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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment