There are literally about a hundred stalls all selling the freshest live seafood, the fish are kept alive barely in tanks with pumped -in oxygen
Fresh from a recent trip to Korea last week, our host Paul, was kind enough to bring us to have lunch at Siheon City's famous Woogong Port, where on weekdays, there are hundreds of small stalls selling live seafood. 'No big deal' - I thought. I was wrong. The multitude of shops all sell the live fish and shellfish, just caught that morning and displayed for immediate eating. Yes, immediate eating. Sashimi sraight off from the tank !! Welcome to Sashimi Korean style.
After taking our orders, the stallholders get to work expertly slicing off the skin and bones
Korea was a Japanese colony for many years, and one of the popular eating habits which they copied form the Japanese was the fine art of eating raw and fresh fish. Hence 'wher" (Korean for sashimi) is extremely popular in the seaside towns such as Siheon. In fact, the very first day we arrived, Paul brought us to eat the fresh seafood from the restaurant and one dish in particular was the barely alive octopus. The legs were still moving on the plate while we ate them !
The task is done in a matter of minutes under these expert hands
Anyway, after the skilled hands of the stallholders finished, the meat was placed on a bed of radish and we were instructed to go to the nearby sitdown restaurant to enjoy our meal. It was in my opinion, one of the most tasty sashimi I have ever eaten in my life. There was little need for the light soya sauce or even the wasabi, the meat was so tender and fresh that it tasted like some very fine sponge with no sea smell or flavour.
Stalllady boss instructs us to bring the sashimi to the sitdown restaurant nearby
The whole cost of 3 fish ? Plus a hot and sour steamboat soup when we couldn't stomach any more fresh food ? An unbelieveably low price of US$ 30.00 in total. Just US$ 10.00 per person. A meal in any of the fine restaurants in Seoul would set us back around US$ 300 or US$ 100 each person easily.
Its time for the freshest sashimi on the planet.
After 4 trips and many dinners, lunches on tour, in ski resorts, I can finally say that I have tasted the BEST Korean dish (apart from the Korean BBQ, BiBimBap, Ginseng Chicken soup, Fried Chicken and countless of nice things) so far.
I am looking forward to more trips to Korea in the near future, for work,play and for exquisite dining.
Seize the Day.
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