Seafood pub in Gyodong, Daegu: raw shrimp shabu-shabu & fried heads

Raw shrimp is starting to show up in season, so I went to Gyodong in Daegu one evening for shrimp.

This time I visited Nampo, a well-known shellfish-grill spot in Daegu.

Nampo is mostly known for its shellfish grill, but that day I was craving raw shrimp more, so we ordered it right after sitting down. Long story short, it wasn't just raw shrimp and done — it led into fried shrimp heads and then shabu-shabu, which made it a great place to eat slowly over drinks.

Nampo in Gyodong, Daegu: location, parking, hours

• 📍 238 Gyeongsanggamyeong-gil, Jung-gu, Daegu, South Korea, 1st floor
• 🚗 8 spots in the store's own parking lot (nearby public lots available when full)
• ⏰ Mon–Thu 18:00 - 02:00
• ⏰ Fri, Sat, day before holidays 17:00 - 03:00
• ⏰ Sun, holidays 17:00 - 02:00

In Gyodong, parking is usually the first thing you check when driving, but Nampo has its own lot with room for 8 cars. If it's full, there are public lots nearby, so it's worth knowing ahead of time if you're driving.

The vibe: more seafood pub than sit-down sashimi place

Inside, it felt less like a tidy sashimi restaurant and more like a relaxed seafood pub where you can drink comfortably.

There's a grill plate in the middle of each table with stones spread around it, so the shellfish-grill vibe hits you the moment you walk in.

What we ordered that day

• Raw shrimp ₩55,000
• Chamisul (soju) 2 bottles ₩11,000
• Cass ₩5,500
• Fried squid ₩9,000

Seasonal raw shrimp, ₩55,000

Honestly, the reason we came to Nampo that day was almost entirely the raw shrimp.

The shrimp come piled up on ice, and even before I took a photo, the presentation looked pretty great. Lemon, garlic, and wasabi come alongside, ready to eat right away. The flesh was firm yet tender, with a subtle natural sweetness unique to raw shrimp.

It pairs well with soju too, but that day I liked it even more with beer. A bite of shrimp, a sip of Cass — I felt like I'd picked the right dinner menu that night, haha.

They fry the shrimp heads separately

When you're eating raw shrimp, it feels like a waste to just toss the heads. Nampo takes them away and fries them separately, and honestly this stuck with me. The crispy fried shrimp heads come piled generously with sauce on top — savory and salty, perfect as a drinking snack.

It's a completely different experience from the raw shrimp, so ordering one plate of shrimp basically felt like getting two dishes. Personally, I liked the raw shrimp that day, but if I had to pick just one thing to eat with beer, it'd be the fried shrimp heads, haha.

The shabu-shabu that comes as a default side

Another surprise at Nampo was the shabu-shabu.

Along with the raw shrimp, you get a warm broth plus a generous basket of napa cabbage, bok choy, mushrooms, clams, fish cake, and noodles.

After a while of eating raw shrimp, you start craving a hot bite of soup, and the shabu-shabu broth hit the spot right then. Especially when drinking, you often debate whether to order a separate soup dish, so having this included by default was great. We started off mostly eating the raw shrimp, but later ended up simmering and eating a good amount of the shabu-shabu too.

Fried squid, ₩9,000

As a side, we also ordered fried squid.

The batter was crispy and the squid pieces were cut generously large, easy to pick up one at a time. Eating it with the sauce on top makes it richer, while eating it plain lets you really feel the crunchy texture of the fry itself. We'd already ordered the fried shrimp heads, so I wondered if adding fried squid too was a bit much. But once it arrived, we ended up finishing almost all of it, haha.

Seafood and drinks in Gyodong, Daegu

Nampo is mostly visited as a shellfish-grill spot in Daegu, but during a season like now when raw shrimp is available, it's worth going just for that.

We skipped the shellfish grill that day and made raw shrimp the main dish, moving from raw shrimp sashimi to fried heads to shabu-shabu — a lineup that worked really well for two people drinking together. If you like fried shrimp heads, don't leave the heads behind — definitely get them fried separately.

Next time I visit, I want to try the shellfish grill that Nampo is known for. If you're looking to have seafood and drinks in Gyodong, Daegu, or searching for a great shellfish-grill spot in Daegu, shellfish grilling in Gyodong, or a Gyodong pub, Nampo is worth keeping in mind.