Jagalchi Fish Market is hailed as the largest Seafood market in Korea.
Not surprising though since Busan is a port city and seafood is in abundance here.
We took Line 1 of Busan Metro and alight at Jagalchi station. Take exit 10 and you will first see a street of fruit vendors.
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| Road sign |
Fruits in Busan is also considered cheaper than what we see in Seoul and they look so yummy fresh. Didn't buy anything though since we will be moving up to Seoul and it's difficult to carry them with us and not possible to finish them with our short stay here.
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| Yummy looking strawberries |
Came to an intersection and we turned right. Here restaurants with big tanks filled with different seafood lined up on both side of the streets. Ajummas standing outside were trying to figure out which language we spoke switching between English, Chinese and Japanese.
But these were not the place I have in mind for lunch. Wanted to look for the big market where you can choose seafood and get them to cook for you. Hehe.
After the row of restaurants came the seafood market where you can see all sorts of seafood on sale.
It's really fascinating for us to see so many kinds of seafood which we have never seen before.
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| Big ass squids |
We try not to disturb the vendors while looking at their products since we are certainly not buying anything. The vendors were also chatting among their own and ignoring us since we don't look like local coming here for marketing.
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| Fishes on sale |
Girls be warned though if you cannot stand fishy smell of the market. Since it's a seafood market here, the fishy smell is pretty strong and not to mentioned that the floor is permanently wet with the water either from melting ice, seafood or just normal washing water.
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| Some big shells |
At the end of the market, we found what we are looking for. Jagalchi Market where seafood vendors occupy the 1st floor the sell their seafood and you will choose there. Then they will direct you to the 2nd level of their affiliated or own cooking stall where the chosen seafood will be cooked and served.
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| Jagalchi Market |
Truth to be told, we have no particular stall in mind. Since we look like tourists, we thought it would be unavoidable that prices would be jerked up while the vendors sees us. So we had an agreement that if the prices are decent enough then we would buy from the stall and need not compare prices since we are both hungry from all the walking.
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| Crabs |
We entered the air conditioned market and was in awe with so many stalls selling all kinds of seafood. It's nothing like what we see in our markets. You get to see so many varieties so seafood that you didn't know what to choose and also there are so many kinds available.
There was this stall who had a ajumma that speaks little mandarin and she managed to communicate with us. Since we are able to communicate with the ajumma we decided to patronize her stall.
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| Different kinds of shells |
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| Sea cucumber |
The drawback of coming here as a couple is we couldn't order a lot of food. I was quite disappointed but was careful not to over order. The ajumma was nice enough to run us through all the available variety to choose and patiently answer our questions.
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| Abalones |
In the end, we decided to order a mixed variety soup, meaning to say they will make soup of whatever ingredients we choose. The ajumma advised us to choose a variety of shells and make the soup. We tried asking for the price but she said it will depends on what we choose.
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| The shells we picked out |
The shells we picked out amounts to 10,000 KRW and Mr Love suddenly had a craving for prawns and so we picked up some for the stall next door. We opted for them to be grilled this time.
Prawns were priced at KRW 15,000 for those we picked out.
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| The ajumma helping us to pick prawns |
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| Prawns on sale |
Was happy with our chosen food but the ajumma was still trying to sell us more seafood. Was really tempted to try the crabs but was afraid that we couldn't finish it so we held back.
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| Our lunch |
The ajumma then called someone on the 2nd level to come down fetch us to their shop. They will also be cooking our chosen products. We were told that there is still a cooking fee applicable and also to pay for the side dishes.
This is consider normal procedure for all seafood purchases here.
We were told to pay KRW 25,000 for the cooking and side dishes. Didn't expect it to be as expensive as the seafood. No choice since we need someone to cook the food. Muhaha
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| Dining area |
But since is here already must as well go ahead.
The seashell soup was really superb. Despite only having seashells and spring onions in the soup, it was tasty and clear. Besides finishing the shells, we finished all the broth.
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| Our seashell soup |
Grilled prawns were great too, large and succulent and worth every bit of the price paid.
The funny thing is thought these look little but it was actually filling. We were too full to move after finishing them all, luckily we didn't order more of others.
But I saw the next table having cheesy shells, I was really very tempted by the them.
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| Grilled prawns |
In total, we paid KRW50,000 for the meal. Actually it was still
acceptable given the quality of the food. Didn't regret checking out
here but hope that the next time when visit there may be a bigger group to order more things to try.
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