Korea’s Best Seafood in Jeju!! (And One I Don’t Like)

Today we're eating only Korean seafood in Jeju. Surrounded by the sea, South Korea's Jeju Island is blessed with having some of the freshest seafood you'll ever eat in your life. It's so fresh it's reflecting. And in this video we're gonna go way off the beaten path to find local restaurants that serve some of the most amazing Korean seafood dishes, including this combination that completely took me by surprise. This unique seafood I just can't quite handle. It's something so bizarre. And as we progress, we're gonna finally eat one of the grandest Korean seafood meals on the island. So good. Good morning. It's a beautiful sunny day in Jeju and we are starting things off with a place that's well known for their hand cut seafood noodles. And this is the spot. This place is very famous. They have a lot of Korean celebrities, I believe, that have been here. But it's still family run. It's in the neighborhood. It's very local. They're famous for their kalguksu, which are hand cut noodles. And as soon as I entered here, you could just feel the family warmth of this place. And auntie is behind there. She looks like she knows what she's doing. Always best to wake up the taste buds with some kimchi. And the noodles should be coming out soon. But it seems like auntie is really nurturing them. Taking her time to make sure every bowl is perfect before serving them. Yeah, that's a huge bowl. It comes to your table steaming hot. I wasn't expecting it to be this big. This is a huge bowl. Auntie really spent like 15 minutes preparing these bowls of noodles. I think waiting for the noodles to boil, adding, assembling all the ingredients. I think there's abalone. That might be also what's making it green. The gonads, the reproductive organ of the abalone making it green. I'm not totally sure. There's seaweed in here, a variety of seaweed. Looks like there's some tofu. And I think there's some sea snails as well. It almost looks like a porridge, like a cross between noodles and porridge served in this giant warm bowl. But first, yeah, let's take a spoon actually. And let's just try the soup. Oh, it's thick and hearty. And you really do taste the flavor of the real seaweed flavor. Oh, and it's natural. It feels like a natural sweetness as well. Maybe coming from that mix of shellfish in there, giving it a sweetness. That's really soothing though. Let's just try those noodles. And because that soup is so thick, it stays so hot. Look at the steaminess of that. Yeah, you'll want to blow it before you take a giant bite of noodles. You can tell those are handmade. They have this amazing chewiness to it. There's gumminess to them as well. It's really focused on the shellfish, on the abalone, and then with the noodles swimming around in it. But it's not just the noodles in a thin broth. That is hearty. That is filling. That is warming. Now I'm going to explore the green chilies. Let's go for the green chilies in here. Yes. Stir that around. And again, yeah, get some of that abalone for sure in a bite. With noodles. Oh, the noodles are kind of slippery. Slipping slidery. You got to be careful of the splashage with this bowl of noodles. Slurp a little bit or kind of try to get the noodle into your mouth. Sometimes there's some ricochet and some splash. Oh, the green chili. Got a piece of the green chili. Oh, that bumps up the flavor, that crunch, that freshness, a little bit of heat. And then I got a piece of the abalone in that bite as well. They have this spongy texture. They have this sweet flavor. And I think that is what's really flavoring a lot of this, this bowl of noodles. And you can put kimchi inside. Then you can eat it all together. Oh, yeah. Look at that bite with noodles. That's the bite. It's just good, hearty and natural and just like tastes very local as well. OK, so Auntie saw that I was getting ready, almost finishing my bowl, so she brought over some rice. She said you have to eat it with rice. OK, to keep keep it going, to keep the flavor coming, to make use of all that broth and all that soup. It is good with the rice. There's going to be a lot more food to come, but this was delicious. It tasted simple, but local and fresh. And it's packed now. This place is so popular, legendary. That being said, we have a lot more food to eat today. So I'm trying to conserve some stomach space for our next meal on the seafood tour today. We're in the same town as where we just ate the noodles, but just right across that noodle restaurant was over there. We're across the harbor. And this is a meal, probably one of the top meals I was looking forward to eating coming to Jeju. So you come, you sit down, an entire tray of banchan is served. There's so many banchan. We should do a rapid fire of all the banchan. But that being said, what you come here to eat is sashimi. This restaurant is famous for sashimi, specifically mackerel sashimi. And there's only two things you can order, the smaller one, which is for one to two people, and the bigger one, which is for three to four people. Went with the smaller one only because we have so much more food still coming up today. This is just the start of our seafood tour. Oh, and here it is. Oh, okay, sorry. Here it is. Oh, that is