Cheongju sashimi restaurant with a ₩30,000 platter: Dining Mihyang

I was looking for a decent restaurant for a date with my girlfriend when I found an omakase place with amazing value for money! It's 'Dining Mihyang' in Dongnam district!

But it wasn't just good value. The taste, and even the owner's service, made me want to come back — here's my review of Dining Mihyang.

Dining Mihyang's menu and prices — what I ordered

Here's the menu board hanging by the door. Aren't the prices already great? But the absolute price isn't the point — what matters is what you actually get for that price, and you'll be surprised.

I ordered the assorted sashimi platter (₩30,000) here!

The atmosphere and seating

There's a bar table where the owner serves the food directly, and a few tables for 3 or 4 people — I was seated at a table toward the back.

The table setting was clean too. Neat and tidy enough to rival any upscale Japanese restaurant — I forgot the price and felt like I was at a high-end omakase.

₩20,000 corkage, sake pairing

I brought Wolgyegwan Junmai that day. Paired with sashimi, it was such a great match! The junmai's clean, lingering finish worked beautifully with pretty much any dish.

The corkage fee is ₩20,000, which felt reasonable. I brought my own wine glass, but they even set you up with an ice bucket and sake glasses.

Pumpkin porridge, salad, assorted vegetables

The pumpkin porridge wasn't seasoned heavily, so it was a great way to start the course. My girlfriend had actually said recently that she wanted pumpkin porridge, so maybe that's why it tasted even better haha.

The salad came with a refreshing dressing too, a nice starter, and the vegetables were great to eat between bites to cleanse the palate.

Seasoned flounder sashimi

This is flounder sashimi tossed in chojang (vinegared chili sauce). The sauce didn't taste store-bought — it seemed to be made in-house, with a sweetness and cleanness different from the usual bottled version.

And even though this is a dish that comes before the main course, it was loaded with so much flounder that it felt like something you'd normally have to pay ₩20,000-something for at a regular sashimi restaurant.

The ₩30,000 assorted sashimi platter

The sashimi came in a wide variety, three pieces of each kind.

• White tuna
• Sea bream
• Tuna cheek
• Flounder (two pieces)
• Sea bass

That was the lineup. Getting a platter with tuna and sea bream for ₩30,000 — talk about incredible value! Everything was so fresh and chewy, especially the tuna cheek and sea bream, which had great texture and were super savory.

Dipping the sea bass in the ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste) was unbelievably good! The ssamjang didn't taste store-bought either — it seemed made in-house with extra savoriness, and when my girlfriend mixed it with chojang in her own Gyeongsang-do way, it became the ultimate sauce.

If you visit, try mixing half ssamjang, half chojang. It's a whole new flavor.

Salt-grilled sea bream head (free with the platter)

A salt-grilled sea bream head comes as part of the course! It came with the meat around the head too, so there was way more meat than you'd expect from just a 'head'.

The owner told me it wasn't grated with ordinary salt but with rock salt, ground fresh — which gave it such great umami. Combined with the naturally chewy, savory sea bream meat, the good salt made the whole thing explode with flavor.

Here's why the salt-grilled sea bream head is such a big deal: it's actually a separate menu item that costs ₩35,000 on its own! But it comes with the ₩30,000 course. I even asked if they were giving it to me specially since it's not normally included, but no — apparently it just comes free with the ₩30,000 sashimi platter... The owner is way too generous, I swear...

Vinegared octopus & bite-sized salmon

I hadn't even finished the sashimi and the grilled head yet, and out came vinegared octopus and bite-sized salmon pieces. The vinegared octopus wasn't tough at all, it was tender, and the salmon had pineapple and wasabi sauce on top that worked really well together.

And then clam soup too...

While drinking through the course, I noticed there was a pufferfish soup available as a standalone dish and was debating whether to order one — and right at that moment, clam soup suddenly showed up...

The clam soup felt like the finale. With its refreshing broth, radish, scallions, and just how many clams were packed in, it was hard to believe this was all part of a ₩30,000 course.

Why does the food just keep coming no matter how much we eat...? I definitely only ordered the ₩30,000 sashimi platter... My girlfriend tapped out around the time the clam soup arrived, so it basically became my solo drinking snack.

Tuna calls for wasabi!

Tuna is such an oily fish that it pairs really well with wasabi. Wasabi and oil don't naturally mix, so with oily foods like tuna, salmon, or beef, piling on wasabi actually works in your favor — as you chew and the oil comes out, it meets the wasabi and the sharp bite fades away, leaving just wasabi's fragrant aroma. It's a great way to enjoy wasabi properly.

Omija tea

For dessert, a chilled omija (schisandra berry) tea came out. I was so full that even the dessert felt filling.. And the glass was so big that I had to drink it in several rounds — by the end of the whole course I was thoroughly, happily stuffed.

The owner's service — a great place to bring guests

I tried to sneak a photo of the owner working, but he caught my eye at just the right moment haha. Doesn't his outfit already tell you something about how he treats the restaurant, the food, and the guests?

The food was just as neat and tidy as his sincere, clean appearance, which made me think this is a great place to bring guests.

The owner kept chatting with people at the bar table, checking on the food, explaining how to eat things and how they were made, and even came over to my table a few times to explain in detail how the dishes were prepared and how best to enjoy them. It really made me feel his sincerity — not just in making the food, but toward the guests as well. That's Dining Mihyang, an omakase restaurant worth visiting in Cheongju's Dongnam district.

Dining Mihyang business hours

• Open 11:30–21:00 (lunch service also available, with a lunch special menu)
• Break time 15:00–17:00
• Last order 20:00