Sashimi platter, self-serve seaweed soup at Cheonho seafood spot Dowon

Went to the most famous raw fish restaurant in Cheonho. Whenever I ask friends who live in Gangdong-gu for a good sashimi spot nearby, Dowon Susan always comes up! It's a local favorite for people in Gangdong-gu and Songpa-gu (and me).

Dowon Susan hours, parking, and wait times

Hours Mon–Sat 15:00 – 24:00 (last order 22:30) Closed every Sunday

Parking is... a bit difficult.

The wait to eat in-store is pretty long, so most people end up getting takeout instead — but even takeout needs a basic 20-minute wait. It's genuinely, genuinely always packed. Especially busy in the evenings!

The day we went happened to be the Yeouido fireworks festival, so it was quiet ^_^! (Lucky~) Note to self: visit Dowon Susan on fireworks days. But that was just our luck — normally it's really, really crowded, so if you want to eat in-store, come early, or honestly just order delivery through an app.

Quickly grabbed a seat

Small halibut + rockfish + salmon platter, ₩53,000

Ordered the small halibut + rockfish + salmon platter for ₩53,000~ (this was my first time trying salmon here^^!)

The basic side dishes that come standard

Corn

Kimchi pancake

And steamed egg. The corn didn't have cheese, which was a little disappointing, but it was fresh so that was nice. The kimchi pancake seemed freshly made — soft, warm, and just sweet enough. The steamed egg, no need to even explain, was fluffy perfection (it was so good I ate the whole thing myself, haha).

Rockfish > salmon > halibut, in order of deliciousness

And then the main event 🌟 the sashimi arrives

The fish-shaped plate is so cute. Just my personal ranking, but in order of tastiness: rockfish > salmon > halibut

• Salmon: nicely fatty and thick, so it didn't get tiring
• Halibut: the classic sashimi staple, need I say more?
• Rockfish: my friend, who really loves halibut, was raving that she just realized she likes rockfish even more than halibut. Confirmed — this place nails rockfish.

The rockfish, salmon, halibut combo was pretty great~ Actually, last time we visited we had halibut + rockfish plus an extra salt-grilled prawn, but this time we kept it light since we had plans the next day, and I really, really regretted not adding it... the shrimp here is genuinely so good. The table next to us was digging into grilled prawns and I was so, so jealous.

Complimentary grilled saury and self-serve seaweed soup

While we were eating the sashimi, they brought over some grilled saury, and my boyfriend suddenly started showing off his saury-deboning skills.

He said he learned it from a friend named Maeng, and legendarily picked it apart perfectly clean. Tasted legendary too, genuinely delicious. The table on the right was getting a saury refill — makes total sense why.

I got thirsty and looked around for soup, and found seaweed soup (miyeokguk) at the self-serve corner, so I scooped myself a bowl. The seaweed soup was reeeally, seriously good. Nothing here misses. I've come here quite a few times but this was my first time trying the seaweed soup, and I was so upset I'd missed it all this time. Everyone, please make sure to try the seaweed soup...

An overhead shot — looks fairly generous >_<

Finishing up with spicy fish stew and soju

Finally, soju and spicy fish stew — can't resist

Finished it off nice and thoroughly till the end. By the way, do you all know you're supposed to add kimchi to the spicy fish stew? True flavor connoisseurs add two pieces of kimchi — that's what perfects the seasoning.

We kept it simple with just two bottles of soju that day since I had to meet my boyfriend's parents the next day, so we ate in moderation and called it a night. If we hadn't had plans, we probably would've had five bottles, haha. Planning to come back soon for raw shrimp or salt-grilled prawns! Absolutely delicious, thumbs up to Dowon Susan.