shining. Oh, that's beautiful. Okay, but before we dig into the mackerel, let's do a rapid fire of all the side dishes and the banchan. We have a salad. We have garlic, green chilies. There's a stack of seaweed, which is for wrapping the fish. Kimchi. There looks like it's almost like pickled lettuce and kelp. Mini fried fish with almonds. Oh, nice. There looks like a pear salad or a potato salad, maybe pears. Looks like some kind of a cabbage. Oh, I think that's the white cabbage kimchi, I think. We have rice, which is like it's been condensed. There's a garlic sauce, which is for the fish, I think. And then finally, there's even hot dogs and quail eggs. Mackerel sashimi has never been this attractive ever in your life. It is so fresh that you can see through it. It's translucent. It's sparkling. The skin is shining, and it's reflective. And actually, there is an entire procedure Korean way to eat it, wrapped in seaweed with the different sauces and sides. But the first thing we have to do, we just got to pick up a piece and taste it straight, raw, fresh. And it's, oh, by the way, it's served on this plate with ice on the bottom, so it stays cold throughout your meal. Let's just pull up one of these pieces so you can see the, you just have to admire the thinness of it, the quality and the freshness. Oh, it's buttery. So neutral tasting. So clean. It has a little bit of a texture to it. It's not like purely melt in your mouth. Has a little bit of this chewiness that's actually really good. Oh, fantastic. But I know it'll be even better when you wrap it together with all these different salads with all the different wrap it in seaweed. So what you do is you grab a piece of seaweed first. I think that's the first move. Salad, lots of onions and sesame seeds and a chili paste. This goes on top, draped on top. Then I think she said you could add rice. Oh, it's really dense. It's like it's been pushed down into this plate. Oh, it's extra sticky. It's a special type of rice for this. So rice goes in and then sauce and you can see all the raw garlic down there too. So you add sauce. Okay, now you have a full mackerel roll. And that has to be eaten in one bite. And for this one, we'll up the stakes, bite with everything and we'll chase it with the green chili. Oh, wow. There's a lot in my mouth, but that's one of the best single bites I've had in Jeju. That is absolutely sensational. I mean, it starts with the freshness of the fish, the quality of the mackerel, wrapping it together with all of these sides and all these toppings. All of it elevates it to a level you never thought mackerel could be. For my next one, I'll get the, you said the garlic is really good. Very crispy. I'll add the garlic. I'll add a piece of mackerel. I got to try this sauce. Oh, it looks like an anchovy sauce. Hope that's not too much. That does taste like an anchovy sauce, like a fermented fish sauce that gives you another different contrasting punch of flavor. I mean, this is what I love about Korean food is they're all good on their own. But when they're combined together, mixed in one bite in your mouth, it takes you to new levels of flavor and happiness. That is just stunningly good. Oh, this was totally unexpected. But when you're most of the way through with your sashimi, they bring out a mackerel soup and also a stew with radish. And this soup is incredible. It looks like it's made with maybe the mackerel bones. Plus it has a really like peppery look to it. Plus a lot of cabbage in here as well. And so this comes with your entire set. So we just ordered the raw fish, but this came all together. I think that creaminess, I don't know if it's sesame seeds, but it has a nutty flavor to it. It's not like the pork bone broth that's making it milky. It is like a ground seeds. It tastes like, oh, that's so good. That's soothing. Pepperiness, the mackerel bones probably boiled in there and then that flavor, the sweetness of the cabbage as well. Okay, let's scoop it up. Okay, as that cools, I'll try the braised. I think this is braised mackerel with radish. Oh, I love the braised radishes. But let's try the mackerel. Steaming hot. It's like a braised mackerel. Later on today, actually, we're going to eat a braised mackerel or braised hairtail fish with that really thick, dark red chili paste. This is more, definitely more light than that. But you really taste the flavor of the mackerel, like pronounced, like salted mackerel. And then you really taste the flavor of the radish in there as well. This meal is like the best of mackerel, three different ways. Try that radish. One of those bites you need to inhale some fresh air. As you bite down, intake it with some, some cool air because it's so hot and steaming. But that is incredible. Yeah, I love radish when it's cooked. It's a sponge that just absorbs all that flavor. It is salty, but it's so good. Now back to the cabbage soup. Crunchy cabbage. And that nutty fishy broth is incredible. The entire meal, the set, it all comes together. It's really an incredible experience dedicated to mackerel. Oh, I'm full, happy. And we're on our way to the next place, which is about a 15 minute drive down the coast. So we have a little bit of time to digest before we eat more seafood. We drove over to a place