Food Galore in Jeju

Before our trip to Korea, the only Korean food that we are familiar with is Kimchi and Bibimbap. In this trip, our niece introduced many other Korean dishes which are not readily available in Sabah. These are all popular food in Korea.

Gogigui (Korean BBQ)

Our dinner after touring Dongmun Traditional Market (Read here) is Gogigui. The restaurant that serves Korean BBQ is within walking distance from Hotel Leo at Sammu-ro, Jeju-si, the hotel where we put up for our three-night stay in Jeju Island.

Unlike BBQ outlets in KK which use gas stoves, Korea still manages to keep the tradition of using charcoal-fired grills. The grill with exhaust suction pipe to remove the smoke is set up in the dining tables for barbequing food at the restaurant.

We had raw beef sushi and barbecued black pork. Eating raw beef is another new experience for me. Surprisingly, raw beef tasted good. Black pork is not black but normal pork meat colour cut out from black-haired pigs. Koreans are proud of their black-haired pigs - a breed found in Jeju Island. 

Not surprisingly, black pig is chosen as the

restaurant's symbol.

Raw beef sushi.

Black pork.

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Grilled Abalone

Myeongin Jeonbok Abalone Restaurant at Haemajihaean-ro, Jeju-si at the north-eastern tip of Jeju Island is known for serving a variety of abalone dishes.  We tried all their well-known dishes - grilled abalone, abalone stone pot rice and abalone porridge. Grilled mackerel was offered for free.

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Grilled Cutlassfish

We had lunch at Chunsimine after our visit to the "Mysterious Road" at the central northern part of Jeju Island. Chunsimine is known for the grilled cutlassfish or hairtail fish. Cutlassfish is a long-bodied marine fish having a whiplike scaleless body and sharp teeth. That was my first experience of eating a grilled cutlassfish.

 

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After visiting Hanhwa Aqua Planet Aquarium, my niece took us to a small restaurant. This restaurant is tucked in a back lane and the compound perimeter fence and the small entrance is well camouflaged by plants, creepers and vines. It was therefore difficult to identify in the first glance. Once inside, we chose a table at the centre of this medium size restaurant.

The main dishes we ordered are Korean pancakes, porridge, beef, raw prawns and raw abalone.