About Daepo Port Hoejip
The Daepo Port harbour, three kilometres south of central Sokcho, is the city's primary fishing port and the access-point for the Sokcho Marine Cable Car (which crosses the harbour to Cheongdaesan, providing the city's iconic harbour-and-Seoraksan postcard view). The harbourfront strip holds twenty raw-fish restaurants in a single covered alley running parallel to the dock, with each restaurant displaying its day's catch in glass tanks at the front; customers select fish from the tank and the kitchen prepares it tableside.
The format is the same across all twenty restaurants but quality varies. The cluster's most-recommended kitchens — Daepo Hoejip, Hamgyeong Hoejip, Daepoga — work the same morning-and-afternoon-boat unloading rhythm: 5am first boats, 12pm market peak, 4pm second boats, and the freshest fish is selected within four hours of arrival. A typical two-person sashimi platter (mixed flounder, snapper, octopus, sea cucumber, abalone) runs ₩45,000-65,000 by selection size; the spicy seafood stew haemul-tang is ₩45,000 for two.
The rooms vary by individual restaurant: some are small twelve-seat counters, some are larger forty-seat halls with bay windows facing the harbour and the cable car. All work the same operational pattern — walk in, choose fish from the tank, sit at the table while the staff prep it. The market is open from 9am-9pm; the freshest catch arrives at 5am and the best dinner cuts at 4pm.
What makes Daepo Port worth the trip from central Sokcho rather than eating at a Sokcho-Beach restaurant is the freshness window and the cable-car-and-harbour view — dinner here at sunset, with the cable car running across the harbour and Seoraksan rising in the background, is one of the genuine sensory memories of a Gangwon-Province coastal trip.
Best Occasion Fit
Birthdays for serious eaters — the multi-fish platter is a celebratory format and the harbour-edge sunset gives the meal a built-in atmosphere. Team dinners with visiting colleagues — the casual market setting absorbs four to ten without complaint and the cable-car visual gives the dinner a postcard moment. As a first date, the morning-port format with afternoon cable car as the after-dinner walk works as a longer Sokcho coastal day-trip itinerary.
Explore More in Sokcho
Discover more exceptional restaurants in Sokcho ranked by occasion — from first dates to deal-closing dinners and once-in-a-lifetime proposals. Browse our full occasion guide for every type of table, or explore all cities in our directory.