called Yongmori Beach. There's a beach here. There's a geological park. There's an amazing mountain behind me. But we came here to find some seafood, of course, some unique seafood. Oh, I think that is it up there. So Jeju Island is known for their hanyeo divers who are women who free dive to get seafood, especially shellfish. And yesterday, actually, we were along the Ilcheon Peninsula, we saw a little bit of a performance, traditional dance. And then they went into the sea and one lady actually caught an octopus, but we didn't have a chance to try any of their seafood. So today, these stalls right here, there's some hanyeo divers who get the seafood probably fresh, local from the water right here, and then they serve some seafood. So we're going to try a little bit of their seafood here. I think they have a few things, definitely some, probably some abalone. Okay, I just ordered the plate immediately. All of the aunties get started. Oh, there's sea squirts. There's sea snails over here. Oh, she's made fast work of some sea snails. Oh, it's as fresh as possible. Oh, sweet sea squirts plop onto the plate. We've got sea snails all on a plate. Okay. Okay. Yeah, this place is really cool. Just a tent on the side of the ocean with a half a dozen aunties just waiting for you with their fresh catch, hanyeo divers, fresh, local. And as soon as you order, you can get the 20,000 plate or the 30,000 plate. Go in with the 20,000 plate. They just, there's some sea snail and then there's sea squirt. It's probably not my favorite seafood. I've had it a few times and it's definitely, maybe we could call it an acquired taste. That has a unique flavor, but we'll give it a try again. You have to try it when you're here, but let's start with that sea snail. Oh man, you can feel, you can see how crunchy that is. Let's try this first. It's like a little snackers ocean plate. That is so crisp. It's so fresh. So cartilagy that it's crunchy, has a crunchy texture to it with the natural flavor of the seawater, but like the actual taste of the shellfish is not too strong. Yeah. You can see it is still like wiggling a little bit, grooming a little bit. That's yeah. For this one, let me dip it in the, I think it's gochujang. That crunch is unbelievable. And you can chase that with some Okay. It's time to retry some sea squirt. They're bright orange in color. Look at that. There's such a, it's such a bizarre creature. Look at the inside of it. There's like gel, seawater, slime. Let's try it again. Yeah. It just has like a, I can eat it, but it's probably still not my favorite thing of the sea. I think it's the aftertaste. The initial taste is kind of good. It kind of like you're just drinking a shot of seawater, saltwater, but then it's like this aftertaste that kind of has this strange bitterness or ammonia-ness to it. Let's try it in the gochujang. That piece kind of had a different flavor to it and a different texture as well. Or maybe it's the gochujang that kind of balances that ammonia flavor in the back of your throat, but definitely sea squirt is an experience you have to try. It's something so unique, so bizarre, so strong. This is the true essence of the ocean directly onto your plate. This is ocean to table. That was good. That was tasty and unique. I would say that sea squirt is still not my favorite food, but the sea snails were amazing and such a great location. Very local and very direct from the sea to your plate, guaranteed. The next place that we're going is just down the road and it's going to be something grand. Step inside. This is a really cool family restaurant and I cannot wait for this meal. Oh, yes. I'm hungry again. Okay. Oh, wow. Okay. It has arrived. This dish is called galchi jorim and galchi is a fish that's famous all over Korea, but especially in Jeju. It's called the beltfish in English. It's also called cutlassfish. It's also called hairtail. And there's two main ways that we make it. Actually, later on, we'll be eating another variation, but this is the braised red pepper stew. One of the greatest dishes, I think, in the entire repertoire of Korean food. Oh, that stew is so red. Here's there's big pieces of the hairtail fish. There's slices of daikon radish. There's onions in here. There's green chilies swimming around. It's bubbling like lava. You see all the Korean red chili flakes in there. It smells unbelievable. But first thing to do, let's just take a scoop, get the full force of the action and the flavor of that broth, that braising juice, the Korean red pepper. Oh, that's going to be blazing hot, too. That is a broth of wonders, a broth or a stew or a braising liquid. I'm not sure what you call it, but that is an incredible flavor. It has this deep, rich red pepper flavor to it. It is a little bit spicy, not overpoweringly spicy, as it might look because of the color, but it has that incredible smokiness to it. You taste the flavor of fish in there as well, probably saltiness of soy sauce. And then it also has this depth of flavor from the onions, sweet onions, as well as the radish, the daikon radish in there as well. And this is a dish that always brings back memories for me. Movers, let's try that. Let's try the fish. This is like a perfect harmony. You want to just immediately eat this with