First Time Experience of Eating Raw Crabs

We spent some time trying to locate the restaurant that served Ganjang Gejang (Raw Crabs Marinated in Soy Sauce) in Seoul. The outlet called Jinma Sikdang in Seoul is without fancy signboard and with a very plain interior. It is tucked in a very obscure location and is rather difficult to find. Surprisingly, it is an outlet that is accredited with Michelin Guide for five years from 2017 to 2022 except 2019 because of the raw crabs they serve. 

A search in the internet shows that this dish takes quite an effort to prepare. A marinade of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, scallions, ginger, garlic and red chilli pepper paste is boiled first before being poured over the salted crabs. Crabs are thoroughly cleaned and then salted for about six hours. An hour later, the marinade is removed and reboiled and poured over the salted crabs again. This process is repeated a few times before the dish is chilled and eaten cold.

There is no specific way to eat this marinated raw crabs. My niece demonstrated how she normally eat them. The salted raw crab meat is squeezed out from the crab over steamed rice spread over Nori sheet or seaweed sheet. Depending on individual preference, one can add in kimchi and mixed vege before wrapping up for consumption!

This is one dish I do not consider as a dish I am particularly fond of. This is probably my first and the last :)