Noryangjin Fish Market is probably the highest peak of our food adventure in Seoul, Korea. In fact, CS has keep on saying, “Let’s go back to Seoul again next year, ok? I wanna go Noryangjin again!” for the past few weeks. The reason? The abundance of live seafoods, some we had never or even know it existed before. If you’re a seafood lover, you’re up for an adventure of your life.
Noryangjin is easily accessible by subway line 1 and line 9. Note that some of the subway map did not have line 9, which is a relatively new line. Changing between other lines with line 9 requires you to pay for the transfer. Therefore I would recommend taking the line 1, also nearer to the market compared to line 9.
As Noryangjin is outside of Seoul city center, english signboards are even rarer. After getting help from a guy we finally came to the ‘gateway’ to the fish market – a pedestrian bridge that leads to the market’s rooftop parking lot. At this point, it became easier as the smell got stronger and stronger with every step we took. The fishy stench started to make us wonder whether we should turn back. We were glad we didn’t.
We arrived on the first floor, where we get to take better pictures of the market on the ground, without getting hoarded by the traders. Even then, the traders were already looking up at us and I bet we’re already on their hit list! We were totally intimidated. Gulp…
We stopped 3 girls whom I hope, could understand english given their younger age, to ask for a recommendation of restaurant. Unfortunately, they don’t speak english and game between chickens and ducks began! As sign language came to a moot point, they took my hand and lead us down the ‘selling floor’. We went to a few stalls to haggle (loudly), mostly which the girls will turned to me and shake their heads, saying, “Not good, not good”.
No one can imagine the ruckus we made at Noryangjin Fish Market. There was a filming crew nearby that stopped filming and all attention to us, maybe because we’re too loud or they’re just wondering what the hell are we doing. Somehow, it was fun! After a few tries we finally brought 2 rock fish (woo ruk), abalones (jeon bok), and live small octopus (san nakji) with a free sea squirt (don’t ask me what is this) and oysters. I wanted to invite the Power Puff Girl for lunch, but they declined, not before warning the trader to take us to a good restaurant.
Our rock fish sashimi. One moment, they were rock fish swimming happily in the aquarium. Next, they’re struggling for life and finally they were on our plate. The sashimi texture were mildly chewy, at the freshest condition it could possibly be and its natural sweetness is fascinating.
Like mentioned earlier, we were given a free sea squirt, which after decapitation, looked like this. Even for me, I would recommend eating it with chili and garlic to subdue the strong fishy smell. It wasn’t good maybe because of its ‘head’ which looks like ……
THIS. Not appetizing, right? You know it reminds you of something, but I don’t want to say it.
Chilies + chopped garlic + bird’s eye chilies + sesame oil = awesome.
This is our first time seeing and eating fresh abalones. We asked the ajuhma to grill them for us and they turned out to be just as awesome as the sashimi, once paired with the chili sauce.
Steam oysters were probably the least enjoyable dish that we had for the day. There were some sands and bits of shells in them and chewing them became very irritating.
The initial reason I came to Noryangjing – San Nakji. Small octopus were cut into small pieces and served immediately. As their nerves are still active, the pieces will still be squirming around. If you leave them untouched for a few minutes, they would appeared to be finally ‘dead’ but once you poke them, they will start wriggling again. We were careful to chew the nakji thoroughly before swallowing as they could cause choking hazard. The taste was very bland and probably not worth the hard work of chewing diligently. In the end, we just threw them into hot soup to cook.
Maeuntang (spicy fish soup). While we were busy enjoying the food, the kitchen were busy preparing maeuntang using the leftover fishbones from our rock fish. It was served piping hot on a portable gas stove. Since I had already use the word ‘awesome’ on sashimi and abalone, I had no better words to use now. The soup was incredibly strong, peppery and sweet. It was our favourite for the day, and believe me, I’m still drooling just by looking at this picture.
The restaurant where we had our seafood prepared. The owner ajuhma, like any other Koreans, takes pride in their cooking. She shake her head in disapproval when CS decided to separate wasabi from soysauce. She took up his plate and drained away the soysauce and recombine his wasabi with soysauce again. It was funny to watch because I had always felt, CS should be taught to respect someone’s cooking.
Total cost for eating at Noryangjin:
2 stone fish (woo ruk) with free sea squirt = 20,000 won
3 abalones ( jeonbok ) with free 3 oysters = 10,000 won
Small live octopus = 10,000 won
Restaurant charges = 21,000 won
Total = 61,000 won (equivalent to around RM170 with exchange rate of 2.8)
The market operates almost 24 hours with wholesale auction going from midnight till morning. Hence, it’s not a problem to come here for breakfast (if you have to eat seafood first thing in the morning), lunch, or dinner. A little tip though. It would be wise to put this agenda at the end of your day because the fishy smell could linger on your hair, your clothes and even your shoes for the whole day! Also, this would translate as, don’t wear your best clothes and shoes there!