rice. Yeah, look, this is the whole tail section of the fish. Does look like a belt. OK, but we'll try this. Let's try this guy, this side fillet first. This is this is the fish that when you see it, it does. It's really long. It does look like a belt and it's so shiny. It looks like a reflector because it's so shiny and so silver. And so you do have to be careful of the bones. But you can. Yeah, I got some bones in that bite. You do need to be careful of the bones. But there's a technique, I think, to like take it off the fillet. Yeah, you definitely definitely do need to be careful of the bones. Take off the fillet side. And the fish, the fish that is there, it's such a good texture and it's also firm enough to hold up within that stew. And oh, that's good. Oh, that's incredible. And it absorbs some of that chili, some of that braising sauce. And then you'll get down here. You can pretty much just slide that piece of meat right off the bone and you'll end up with this almost symmetrical center bone of the fish. Check that out. But this bite deserves a drenching before eating. That's incredible. Let's taste the radish. OK, big slices of radish in here, which had been braising for so long until they're just fall apart tender. Oh, sorry, this is not radish. This one's potato. Oh, but incredible. Looks just like a radish. Actually, the radish and the potatoes look almost the same. But yeah, potato on this one. Creamy, starchy, but then again, absorbed with that stew is incredible. OK, let's let's find the radish. No, I think this has got to be radish. You can see more of that fibrous texture. Well, that's slippery radish. Oh, again, it's so hot. You have to inhale some air. You've got to have some air intake as you bite that. But I love the radish. Has the perfect melt in your mouth texture, but then it's fungy enough to absorb all of that flavor, that saltiness, that chili. So good. OK, now let's go for the rice and dig down here. There's green chilies, there's onions. And as it continually boils, you can see it getting thicker and richer. All the flavors condensing. I'll put some on to the rice. Oh, that. Yeah, it's perfect with rice. You need it because of that salty sauce. It goes so well together. It really is one of my favorite Korean dishes. And actually, I had it the first time on my very first trip to Seoul. This was years ago. We made it back to Namdaemun Market and we went into the market. There's it's called the Hairtail Alley. And I was just amazed that they had all these little individual pans boiling with slices of hairtail fish with kalchijorim all boiling. I had no idea what I was doing. I just ordered whatever everybody else was eating. It came and I took my first bite. And I just remember being like, this is one of the greatest Korean dishes I've ever I've ever had. And to this day, anytime I eat this dish, it brings back those memories. And it's still to this day is one of my favorite Korean dishes of all time. And this one here might be the best version I've ever had. Their balance of flavor. It's spicier than a lot of other versions. And then it's also more heavy on the red chili flakes. But it's also doesn't have a sweet taste to it. Some some of them can be kind of sweet. This one doesn't really have sweetness at all. It's just fiery, salty, and about that fresh hairtail. Okay, let's try a big piece of that tail next. Oh, it's hot. butteriness of that hairtail. Oh, it's hot. This is a phenomenal meal. Still, one of my favorite dishes in all of Korea. Oh, happy. That was incredible. And a really friendly family that runs it as well. Highly recommended. Absolutely flavor just coating every taste bud in my mouth right now. Oh, and we've eaten at four places. We have one more to go to make it five altogether. And this is going to be a grand meal that you're not going to want to miss when you come to Jeju. 19 minutes until we get to the next spot. We made it to the next restaurant to eat what might be the grandest seafood meal in Jeju. Oh, it's a big restaurant. There's a lot of tables, but we're the only ones here right now. I think we're here at an off peak time just before the dinner rush comes in. And immediately sitting down. Here's the menu. What you come here to eat is the whole grilled cutlassfish. So they have a whole meal that surrounds that. Look how many banchan all the different side dishes. That's a lot going on. And I think with most cutlassfish restaurants you order by the person. So that depends on how big the fish is. So you can order for two people for three people for four people, and all the banchan has arrived. Nice. There's some different types of banchan that are served, including some marinated raw shrimp. And then he said there's two different versions of wraps that you can make with the cutlassfish. One is with the cabbage and maybe a bean chili paste, and the other is with seaweed and more of like a dressing. Looks like soy sauce, maybe vinegar. Zucchini. There's like sesame oil as well. Good. Okay, here it is. He has wheeled it over. That is the length of a belt. Okay, that will go right in the center of our table. Takes up the whole table. It has arrived, the whole cutlassfish. It literally is about a meter in length. We ended up going for the size for three