3 October 2011
After visiting Cheonjiyeon Waterfall, we walked towards Chilsimni Food Street where we had seen many seafood restaurants earlier in the day. It was getting dark and chilly by now.
The food street was relatively deserted, compared to a typical food street in a city. Most of the restaurants looked empty of customers although it was a public holiday. We were looking for a restaurant that has both tourists and locals in it (a sign of good and decent food). Plus it must accept credit cards since we were short on Korean currency. Two Asian woman hikers, with their backpacks and all, appeared from a side street and went into one of the seafood restaurants that had some customers in it. We followed. After confirming that the restaurant accepts credit cards, we went in as well.
We had to remove our shoes before entering. We sat on the floor, in front of a low table, for traditional Korean style dining. A Korean family was already at the next table.
The staff came and offered a menu with a range of sashimi ranging from 120,000 to 200,000 KRW per set. She suggested sashimi from a live fish for 130,000 KRW. I was thinking, “This is going to be our most expensive dinner in Jeju”.
As this was our last day on Jeju before going home tomorrow, so why not? Go for it!
Moments later, we saw the waiters serving huge amount of food to the Korean family across the table. We knew we were going to have a big feast too.
First came the appetisers.
Mini crabs that came with the appetisers.
The mini crabs were crunchy and both salty and sweet! We finished everything on the plates, except the cherry tomatoes and green chilli.
Next came these dishes.
The grilled fish was yummy. So was the deep fried fish bones (Brown stuff in the picture above). They were crunchy like biscuits. We finished everything.
Then came the side dishes. These were raw seafood that were to be eaten with soya source, wasabi and/or hot dipping sauce. And of course, soju or Korean rice wine is a must to go with these.
One of the dish was still moving! Guess which one?
No, it is not the abalone in the middle. Answer at the end of this post.
We did not finished everything. I wouldn’t dare to put those moving sea critters in my mouth.
Finally, the sashimi main course was served. The staff brought the sashimi, with the fish head, spine and tail to our table. This came from a live fish. The pectoral fins of the fish was still quivering. The fish was dead. The movement was just a reflex action, like a lizard’s tail after it was cut off. This was to show to diners that the sashimi was the freshest as it could be.
Till now, I could not figure out the species of fish I ordered, since this was recommended by the restaurant owner. Probably some kind of sea bream popular in Jeju.
The waitress then removed the head, bones and tail, so the dish was more palatable to the eye. The head, bones and tail would go into a boiling, hot soup that would be served later.
Spicy fish soup in a hot pot.
Sashimi is best eaten with wasabi and soya sauce. We could not finish our sashimi as it was just too much for two persons. So we cooked some the slices in the hot pot that was served later as we had too much of the raw stuff.
By the way, I should have kept the raw abalone in the side dishes till the end so I could cook it in the hot soup. Raw abalone is not tasty compared to the cooked ones.
The 2 Asian woman hikers that came in before us sat in a table behind us . They also ordered a similar set and could not finishe their sashimi as well. And they cooked their sashimi in their hot pot too!
OK, here is the answer to the question above.
I did some research after my trip and found that these are called gaebul or “penis fish”. Actually not a fish but a sea worm that looks like a penis. The plate above are chopped up baby gaebul.
With our dinner done, the restaurant staff offered to help us call for a taxi. We thanked them for their kind gesture but told them we were taking the bus back to our hotel in Jungmun Resort area. The bus stop was just 200m away.
While waiting for the bus, I took this shot of the beautifully lit Seogwipo Bridge from the bus stop.
We arrived at the hotel at about 10 PM. I took a couple of shots of the hotel’s windmills, trying out different long exposures. The one with the blades spinning like a cooling fan was just too ridiculous to show. The photo below was probably just right to capture the movement of the windmills. The white spot in the sky on the top right hand corner is the half-moon.
Lotte Hotel with the signature windmills at night.
There was a casino within the Lotte Jeju Hotel, but we were too tired to go. Maybe next time, if we were to visit Jeju again.
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