Yeonsu-dong ₩13,900 lunch sashimi set plus sushi: Veteran Fish Market

The midday sun is still fierce, but mornings and evenings have turned fully autumn now. On a cool day I made a lunch appointment with a junior colleague, and when I asked them to pick land, sea, or air, they said seafood sounded good — so I drove over.

How to find Veteran General Fish Market in Yeonsu-dong, and where to park

'Veteran General Fish Market Incheon Yeonsu Branch' is a Yeonsu-dong, Incheon restaurant famous for good food, located just 109m from Exit 4 of Yeonsu Station on the Suin-Bundang Line. I'd heard the lunch sashimi set was excellent value, so I went to check it out. The basement parking lot at Yeonsu Plaza is huge, so parking is very easy. It's free for 3 hours, so there's plenty of time.

· Open daily 11:00–23:00 · Last order 21:00

This is a pretty large place, with rooms that hold 8 to 32 people and group seating for 12 up to 120 people. It also has separate solo seats and couple seats.

Even though it was a late lunch, there were customers scattered throughout, so being the shy types, we picked a quiet corner seat by the window. We ordered two lunch sashimi sets and a plate of assorted sushi first, then decided to look around a bit.

What's on the self-serve bar at Veteran General Fish Market?

The self-serve bar at Veteran General Fish Market Incheon Yeonsu Branch is generously stocked with all kinds of sauces and side dishes to match the size of the place. I noticed dishware and a coffee machine scattered around, and there's even ice cream, which kids would love. The ramyeon noodle add-ins would be great boiled into the spicy fish stew.

The unique and charming point of 'Veteran General Fish Market Incheon Yeonsu Branch' is that you can fry your own kimchi pancake, jeon (savory pancake). I'm no good with a spatula, so my junior colleague took over and fried it up just right. Experience really shows, haha.

What comes with the ₩13,900 lunch special sashimi set?

By the time we got back to our seats, the whole spread was already laid out. Watching several staff move briskly around the open kitchen, it made sense why service was so fast. We soothed our stomachs with hot pollack seaweed soup and started with the crunchy seasoned raw fish mix as an appetizer, saving the fried food for dessert.

A chef with 30 years of experience picks flounder, rockfish, mullet, and red seabream fresh from the coastal wharf every dawn, trims and ages them, then serves only the best-tasting cuts. Sliced thick, the umami really comes through.

Why we added a plate of assorted sushi

The lunch sashimi set only comes with 2 pieces of sushi per person, which seemed like it might be a bit light, so we added a plate of assorted sushi. Excellent decision.

The egg rice came out piping hot, and after carefully mixing it and topping it with fresh pollack roe, it was absolutely delicious. Even with plenty of roe piled on, it wasn't too salty — the quality was excellent.

₩13,900 per person: just over ₩40,000 for two in Yeonsu-dong

For ₩13,900 per person you get sashimi, sushi, fried food, spicy fish stew, and egg rice — that's outstanding value. There's fun in alternating between the dishes, and the crispy self-fried kimchi pancake was especially good. The pollack seaweed soup instantly cures a hangover.

While we were busy demolishing everything, the well-simmered spicy fish stew gave us a second round of hangover relief on top of the seaweed soup. It wasn't just a token stew either — it had big, meaty chunks of fish and real flavor. It's a shame we couldn't have a shot of soju since it was broad daylight.

Even after adding the assorted sushi, the bill came to just over ₩40,000 — that kind of value is hard to find. Maybe that's why, even during the day, there were so many families and groups of elderly customers around.

With a spacious, comfortable dining area and plenty to see and do, 'Veteran General Fish Market Incheon Yeonsu Branch' is a Yeonsu-dong, Incheon seafood restaurant I'd love to visit again.