Traveling South Korea – Seoul & Noryangjin Fish Market
Eugene L. 01.09.24
Continuing on in South Korea, I am back on the mainland again. After the short three day trip to Jeju Island, we decided to head up to Seoul for a day trip to explore the capital and take in all the sights. A big thing I wanted to makre sure to visit was the largest fish market in the whole of South Korea, Noryangjin Fish Market. The plan was to be dropped off at the nearby city of Cheongju at the KTX High-Speed Rail train station and take the train up to Seoul. The high-speed rail turned a 2-hour drive without traffic into a 40-minute train ride. The KTX High-Speed trains travel at an average speed of 305kmph(190mph) and usually costs under $25 per person for a round trip from Seoul to Cheogju.
After a short train ride through the Korean country side, we got out at Seoul Central Train Station. From there we walked over to our first stopm, Gyeongbokgung Palace. This was the royal palace grounds of the Joseon Dynasty, set right in the middle of the city. Most of the structures were systematically destroyed by the Imperial Japanese during the occupation in the early 20th century. The Palace have been gradually and painstakingly restored since the 1990s back to their original glory. If you are visiting Seoul, take a couple hours and explore the palace, the entry fee is small and there is so much history to take in here.
Techinally on the original palace grounds, but outside of the main complex on the northwest corner is also the National Folk Museum of Korea. This museum is full of exhibits that illustrates the history of traditional life of the Korean people. There is no entry fee and open for all to see, we spent another hour in there going through historical photos going all the way back to the late 19th century. There was an exhibit that really piqued my interest, it showed the historical and current importance of the three species of fish in Korea. The Jogi (조기) – Yellow Croaker, Myeongtae (명태) – Alaska Pollock, and Myulchi(멸치) – Anchovy have fed the Korean people for millennia, the croakers and pollock have ritual and religious significance as well. Showing more than just the history with the relationship korea had with these fish, the exbhibit showed current aspects as well such as their economic importance.
After fully exploring the folk museum, it was time to get some lunch at a local donkatsu spot, and to explore some of the historic shopping streets in other parts of the city as well. We did that for most of the afternoon, then as it got closer to dinner I wanted to go to Noryangjin Fish Market. This place is not only the largest fish market it is the oldest as well.
Noryangjin is a massive complex, a multi-floor building that has over 700 vendors. Hundreds of tons of seafood moves through these doors every day. The Noryangjin Fish Auctions start up at 3 am with millions of won being exchanged for 1000s of kilos of fish. On the same floor as the auction is the main live seafood market, where vendors have tanks full of live fish and shellfish for sale either wholesale or retail. The floor above has vendors who sell salted and dried fish products, as well as some kitchen equipment vendors.
Noryangjin is like a public aquarium with the variety and quantity of live seafood on display. It is just row after row of vendors who for the most part have tanks full of live product. Quick side note, make sure you are wearing closed-toed shoes here, and not fabric shoes as well. The floor is perpetually wet and fishy here, Noryangjin is not only a retail market/ tourist spot. A lot of these vendors are wholesale suppliers to the local markets and restaurants. Also please, be respectful. You can look at the fish, but don’t touch them or tap on the tanks. These are all businesses here trying to make a living here.
The vendors here mostly speak Korean, some speak Chinese as well. I didn’t hear any English but with this being Seoul there are likely english speakers here. If not context clues go a long way, as does google translate. Like the other markets I’ve shown the vendors can be pushy, theyre not trying to be rude. But they are definelty wantint to make that sale. Don’t let them bully you if you don’t want what they are selling. Noryangjin also has prices listed on their website here so reference this to make sure you aren’t paying too much for something.
Besides just exploring, the big draw here is to buy some seafood and then have it prepared on the third floor. Which is why I saved this place for last. The vendors on the first floor have partnered up with restuarants on the third floor. So you can buy your seafood then let the vendor know you want to have it cooked up. They’ll call upstairs and have them send someone down to take you and your seafood up to the restuarant.
I did a lap of the whole place just to see every species of fish and shellfish they had to offer. After which I went to a shellfish vendor for what I wanted, live snow crab. I know I can get snowcrab in the US, but not live or whole. So stopping by a shellfish vendor I talked to earlier, we bought a snow crab, an octopus, a conch. I asked them about getting some sashimi as well and the vendor took us to his partner an aisle over. His partner dealt in live fish and gave us a good price on a platter. After this was all done, the resaurant runner came down and took us up to the restaurant.
We followed him through the market and got in an elevator to go up a couple floors, and then followed him down the halls of all the other spots till we got to the resturant he worked at. There he dropped off shellfish with the host and left. The host then asked how we wanted everything prepped. We went the simple route and just had the crab and conch steamed and the live octopus chopped up raw as sashimi. They offer different ways to prepare the seafood but as it gets fancier the more it costs. We wanted to do the spicy fish soup as well, but I think in the rush of things something was lost in translation and we ended up not getting it. I recommend you do get it if you go here, it’s very tasty and honestly considered to be more proper manners for eating at the restaurant, it does cost a little more though but not a lot.
We got seated at a table and waited for everything to be prepped. They brought out all the cutlery, water, and sides we would need. The sashimi and live octopus came out really quick. The sashimi came out with some red leaf lettuce, ssamjang, raw garlic, and chili peppers. The octopus was chopped up and but still moving. It came with a small dish of sesame oil and salt to dip it in. All of it was very fresh considering the fish was just swimming around a few minutes before. The texture is very different than something you will normally find stateside. When the fish is this fresh the sashimi is chewier, making for a good textural experience.
Soon after the sashimi came out, the main course was ready. The snow crab and conch were done steaming and were brought out. I know it’s not an exotic species like the shrimp from Jeju, but this is something I can’t get stateside. They brought the crab out upside down on the steaming tray, so to keep the juices inside the head of the crab. While it’s not my thing crab tomalley is very popular when mixed into rice here. You just pop the top of the crab off and add rice into it. The crab was super full of meat as well, live snowcrab just hits different maybe it was just my perception or maybe it was better, either way the experience was worth it. This whole spread of fresh seafood came out to a total of 110,000 won ($84 USD) including the cost of having everything cooked. While up there with what we spent for food in Korea, this is still way cheaper than what it would cost stateside for all this. Next time in Seoul I’ll definitely be going back to Noryangjin to have myself some incredibly seafood.
