3 Food You Can't Miss in Jeju
I really love the island life in Jeju. It was really different when compared to the busy city life in Seoul. We visited Jeju for 4 days and during that period of time we searched for the culinary highlights of Jeju. Make sure you add below list of food as part of your itinerary ;-).
1. Jeju Black Pork
Jeju is really famous for its black pork and they even have a street called Black Pork Street. Black Pork itself is classed as the melt in your mouth wagyu among pork meat. Now one of the ways to know whether the meat that you eat is authentic black pork or not, is by sighting some short black hair or some black dots on it.
But an easier way to do it will be by going to a well-known Michelin starred Jeju Black Pork restaurant. The restaurant that we visited was Dombaedon. The phone number (for your GPS) is: 7550006.
Unlimited salad and lettuce and green onions (yum!)
We arrived there after the peak of lunch time and shared the restaurant with two other groups of people. We sat and asked the owner to recommend us enough of a meal for two people. They said it'd be easier for us to opt for a set meal. So we did.
The pork was really juicy and a had melt in your mouth quality. At the same time it also retained some sort of chewiness in it. You definitely need to do Black Pork BBQ on your trip to Jeju-do!
Thank you for cutting our pork, Aunty!
Just like an Asian mum, the aunty who owned the restaurant cooked our meat for us and gave more meat to my husband... The same thing also happened in Seoul when we ate the premium Hanwoo beef!
2. Jeju Hairtail Fish
When we were in Jeju, we visited a Michelin starred restaurant called Suhui Sikdang (수희식당). We found this restaurant through our guide book that we received through the car hire agency. The guide book was also filled with important phone numbers for different tourist sites that can be inputted into your GPS. The number for this restaurant is 762-0777.
The dish that we ordered was called Spicy Braised Hairtail Fish stew (Galchi Jorim / 갈치조림). Hairtail fish is silver in colour and quite long in shape. The restaurant cut up the fish so it was easier for us to eat. One small portion is definitely enough for two people especially with the amount of side dishes that they will give you.
The hairtail fish is one of the important export commodities from Jeju Island. You can find this fish in Seoul but we recommend you to eat it in Jeju. Each restaurant only retained small amounts of the fish and the fish was always freshly prepared on the day when you order it. Suhui Sikdang opens all year round from 8 AM to 9 PM.
3. Jeju Noodle
According to local people, the best noodle shop at Jeju is located at Noodle Street itself. We managed to find Jamae Guksu during our trip to Jeju. We drove past it once because we tried to find it. After trying to find it for 15 minutes, we finally decided to park our car and just walk to the shop.
The queue in front of the shop was crazy. People were queueing to eat inside as well as waiting for their takeaway. I just want to say that their noodle was worth waiting for. We saw people inside the restaurant mostly flocked in to eat the Bibim Guksu as well as the soupy and traditional Gogi Guksu.
There you go, I hope you find this guide quite useful and able to fit 3 additional things into your itinerary in Jeju-do! Feel free to share the guide if you think someone will benefit from it :-).
