8 November 2022
A good place for lunch while touring the eastern part of Jeju restaurant would be at the coastal area in Sehwa, where there are many seafood restaurants serving abalone dishes, one of the must-eat cuisine when visiting Jeju Island!
I had shortlisted a few restaurants for our lunch after visiting Manjanggul Cave and the Haenyeo Museum. Myeongjin Jeonbok (명진전복) was my first choice as this is probably the most well-known eatery that serves many of Jeju’s abalone dishes. As this is a very popular restaurant where there is often at least a 30 minutes wait to get a table, I had also picked another nearby restaurant as backup in case the queue or wait is too unbearable.
It was a short scenic drive along the Sehwa coastal road from the Haenyeo Museum to the restaurant. Upon arrival, we realised that this day happened to be a Tuesday and Myeongjin Jeonbok is closed on every Tuesday!
My backup plan needs to be invoked. So we went to a restaurant called the “Galchi Gongjang” (갈치공장) that is just a few minutes away along the same coastal road. Galchi Gongjang can be loosely translated as Hairtail Fish Factory. What a strange name for a restaurant.
Address: 1296 Haemajihaean-ro, Gujwa-eup, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, South Korea
Blue signboard outside the “Galchi Gongjang (갈치공장) that is located by the coast in Sehwa. The Red signboard shows “Jongga Abalone” which is now part of same restaurant.
The restaurant is clean and new and has large airy glass windows with views of the sea.
The restaurant was quite spacious and there was no queue. We were shown to our table immediately. Large open glass windows allow diners to have views of the sea.
The service staff at this restaurant speaks fluent Chinese, so there was no language barrier. There is also menu with pictures on the wall and prices are clearly stated. The menu shows the abalone dishes from Jongga Abalone as well as galchi (hairtail fish or cutlass fish) dishes from Galchi Gongjang. Probably both the restaurants are now merged or under same owner/management.
Since we had already planned to eat the cutlass fish at another popular galchi restaurant the next day, we ordered only the abalone dishes.
These were what we ordered:
Abalone hotpot rice for 15,000 KWR that was served in metal pot, not a pot made with lava rock. The rice comes with plenty of sliced fresh abalone on top and garnished with toasted sesame seeds. There were also small pieces of pumpkin.
Abalone seafood ttukbaegi with whole abalone, prawns, pieces of blue swimmer crab and baby clams in doenjang jiggae. This is a value for money dish at 15,000 KWR. This dish also included a bowl of steamed rice.
Abalone porridge for 12,000 KWR.
Grilled abalone with butter and garlic.
We also ordered the grilled abalone with butter and garlic to share. 10 pieces of whole abalone in shell for 30,000 KWR. The picture above only showed 9 because someone was took one before the photo was taken.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the use of technology at a remote coastal restaurant. A server robot brought the utensils and 5 side dishes to our table.
The above are the side dishes that were delivered by the robot.
There is also a self-service counter where we could top up the side dishes. The translucent rice noodle with sesame oil side dish was very tasty and we took extra servings of this.
Besides the side dishes, the restaurant also serves a deep fried flatfish as a “service dish” or free dish.
Service dish was the deep fried flatfish with crispy skin and crunchy bones. Yum.
After visiting the Haenyeo Museum, we could appreciate the effort and hard work that has gone into our meal, although I guess that most of the abalones we eat could be farmed ones.
So, what does fresh abalone taste like?
For people living in South East Asia, the abalones we usually eat are the canned ones. Canned abalone is very tasty since they are pre-cooked and soak in brine (salt water) and artificial seasoning during the canning process.
The taste of fresh abalone is quite different. Fresh abalone is more sweet than salty.
Of the abalone dishes that we tried, it was unanimous from my group that the abalone stew was the best. It came with 3 whole pieces of fresh abalone in shell, 2 prawns, pieces of blue swimmer crab and lots of baby clams. The soup base is mainly doenjang jiggae with chunks of radish, zucchini, pieces of hot green chilli, doenjang paste, and garnished with green onions. All that for only 15,000 KWR. It would have cost a lot more back home.
Next was the grilled abalones in hotplate with butter and garlic. The abalones were tender enough to cut with a spoon. The sweetness could be tasted as we chewed slowly on the pieces. Very unlike the canned abalone that we usually eat back home.
We found the abalone porridge and abalone hotpot rice a little bland, with no wow factor. Having visited the Haenyeo museum, we learnt that it is Jeju’s food culture to cook food simply to retain their natural flavour. They use simple seasoning like soybean paste (doenjiang) and little added seasoning. Although not as tasty, it is good that we get to experience these cuisine.
Overall, my group enjoyed our abalone seafood lunch at this place. The service was excellent. In fact, the restaurant manager, who speaks English, came to check if we are enjoying our meal.
The aftermath of the abalone feast by 4 persons.
Perhaps, it was a blessing in disguise that our original restaurant of choice was closed. We got to try the delicious abalone seafood ttukbaegi and a delicious fried flatfish, in addition to the usual abalone porridge, abalone hotpot rice and grilled buttery abalone.
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