The story
The owner grew up in Yongho-dong, Busan, and lived there for more than thirty years before a trip to Gangwon introduced her to her husband. She married him, moved to Sokcho, and for a while stayed home raising their child while her in-laws ran a sashimi house on Daepo Port. Twelve years ago she came in to help with serving and never left. The family rebranded the shop as Seongjin Hwal-eo, moved from the old shoreline shacks to a parking-lot unit, and eventually expanded into the current two-unit space in the Daepo Fishery Market. Last year they remodeled — ripped out the tired raw-fish-house interior and left something that feels more like a café than a port stall.
“매운탕을 저희는 그날 잡은 생선 뼈로 직접 끓여 비린내 없이 진한 국물이 나와요. 저희의 시그니처 메뉴입니다.— 'We make our spicy fish stew using the bones of fish caught that very day, resulting in a rich broth with no fishy smell. It is our signature dish.'”
Owner, Seongjin Live Fish
What they stand for
No filler. Other places pad platters with corn and lettuce and side nonsense; Seongjin's plates are just seafood — king scallop, regular scallop, sea squirt, sea cucumber, abalone — laid out without a mattress of vegetables underneath the sashimi to hide the portion. The kitchen refuses to outsource the spicy fish stew the way most of the port does. The owner boils it herself, every time, from the bones of fish they killed that morning. She makes the mulhoe sauce in-house too. Quality before volume, but the portions are still generous — guests should leave full.
Behind the signature
Seongjin was the first shop on this strip of Daepo Port to sell full-course sashimi sets. In the early days the format didn't land — diners wanted a single platter and a bottle of soju, not a progression of dishes. It took years for the course format to catch on, and now it's what every competing shop offers too. The other half of the house signature is the spicy fish stew. It's made from bones of fish that were swimming that morning, simmered in-house without a drop of fishy smell. When foreign guests ask for it without the chili, the kitchen makes a white-broth jiri on the spot — and those bowls always come back empty.
Local tip
Seongjin occupies units 2 and 3 of Building B inside the Daepo Fishery Market complex, right on Daepo Port. The two-unit remodel opened the ceiling and added an ocean view — foreign guests have walked in thinking it was a café. Take bus 9 or 9-1 to Daepo Port, or park at the Daepo 1st Public Parking Lot and walk in. It's a natural stop on the way back from Seoraksan.
Seasonal note
Red snow crab is off-limits during the July–August closed season. Snow crab runs year-round thanks to Russian imports. Rising sea temperatures have been shifting the East Sea catch — the owner mentions even octopus turning up in local nets now, a species that used to belong further south. What's in season changes faster than it used to.
For travelers
Foreign guests come often and almost always leave happy — the owner says every nationality except a few Chinese visitors has loved the seafood without hesitation. The spicy fish stew turns into the white-broth jiri on request, and foreign tables tend to scrape those bowls clean to the bottom. The menu shorthand works: point at 'Crab, Rice, Sashimi, Steam' and the kitchen serves a full course in order. A party of twelve foreign guests came through recently and left raving. The remodeled interior helps — people walk in expecting a quiet café and get dinner instead.
