Read all about my Jeju food tour!
When it comes to Korean food, I thought I’d tried pretty much everything out there. But my recent Jeju trip proved to me that there’s always new food to explore in Korea! Below are three unique foods that should be on your Jeju food tour when traveling Korea!
Abalone Hot Stone Rice
Hot stone ‘dolsot’ bibimbap is a Korean food classic so I was happy to try out this variation! Jeju is famous for its seafood and especially their abalone.
I love how hot stone/dolsot leaves my rice all crispy and this did not disappoint. The rice was crispy and hot and I was pleasantly surprised by the sweet chunks of dates. The abalone was soft, chewy, and warm, but this was my first time trying abalone so I didn’t have much standard of comparison. Also, those yellow cubes are not pineapples! They are Korean sweet potatoes which were another nice sweet touch.
“There’s always new food to explore in Korea!”
Abalones were actually traditionally harvested by Jeju’s ‘mermaids’ known as ‘Haenyeo’. Haenyeo are female divers who free dive up to 30 feet to catch abalone and other seafood. After trying this dish, I was more interested in learning about the unique Haenyeo culture in Jeju, some of whom are even in their 80s. Sadly, I did not have enough time to visit the Haenyeo Museum to learn more about these women and the dying Haenyeo culture. Definitely on my list for my next Jeju trip!
Grilled Black Pork Belly
If you love Korean BBQ, you’ve got to try grilled black pork belly from Jeju. What makes this pork special is that it’s from domesticated black pigs that are native to Jeju. The cut of meat was thicker than the width of my spoon! This pork was richer, juicier, and more like a steak than traditional pork BBQ.
Dip it in some salt, wrap it with some lettuce with some grilled garlic. Wash it down with some beer and soju. So good.
I was able to eat this black pork at the famous Donsadon (돈사돈) restaurant which is frequented by many Korean celebrities and K-pop groups, including my favorite: Big Bang!
Mul-hwe (물회)
Here’s a dish that I never even knew existed and was skeptical to try at first. But it blew me away and ended up being my favorite out of all the things I ate in Jeju! Yes, it even beat out the KBBQ.
One of the things I love about Korean food is the sheer variety of food. This includes cold noodle dishes. I don’t know of a lot of cultures with cold noodle dishes.
This cold noodle soup had rice noodles, cucumbers, Korean pear, scallions, green peppers, and sesame seeds. The special sauce was made of spicy soybean paste and there were ice chunks in the soup to keep it cool. This was all topped by fresh raw fish. So, if you love sashimi, this is a must try.
I enjoyed this dish on so many levels. The soup was so cool and refreshing, the fish was fresh, the sauce was flavorful and just enough level of spiciness, saltiness, and umami which was harmonized by the sweet Korean pear… the mixture of textures—from the chewy sashimi to crunchy cucumbers—I ate every last drop.
Not only that, the side dishes (banchan) would not stop rolling out. One after another… the waitresses kept adding side dishes to our table. I left SO full that day.
There’s always new foods and restaurants to discover even in your own culture! Let me know which of these three dishes you’d like to try most!
