Bundang sashimi restaurant: 39,000-won wild makhoe at Pohang Makhoe

Went out for a weekend dinner with my husband to Pohang Makhoe in Jeongja-dong. Ever since I randomly tried makhoe (roughly-sliced raw fish) a couple years ago, it's the first thing that comes to mind whenever we say 'let's get sashimi'..!

Since the fish is sliced fresh, the sashimi itself is delicious, but eating makhoe wrapped with all kinds of vegetables and seaweed is just so, so good.

Where is Pohang Makhoe, and what does the 39,000-won medium makhoe platter include?

Pohang Makhoe is located on the 1st floor of Prugio City in Jeongja-dong, Bundang. We ordered the medium raw makhoe platter for 39,000 won and a Terra beer for 5,000 won.

Fish that were supposedly swimming around in Pohang that very day haha. Totally raw and fresh!! Seems like the makhoe fish selection changes day to day. The day I went, it was gizzard shad + yellowtail amberjack + spotted flounder.

How to eat makhoe, and how it differs from sekkoshi (bone-in sliced fish)

Pohang Makhoe has instructions posted on the wall for how to enjoy makhoe properly. Since it's raw wild-caught fish, it's already savory and tasty just dipped in vinegar-pepper sauce or ssamjang, but the owner kindly explained that the real Pohang style is to toss the vegetables and seaweed that come with it in the special vinegar-pepper sauce first, then eat it together with the fish haha.

Makhoe means 'roughly cut' sashimi, so there can be bones, but they're not as noticeable as in segochi — if you're aware of it while chewing, it's not uncomfortable at all?? Fish like gizzard shad are usually eaten bone-in as sashimi anyway, so think of it along those lines haha. My husband usually doesn't like segochi because of the bones, but he ate this makhoe just fine!

About 10 side dishes at Pohang Makhoe, from seaweed soup to gosiraegi

The basic side dishes that come out! Seaweed soup, kelp wraps, aged kimchi, soybean powder, flying fish roe, garlic, chili, seaweed (gijeli), gim, perilla leaves — feels like there are about 10 kinds of basic side dishes alone hahaha.

I left the car at home since we were planning to drink, so I walked over and got a bit thirsty — I quenched it with the seaweed soup while my husband held out until the beer arrived kekeke.

The platter arrives: gizzard shad, yellowtail amberjack and spotted flounder

The makhoe arrives!!!! The fish top left is yellowtail amberjack / on the right is spotted flounder. And the fish below is gizzard shad.

Time to mix it all up with the cucumber, sprouts, and shredded radish underneath. For me, the tastiest way was piling everything onto a perilla leaf with gim and gijeli seaweed underneath, then adding all the vegetables. My husband seemed to prefer the simpler style of just wrapping a little veg in gim (I ate all the perilla leaves myself...).

Free side-dish refills and whether 39,000 won is good value

As you eat, things like flying fish roe, chili, or gim run low, but if you ask, they bring more very kindly haha. Eating like this for just 39,000 won — the value for money is really great haha.

And isn't eating sashimi with vegetables basically a diet meal~~~~ It's healthy food~~~ Zero guilt about it.

My husband's personal beer haha. He used to be such a lightweight he couldn't even finish one 500ml beer, but after meeting his drinker of a wife, these days he knocks back a 500 no problem ㅎ_ㅎ

Autumn gizzard shad with ssamjang, vinegar-chili sauce only on top

It's the season for autumn gizzard shad, the fish so good it's said to lure a runaway wife back home..!! Grilled is tasty too, but I've always loved raw gizzard shad sashimi so, so much. The owner explained that gizzard shad pairs better with ssamjang than vinegar-pepper sauce, so I paired the gizzard shad with ssamjang.

And here's my makhoe combo hahaha. Just throw everything in and dig in. The two photos look the same but they're different wraps ~~ I ate all my makhoe wrapped like that. I don't toss the fish itself in the vinegar-pepper sauce — I just put a little sauce on top of the fish. I'm not really a fan of the fish getting soaked in the sauce hahahaha. Firm preferences.

A generous, fresh raw-fish platter combined with an assortment of seaweed and crisp vegetables never disappoints, no matter when you eat it haha. Thanks to the cleanness that's on a completely different level from greasy meat side dishes, you can eat until you're full without feeling bloated at all — probably the best dining-out option that anyone could like, no exceptions!

This is my husband's wrap. He's the type to mix even the fish into the sauce before wrapping. Either way you eat it, it's delicious haha. His wraps are definitely simpler than mine.

The special seasoning and accompanying side dishes bring out the clean, savory flavor of the fish itself without being overpowering — you can really feel the owner's care and skill in it, which was even more touching ㅜㅜ. It's a great spot to swing by casually after work on a weekday for a cool beer to melt away the day's fatigue, and equally perfect for a weekend evening chatting over drinks with family or loved ones!

Plate cleaned to the last leaf: would we go back to Pohang Makhoe?

Hahahaha we ate everything so thoroughly you couldn't even tell what had been on the plate. Are there really other people who eat the vegetables that clean too? I was a little embarrassed eating it that spotless, like I was washing the dishes myself, but that just shows how good it was!!!!!

If you're in Jeongja-dong, Bundang, and want a healthy drink tonight, how about makhoe? Next time we're craving sashimi, we'll come back here without a second thought — I'm already curious what seasonal fish will be waiting then haha.

Getting to taste the ocean this fresh while happily wrapping up a weekend evening — it was truly a perfect, satisfying day.