Tangerine Picking in Jeju

9 November 2022

The king of fruit in Jeju would be the mandarin orange or tangerine. We saw many stalls selling these fruits at Dongmun Market and also many souvenir stalls selling bright orange-coloured hats. The tangerine is hence a truly iconic fruit of Jeju Island and is well renowned for its superb taste. In fact, 95% of the Korean tangerines that are enjoyed both locally and internationally are actually produced in Jeju Island.

Tangerine picking is a great outdoor activity that both the young and old can enjoy. There are numerous farms all over Jeju that grow the fruit and some farms allow visitors to go pick their fruits for a small fee. We get to taste the fruits while picking and also get to bring some back home.

We went to farm near to Jeju City called Odeungdong Tangerine Farm in the morning. 

Address: 8-15 Odeung 14-gil, Jeju-si.

This farm charges 8,000 KWR per person. We get to eat as many as we desire and we get to bring home a bag of oranges (about 2 kg).

Upon registration with the lady staff at the farm, we were each given a cutter and a small plastic bag. The staff led us to the orange grove where she showed us the correct way to cut the fruits off the branches.

Jeju oranges are very easy to peel. The staff told us to throw the peels below the tree, next to the trunk. This would be natural compose for next season’s growing.

Once done, she went off and we had to whole orchard to ourselves. We went around the orchard like a bunch of excited school kids on a field trip. Snipping, peeling, tasting. Repeat.

Orange trees are actually low shrubs and the fruits are easily within reach, without need for a ladder. “Picking low hanging fruits”, a term we used to say in the corporate world.

Orange grove with many fruit laden shrubs. We were the first group of visitors at this farm on this day.

Our game plan was to taste oranges from as many trees as possible. Once we identified the trees that have good tasting fruits, we can concentrate on picking our fruits from those trees. This was based on our assumption that the same tree would produce same tasting fruits. We may be wrong!

Cut about 1 inch from the fruit, with or without a few leaves. Then cut away the stalk.

There are a few varieties of tangerine or mandarin orange in Jeju. The most well known one would be the unique Hallabong. It has a little bulb on top that resembles Hallasan, hence its name. The harvesting season for Hallabong is December to February.    

A green Hallabong orange that is not ripe for picking. 

Visitors get to pick different variety of tangerine at farms, depending on the month of visit. In November, the tangerines that we got to pick at the farm are the Hwanggeumhyang translated as “golden fragrance”. This variety of orange contains less sugar (hence less sweet) but is very juicy.

From January to April, the farms would have Cheonhyehyang, translated as “the scent that reaches heaven”. Besides the fragrance, Cheonhyehyang tangerines contain less acidity and a rich sweetness.

The Hwanggeumhyang variety at this farm. Harvesting season is from July to January.

All the oranges we picked at this farm are seedless and have a very thin peel. There is also this nice citrus fragrance when we peeled the oranges.

Our harvest to bring along with us.

Odeungdong Farm also has a very beautiful garden for us to relax and enjoy the fine Jeju weather on this day.

The Old Grandfather stone or Dol Hareubang is commonly found all over Jeju.

There is also a spot just outside the toilets where I could take a photo of myself using the reflections from well-placed mirrors.

Cool!

I am not sure if the placement of the mirrors was intended for this effect.

 

Beside tangerines, this farm has many other fruits trees that are worth a look.

Persimmons that is common in Korea.

Tree with many pomelos.

Close-up photo of the pomelo which is much larger than an orange.

An interesting citrus fruit known as “Buddha’s Hand” or the fingered citron.

A photo of the pomegranate plant with fruits taken while my travelling group is walking out to our chartered taxi.

For city dwellers like us, a visit to a farm to pick tangerines was quite a fun and memorable activity. Jeju oranges are very nice to eat too.

The only bad thing that happened at the farm was that one of our travelling companions slipped, fell and injured her foot while in the farm. And she had to miss this fun activity and lots of other activities later on in this trip too.

