Sunmine Happy Gejang

During my recent trip, I was not staying in Dongdaemun so I had to make a special trip to check out this new soy crab restaurant I came across on my social feed. As it is still not widely promoted on English social feeds, the restaurant is still quite a hidden gem

Located on the back street of the main cluster of shops in Dongdaemun, the entire street is packed with dining options like Korean barbeque, noodles, cafes, dumplings, and fried chicken. If you don’t look up, you might actually miss out on Sunmine Happy Gejang as it is located on the 2nd floor of the building. In fact, there are many hidden restaurants in DDM which are located on the basement, 2nd or 3rd floor of the same cluster

In the past, I used to just walk past all these neon signs directing people to 2nd or 3rd-floor restaurants as I found them shady but I am so wrong as I discovered over the years that many hidden gems are actually located on the 2nd or 3rd floor of many buildings in Seoul. You can access the restaurant on the 2nd floor from the stairs next to Ediya Coffee

I was extremely surprised by the spacious restaurant on the 2nd floor and how much space there is between tables for a comfortable dining experience. The owner combined 2 units for this extremely bright and airy space where customers can eat comfortably

They have Korean, Mandarin and Japanese menus with very clear pictorials for customers to see the items in each set menu. The staff will take your order on the paper menu which is also used as a table placemat

Something interesting about the restaurant is the fact that they have a self-service counter which serves more than just side dishes. Like most Korean restaurants, they also have cabbage kimchi, spring onion kimchi, seasoned spinach, salad as well as seaweed soup. What I would consider an extra service is the provision of spicy braised chicken soup, clear seafood mussel soup, bread and jam with a toaster as well as makoli rice wine. All of the self-service items are complimentary and you can take as many rounds as you can eat

The set we ordered came with 2 crabs female with a bursting amount of crab roe. The bright orange colour was so appetising when we put it on top of our rice. The crab was fresh and sweet with the natural umami flavours without any overpowering soy flavours. The balance of the soy marinate and the natural sweetness of the seafood was wonderful so it was not salty at all to eat it on its own. The crabs were full of roe and meaty even though they looked small in size. I would even rate them better than Pro Soy crab but probably on similar grounds with Keunkiwajip

As part of the set, they also served marinated raw prawns and grilled prawns. The prawns were fresh and springy but I felt lacking in the soy flavours, unlike the crab. The taste was nice but would be better with more of the soy flavour penetrating the meat. The grilled prawn was lighted salted and has a nice charred aroma so it was really nice to eat it as a snack with alcohol

As part of the set, we were served rice with seaweed, cabbage, lettuce and a fried egg. You can choose to put in the crab meat and mix it all up and it like a crab bibimbap or just eat them with other ingredients in the set menu. The was nothing too fancy to rate about the rice but it was nice that each bowl came with a runny egg

Overall, I totally enjoyed my meal here at Sunmine Happy Gejang and the plus point is that there is no need to queue, unlike the Michelin-starred restaurants. The environment is also spacious and comfortable so there is no rush during the meal itself like other smaller restaurants. The flavour of the crab was just as good as the number one in my heart currently and the price point is also not overly crazy so this will definitely become my favourite restaurant

Address: 3FL, 38, Eulji-ro, 43-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul

Opening hours: 10 am to 10 pm