Seafood dinner at Sokcho’s Daepohang Port after a day out at Seoraksan National Park

11 November 2014

From the entrance of Seoraksan National Park, we took the local bus No 7 to Sokcho city for dinner.  I had mistakenly read somewhere that T-money card could be used to pay the fare. I was wrong. So, cash was needed. 1200 KRW per person. 

By now, the sky had turned dark as the bus sped along the road towards the town. I followed the progress of the bus using the GPS on my smartphone and knew we were coming close to Daepohang Port, a place known for its seafood restaurants. We alighted from the bus, together with some other Koreans hikers, and headed towards the bright lights of the restaurants by the sea.

The restaurants were all lined up inside several single storey buildings, along a small bay. The first building that we entered was selling fried seafood and squid sundaes. I would loved to have these for snacks or lunch but not tonight. Tonight, we were craving for some Red Snow Crabs, a Sokcho speciality and apparently Daepohang Port is the place to buy and eat these.

Stall selling fried seafood and squid sundaes. Pick your food and eat in the small table inside or takeaway.

Fried prawns in tempura batter. Sign in Korean and Chinese language shows the prices of the items.

Sokcho speciality – Squid Sundae. The squid sundae consists of whole squid, stuffed full of pig’s blood, barley, cellophane noodles and other goodies, boiled, then sliced up, covered in egg yolk and fried.

We browsed through a few blocks, each containing many shops cum restaurants. Each shop has tanks of live seafood for customers to pick and choose what they fancy. Crabs, various types of fish, squids and other strange sea critters. We spent some time observing the sale process and seafood on displayed before selecting a restaurant for our dinner.

Rows of shops selling live seafood at Daepohang Port.

A customer selected a live fish and the staff expertly turned it into sashimi for takeaway or consumption in the restaurant area behind.

Tanks of Red Snow Crabs and King Crabs. The greyish King Crabs are more expensive by weight and is also larger.

The red snow crabs came in various sizes. We chose a restaurant with larger and liveliest crabs, manned by a young man who understood English. We were offered 2 large red snow crabs for  60,000 KRW, plus a “service dish” which was free of charge. The stall offered us a live squid as a service dish.

The restaurant/eating area was located behind the tanks. Once the live seafood were selected, price negotiated and agreed, we were ushered to our seats. Seating was on the floor, traditional Korean style ondol. The ondol was heated (electrically now in modern times) and it actually felt very good since the night air by the sea was quite chilly, even without the wind.

The first item served was the steamed whole squid, sliced, with its insides still intact. We asked the ahjumma if we are supposed to eat the jelly-like stuff inside. She says “delicious” in Korean which we understood from the many K-dramas we watched. In any case, we ate just the squid and left most of the insides aside.  The freshly steamed squid was best eaten on its own to taste the sweetness of the flesh or it can be dipped in the hot spicy sauce provided. We did both since the squid was quite big. Seafood is best eaten with soju, the Korean rice wine, served chilled.

The squid was steamed whole and served sliced. Freshest squid I ever eaten. It was swimming in the tank about 15 minutes ago.

Seafood goes down well with soju.

When we were about to finish the squid, the red snow crabs were served. Steamed and expertly cut up into pieces for easy eating.

Red Snow Crabs is one of the recommended dish in Sokcho.

The ahjumma showed us the quickest way to get the meat out from the legs of the snow crab. Need to know the sequence and where exactly to break the legs.  We certainly needed more practice to perfect the skill. 

After our meal, we spent some time exploring the port at night. Weather was nice. Cold but no wind. 

Rows of seafood restaurants along the bay at Daepohang Port.

Calm waters on this windless night.

Enjoying the night view of Daepohang Port after dinner. Bright lights of the seafood restaurants in the back.

Besides live seafood, there were many shops selling dried seafood along the main road. On our way to the bus stop, we stopped to buy 2 bags full of dried cuttlefish, dried pollack fish and crispy seafood snacks from one of the shops. The lady stall-owner was pretty pleased with us since there was not many customers on this night. She told us where was the nearest bus stop for the bus back to Seoraksan. Fortunately, we did not have to wait long for the bus.

A row of shops selling dried seafood along the main road. The cuttlefish and stuff hanging outside looked like some monsters from outer space.

The bus passed through a few small villages along the road to Seoraksan. We were the only passengers left on it by the time the bus reached the Kensington Stars Hotel. Seoraksan entrance would be the next and last stop. The bus stopped outside the driveway entrance to the Kensington Stars Hotel for us to alight.

A cheery “kamsa hamnida” to the driver as we got off the bus and he responded with “An Nyeong Hi Ga Se Yo” or goodbye.