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Visit to Gwaneumsa (K-drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo filming location)

9 November 2022

Gwaneumsa is a Buddhist temple that we visited while travelling from Jeju-City to Seogwipo. This temple was featured in Episodes 13 and 14 of the popular K-drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”, so I included a short visit just for photo-taking. In the drama, the temple is known as Hwangjisa. A signboard was placed near the entrance to inform visitors of that fact and shows scenes from the drama.

Banner showing where one of scenes in the k-drama was shot.

I think the temple would be getting more visitors in the near future as a result of that k-drama.

A colourful entry gate that is typical of Buddhist temples in Korea welcomes visitors. There is sign that provides the history of Gwaneumsa on the right side of the entrance.

Gate from which we entered the temple from the car park. 

Once past the temple’s entry gate, a path leads to another gate further in. This path is where one of scenes in the k-drama was shot.  

The path is lined by numerous stone statues of Mireuk-bul (The Future Buddha). And these statues are backed by beautiful, towering cedar trees.

Someone placed a stone, balanced on the figure’s fingers. 

Next to the path, behind the trees sits a large statue of Buddha, surrounded by many smaller stone statues in various poses.

Having some childish fun amongst the tall cedar trees.

The temple was so serene and peaceful. Visiting in autumn has the added bonus of seeing colourful autumn foliage.

There was a large gingko tree with yellow autumn foliage that made us stop for photos. This tree would shed their all its leaves in a week or two.

 

There is another gate just behind the gingko tree. Just past this second entry gate is another pathway with more stone statues in various meditation poses seated on stone pedestals. This path leads to the main temple courtyard.

 

There were also maple trees, some with red, orange and yellow leaves.

A combination of green, yellow, orange and red leaves on this tree is quite pretty.

Red maple leaves.

Colourful paper lanterns, white stone pagoda and drum and bell pavilion.

The main dharma hall Daeung-jeon. 

Another view of Daeung-jeon with the bronze coloured roof. To the right of the Daeung-jeon Hall is the Myeongbu-jeon Hall.

Some of my travelling companions who are Buddhists went inside the main temple hall to make offering of Jeju oranges (harvested during our visit to a tangerine farm earlier) to Buddha. 

    

Cleansing well.

A bit strange to see a wishing tree that is in the shape of a Christmas tree in a Buddhist temple.

There is a large golden statue of the Maitreye Buddha in an open area on the left side.  These is where some scenes from the K-drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” were shot.

Golden statue of the Maitreye Buddha.

A hill behind the golden buddha with rows of small statues and silvery grass.

Behind this Buddha, there are rows of smaller stone statues that offer some good photo opportunities.

This place also offers a good overview of Gwaneumsa Temple’s main courtyard.

View of the temple’s courtyard.

I originally planned for short visit to take some photos. In the end, we took longer than that since the place is so serene and picture worthy.

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Lunch at King of Cutlass Fish – Galchi Wang (갈치왕)

9 November 2022

I first saw the hairtail fish at the Dongmun Fish Market on our first day in Jeju Island.

Hairtail fish or cutlass fish at Dongmun Market. This is an expensive fish!

The hairtail fish is aptly named for the long hair-like tail. It is also called the cutlass fish due to its long, flat and slim shape, like a long sword. The Chinese name for this fish is the “belt fish”, for the same reason.

There are a few varieties of cutlass fish. The one in Jeju is the silver cutlass fish that is bigger and more expensive than ordinary cutlass fish. Known as Galchi locally, this fish is a popular Jeju cuisine. It is usually braised in a spicy stew (galchi jorim) or just simply grilled.

There are many seafood restaurants in Jeju serving dishes made with Galchi. I have chosen to go to the restaurant named Galchi Wang (갈치왕) translated as “King of Cutlass Fish” for our lunch. This restaurant is located on the main highway near Jungmun which is on our way to Seogwipo.

Like most well known and popular restaurants in Jeju, there was a queue. Unlike other restaurants that we had patronised so far in Jeju, this restaurant did not offer free coffee from a vending machine to guests waiting for a table. Not so customer friendly!

