8 May 2012
When travelling to a different country or city, I would look forward to visiting the local market as this would be a good place to see the way of life and culture of the place. Busan is a city by the sea and home to the largest fish market in South Korea. So a visit to the Jagalchi Fish Market is a must in my itinerary. In addition, it would be good to buy some fresh seafood and have it cooked and served in one of the restaurants there.
We took the Busan City Bus Tour on our visit to Busan and the fish market is one of the stops in the Busan City Tour. After alighting from the bus, we went into the nearby Tourist Information Center to get some maps. From the Information Centre, it was just a short walk to the market.
“Famous Fish Market. Come! See! Buy!” was on a huge sign marking the entrance to the area. There were many stalls selling live and fresh seafood in a large building but there were also stalls and shops(restaurants) lining the streets.
As it was about 2.45 PM when we arrived, we decided to have a quick look around, then go for our late lunch in one of the restaurants before exploring the place further.
Instead of going into the main Jagalchi Fish Market building, we strolled along the streets and ogled at the various sea creatures at the front of the various restaurants, and open air street stalls.
Nearby was the wharf where we could see workers unloading their catch from the boats.
Then we proceeded to a large shed (Suhyup Jagaocgi Market) housing many stalls selling and preparing fish for sale. This was like a typical wet market back home but the array of fish on sale was astounding. People (probably restaurant owners) were buying fish in bulk.
“Come! See! Buy!”.
For us, it was more like “See!, Hear! Smell!”.
Some of the stall holders were OK with me snapping photos of them but some were not too pleased to have their photos taken. I had to be careful not to offend any of these ladies armed with sharp cleavers!
Then it was time to choose our seafood for lunch. So a trip to the nearby street-side restaurants, each with their own array of sea critters on offer. Now is the time for “Come! See! Buy!”.
We decided on a restaurant selling large crabs. We ordered a crab to share. The steamed crab was delicious but it was not too filling.
The restaurant also sells the Penis Fish or Gaebul. These gaebul were squirming about and quite disgusting. I think the Koreans ate them raw. But not for us.
Penis Fish or Gaebul on sale in the restaurant
Still hungry, we went into another restaurant selling grilled shellfish including abalone, scallops, mussels. The owner offered us a live, small (body size like a large hen’s egg), semi-transparent grey octopus as part of the package of shellfish we ordered. The locals would take the chopped octopus, dipped them in a sauce and gobble the wriggly parts up. We were not adventurous enough. Instead, we cooked them over the fire but it tasted like normal squid. On hindsight, I think it was a missed opportunity to experience something new but probably unpleasant.
The restaurant staff helped us to grill the shellfish over a charcoal fire set on the table. Actually the food looked misleadingly delicious but the taste was disappointing.
Our lunch of grilled shellfish and chopped live octopus
Lunch done, we went to the tall building that is the main Jagalchi FIsh Market but it was CLOSED! For some reasons, the market closed early today. What a shame. We have missed seeing the major part of Jagalchi Fish Market.
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