people, and it is thin. You could probably use this as a belt, wrap it around your waist, and hold up your pants with this fish. And when it is raw, the skin is so silver that it actually reflects. It's shiny. And this is a prized fish all over Korea, but especially in Jeju. It's a delicacy all over Korea, but here is where you come to eat some of the best. And this is such a cool preparation, but actually before we eat it, they debone it for you table side. Just get it. Yeah, just go down all the way like that. Thank you. Okay, so there is an art to deboning it because it is quite, not too bony actually. There's some big fillets, but there's bones on either side. Oh yeah, there's that top bone. That's the bone that's hard to get out. Oh nice, just stripping it, the fillets right off that center bone. Oh, you can see how juicy it is underneath. Juicy and oily and moist. All in the center bone. Oh, it's like a zipper. Okay, perfect. Oh, he did that so fast. He's probably done it a thousand times, but take off that top bone because that top bone is the part that's kind of frustrating when you're eating it because you always get these little bones in your mouth when you're eating it. So he just strips that off, pulls off the fillet, pulls out the center bone like a zipper. And so you have all the different parts deboned from the belly to the top section. I think I want to just taste the piece on its own first. Oh, what a delicacy. Oh, you can see how buttery that is. See the meat glistening. That has a buttery, creamy texture to it. And then I think it's been salted on the outside when it's grilled, you get a little bit of that salt, saltiness coming through. But the texture, the butteriness of it is what really stands out. Oh, that's so good. Okay, then I'll, next I'll try the seaweed style. So you take a piece of the seaweed, I'll go for a different part of the fish this time. Further down, you do still need to be careful of some of the bones. I'll go for this section. Maybe you dip it in this sauce, then onto your seaweed. Then you use that as, take that as a bite. Wow. You taste the freshness of the seaweed, the crunch, then that soy sauce with maybe a sourness as well, maybe some vinegar, some sesame seeds in there and some finely shaved chives or green onions. That just gives it a little bit of extra boost of saltiness and flavor. And I love things wrapped in that seaweed. Oh, that's a great, great combination. But there's another combination to try as well. Take a piece of the cabbage, then you do fish. Let's go for some of the belly section this time. Oh yeah, you can see how flaky and how buttery that fish is. Just kind of crumbles with a butteriness. And then some of the pepper paste, a little bit in here. Tastes like the cabbage has been cured or brined to the point where it has that real crunch, juiciness to it. It's a wrapper for that fish. And then with some of the paste, which is actually very delicate. It's not that salty, not that strong of a flavor. The flavors for the seasonings are much lighter, I think, because of the delicateness of the fish. The fish is so delicate, you don't want to overpower it with any flavor. You want to really feel that freshness, the butteriness of the fish. That's good. Let me do another seaweed wrap. I'll go for the fish. I'm going to load this one up, dip it into the sauce. Some of that garlic green onion mixture onto the seaweed. And then I'll put some rice on. This looks like premium rice as well. Rice on, maybe a piece of kimchi on top of that. Final piece of kimchi for the full wrap. Combination is phenomenal. All that together with the rice. Yeah, the seaweed wrap is incredible. That fish is delicious. And this really feels, you taste the quality of the ingredients and just how everything is really, just like all Korean meals, everything is really thought out. You have all the individual components, but it's the entire meal, the set, the combination of ingredients that really makes it special. And that being said, let's try the marinated raw shrimp. Oh, that texture. It's sweet. It's fragrant. Oh, that is superb. Really good. And it's not sometimes they offer marinated Korean marinated crab as well. It probably is depending on the season that you're here. We've made it. We've conquered the cutlassfish. One more bite. Go in with the seaweed. So good. I would say that in terms of flavor, I love the galchi jorim, the chili stew, the braised stew. That's like the ultimate flavor. But if you want to taste the pure flavor of the actual hairtail cutlassfish, this is the way to go. You really get the actual flavor, the butteriness, the texture of the fish. And it has been an incredible day of seafood in Jeju. Jeju really is a seafood paradise. Jeju is also extremely famous for what you probably already know, Jeju black pig barbecue, which we're definitely going to be eating a lot of that in another video, which I'll link right here. And actually we're traveling all around Jeju Island, eating some of the best Korean food that you're not going to want to miss. So be sure to watch all the videos in the series and be sure to give this video a thumbs up. Thank you for watching. Make sure to eat some delicious food when you're in Jeju and I'll see you on the next video.