We waited for about 10 minutes for tables that can fit our group of 8 persons, plus Mr Won who is our driver cum guide. The restaurant did not have a large table for our group, so we split into 2 tables of 4 and 5 persons.

This restaurant offers both the galchi jorim and the grilled cutlass fish lunch sets.

We ordered the Grilled Cutlass Fish set menu for 4 persons and 5 persons which cost 110,000 KWR and 130,000 KWR respectively.

These were the items served to my table with 5 persons. The usual side dishes and some special appetisers were served first.

Side dishes and appetisers for the Grilled Cutlass Fish set for 5 persons.

The appetisers included sliced silver cutlass fish sashimi served on white, round stones that looked like steamed buns. Eating sashimi Korean style is to dip the raw fish in spicy chilli sauce (gochujang). We were more used to the Japanese style which is to dip them in soya sauce and wasabi.

Each of us also has a piece of whole grilled abalone with butter.

5 whole grilled abalones included in our set for 5 persons.

There was also an exotic dish called the ganjang gejang which is fermented blue swimmer crab marinated in soya sauce, garlic and chilli.

Ganjang gejang.

Fermented raw crab sounded so yucky that I would normally not eat this dish. But since one of the purpose of visiting a country is to experience the culture and try new things, including tasting the local cuisine, I was game to try it.

Mr Won told us this is a delicacy to be eaten with steamed rice or porridge as it is very salty. The crab meat was very delicate, actually more like mushy, and tasted quite sweet. Well balanced with the salty soya sauce coupled with a bit of spiciness, it was surprisingly quite good. I actually had a second piece since some of my friends from the other table were not keen to try this dish.

Fried yellow croaker (top) and Grilled mackerel (bottom) as a service dish.

We also like the grilled mackerel and what seemed to be a pan-fried yellow croaker. This salty grilled fish goes well with plain rice.

The Grilled Cutlass Fish lunch set also included a pot of braised cutlass fish or galchi jorim. So we had a chance to taste this dish as well.

This restaurant serves the galchi jorim with deboned cutlass fish in it. Some restaurants do not debone the fish before cooking in the stew making it difficult to eat.

Braised Cutlass Fish or Galchi Jorim. Best eaten with steamed rice.

After we finished our cutlass fish sashimi and grilled abalones, the waitress brought out the main course which is the grilled cutlass fish.

It was a whole lengthy fish, served on an especially long narrow plate. It is good that the fish is cooked whole and not cut into pieces. That way, the moisture in the fish is retained during cooking, making the fish more moist and succulent. It is also easier to debone the whole fish than pieces of the fish.

The Grilled Cutlass Fish also included a small pot of  braised cutlass fish and grilled mackerel.

Galchi Wang's lunch set menu has all the fish bones removed to make it easier for us to eat the cutlass fish. After presenting the fish to us, the waitress took it to a side table and put up a show of deboning the fish.

First, using a pair of metal chopstick and a spoon, she removed the dorsal and anal radial cartilage with quick movements across the length of the cutlass fish. The fish is so delicate that pieces of the dorsal and anal radial cartilage came off the fish easily.

Next she expertly lift and push the flesh off from the vertebra or central spinal bone, thereby exposing the central vertebra. She then removed the central vertebra, together with the pin bones and ribs that runs down the side of the fish.

With all bones removed, she placed the long plate back on our dining table.

Deboned grilled cutlass fish with central spinal bone neatly left on the side of the long plate and all other bones removed.

The flesh of the grilled cutlass fish was succulent, very delicate and sweet. It was lightly salted and hence the overall taste was well balanced with salty skin and sweet flesh. It could be eaten on its own without the steamed rice. 

After tasting the grilled cutlass fish, pan-fried yellow croaker and grilled mackerel, I could say the cutlass fish is miles ahead of the other fish in terms of taste.

No wonder, this is an expensive fish and an exquisite dish that is not to be missed while in Jeju.

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