crab set for two, but you can't resist that red, bubbling broth... and the portion was just the right amount.

After the spicy stew, I really thought we were done — but there was a metal pot sitting on the table from the start, and we boiled up seafood ramyeon in it with instant noodles, mussels, blue crab, and green onion. We kept saying we were full, so why does ramyeon still find room haha.

The best order to eat the red crab set in

Personally, I'd recommend eating the spicy stew first, then finishing with the seafood ramyeon. Highly, highly recommend!! Have the spicy, savory stew first, then finish cleanly with the seafood ramyeon broth and noodles at the end — it's just right.

Is the red crab set at Dongnam Hoe Sikdang worth it?

Dongnam Hoe Sikdang isn't the kind of place where you just eat the red crab and leave — with sashimi, all the banchan, red crab, crab fried rice, spicy stew, and seafood ramyeon all in one sitting, it felt like an actual course. Sharing little bits of everything with my mom made the variety even better.

If you want a proper seafood spread in Pohang, check out Dongnam Hoe Sikdang, a Jukdo Market crab restaurant. If you're looking for Pohang restaurants and want a hearty, satisfying spread, I'd recommend Dongnam Hoe Sikdang 🦀