Gangjeong Pogu in Seogwipo: Family-Approved Sashimi Spot

2017-01-26 · Updated: 2026-08-11 · Original (Korean)

The best part of this family trip to Jeju Island was finding three genuinely delicious restaurants. Whenever I visit Jeju and go to recommended spots, I'm usually disappointed—they often taste worse than places in Seoul but cost more. But this time, I found three places that broke that rule, which was awesome. The first of those is Gangjeong Pogu Raw Fish Restaurant.

Gangjeong Pogu Raw Fish Restaurant

We didn't actually search for this place. We just stumbled upon it on our way back to the hotel because we wanted to pick up something for dinner. It was a total happy accident.

The road there is pretty dark and gloomy due to the naval base construction near Gangjeong Port (which was constantly on the news). On the way to the restaurant, you can easily spot banners telling military personnel to stay out of the village and signs strongly opposing the base construction. Maybe that's why there was only one occupied table even though it was dinnertime.

Even at a quick glance, it was the biggest and most modern-looking sashimi spot around, so my family decided to buy our food here even if it turned out to be a bust. While picking out our fish, one in particular caught our eye.

"Hirasu"

Even my mom, who used to cook professionally, didn't know this fish. The owner and all the staff recommended it so highly that we were honestly a bit suspicious.

"In Jeju, we eat hirasu instead of bangeo (yellowtail) in the winter. It's a bit less chewy than dom (snapper), but it's better than bangeo."

The chef slicing the fish and the owner recommended it so strongly, and my mom had already hit it off chatting with the owner, so we just ordered it without even checking the other options. I quickly searched it on my phone and it came up as 'Jeju bangeo hirasu.' Just as I was getting more curious about what this fish actually was, our sashimi came out all packed up.

If there's a defining trait of hirasu, it's that while bangeo is red all over, hirasu is only red around the edges.

We got everything neatly packed up, including the seafood stew and even some kimchi (they usually try not to give out kimchi because it can spoil if customers don't store it properly), and set up our feast back at the hotel.

To give my review: hirasu or not, the type of fish didn't even matter. The moment I took a spoonful of the seafood stew, the sashimi became a supporting actor and the stew took the lead role. It wasn't overly spicy, just perfectly boiled, making it an absolute match made in heaven for soju. I've been quite disappointed in Jeju before, usually only encountering food that was either tough or insanely spicy, but it felt like I had finally found a proper restaurant.

I'm not a sashimi connoisseur, so I couldn't tell you if they used a dead fish just by tasting it. (For the record, the chef showed us the live fish jumping around, insisting they never use dead fish, so you can definitely trust this place.) Because of that, I usually judge a sashimi restaurant by its ssamjang (dipping sauce) and soy sauce, and both were incredibly delicious here. I wondered if there were still places that made their own soy sauce; I tasted it again, and strangely, it was milder yet more savory than other restaurants' soy sauce. I should have asked what brand they use, and I'm bummed I didn't. As for the ssamjang, if you wrap a piece of lettuce or perilla leaf with garlic, three slices of sashimi, and a generous dollop of ssamjang, you can keep eating until the fish is gone without the flavor ever getting overpowering or annoying.

Unless you absolutely have to get takeout, I highly recommend eating at the restaurant itself. We only brought back the kimchi, but after tasting that, the sauces, and the seafood stew, our whole family agreed that this place really knows how to cook and that we'd love to try their other dishes. I didn't get the chance, but I recommend you try everything.