I’m perpetually and proudly on a Seefood Diet: When I see food, I eat. Totally works.
On hindsight, there might be just a liiiiiiittle bit… well, OFF if, after you spend hours on end roaming around an aquarium, you head out to have dinner consisting of… seafood. Well? What do you think?
If we had more time in Busan, we would have made it a point to check out their famous Jagalchi Market. But as things stood, we had quite a tight sked, and we did not want to spend a lot of time travelling/commuting when we could just stay in one place and check out what’s there.
After going out of Busan Aquarium, it was already past 7, and we were famished. We walked along, trying to look for a place to eat. Then all we saw were these fast food places like T.G.I.Fridays and coffee shops and such. And then, much to our delight, we stumbled on this small park with small tents lined up. We looked up, saw the sign, and mentally squealed (yes, it is possible). If I remember correctly, there was a bit of drizzle going on, so it was also a perfect excuse to seek comfort in one of these tents.
Being a port city, it is a given that Busan should be identified with seafoods. And BOY, DO THEY ROCK AT IT.
Each of the tents were (wo)manned by elderly ladies. Unfortunately, none of them spoke English. Haha! So we picked the one with the friendlier-looking shop owner. And the one with a large price list that has legible handwriting.
So there was a large aquarium-style set up in front of the tent, with various sea and marine creatures on display. You pick them, and they will cook it any way you want to.
So we picked a crab-like one (honest to goodness, we had no idea what they were. haha!). Then some kind of a tuna for sashimi. Then we also ordered a mildly spicy noodle soup to warm our stomachs.
Miss Shop Owner took the chosen seafoods, then directed us a bit on the left side of the aquarium to take our seats.
(And because this merits its separate paragraph…..)
I. LOVE. THE. SEATS. It was heated!! ZOMG. Coming in out of the chilly and slightly drizzly evening air, it was sheer heaven to sit down on a heated area, remove our shoes and lift our legs to have our lower extremities warmed up. On the other end, the telly was on, showing some kind of documentary – in Korean (and, I am guessing, Busan dialect). We had no hope of understanding it, but just watching it made the experience even more authentic.
At the back of the aquarium is the cooking area, and we had a great view of Miss Shop Owner preparing our food. 🙂
Clearly, she knows how to multi-task.While the crab-like thingies are cooking, she went to work on the sashimi. So deft at it too.
And this us utterly warm and comfy in our seats.
And clearly, it is true what they say that seafood is quite cheap here in Busan. When Miss Shop Owner proceeded making our noodle soup, she took some shells and some tiny crabs and dropped them on the cooking noodles, saying “FREE”.
DUDE. If this were at home, the seafoods would cost twice, thrice, even four times the price of the noodles. AND HERE THEY ARE JUST THROWN IN FOR FREE?! Can I have seafood dinners in Busan every week, please?
And tada~!!!
These crab-thingies were decimated IN SECONDS. I kid you not.
We had an obligatory wasabi moment. It couldn’t be helped.
And the lovely, lovely noodles. Look at me go!! Peach and She were literally shaking their heads while I cleaned it up. No kidding. I was never much into noodles, but this was a life-changing experience. Haha!
This meal was definitely one for the books. Mind you, we had several authentic Korean meals for the duration of our stay in Seoul and Jeju (I have a separate post for that, by the way), but this was one of my favorites, for the simple reason that it was spontaneous and we just stumbled on to the place by accident.
If you ever find yourself in Haeundae, Busan, check out this area. It’s right before the APEC Narimaru place and after the Busan Aquarium, so you won’t miss it.
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