Live Octopus I was pleasantly surprised when I went to Guro Digital Complex Exit 3. Here I found a vast array of great restaurants including this gem, Hae Hyun. We ordered the medium sized full course meal (around 80,000 won). This was easily enough for 3 or 4 people.They started us out with a number of side dishes and live octopus. The one we had was a very lively fellow and it was very difficult to get him off the plate because he kept sucking to the plate. Then we also had some Gaebul (the red thing below). It was so fresh that it was still moving (but not sucking to your tongue like the live octopus). This is much better than seasquirt (not shown here, but it's an orange, yellow color). I think seasquirt tastes like cologne. Raw Gaebul Gaebul up close Eventually, the main course came: the sliced fish. The way that I check the skill of the chef is by looking closely at the cut of the fish. If the fish has a shiny sheen and relatively dry then the chef has used...

Noryangjin Fish Market: Fish Mongers at Work Noryangjin Fish Market: Shot from above Noryangjin Fish Market: Octopus in Waiting Noryangjin Fish Market: Shellfish of Doom Noryangjin Fish Market: Bright-eyed Snapper Noryangjin Fish Market: Miso Skate Noryangjin Fish Market: Jelly Fish Noodles Noryanjin Fish Market: Mackerel: Ready for Grilling Noryangjin Fish Market: Byeong-oh or Butterfish, by either name, delicious Noryangjin Fish Market: Swordfish sans Sword Noryangjin Fish Market: Fresh catch by the man wearing eye shadow Noryangjin Fish Market: Alive Breakfast  This post is part of my "Seoul Tourist" articles written for visitors to Korea. If you are looking to visit Seoul on vacation and are interested in exploring the city. If you are looking to do a tour of the market, feel free to contact me at seouleats at gmail dot com. This is of the Old Fish Market, the new fish market will open in August 2015. The Noryangin Fish...

Clear Plastic Gloves filled with water will apparently scare away bugs The other day I was at a local Hwae House (Korean Raw Fish) and I saw these gloves hanging near the kitchen. I inquired into why they were there and the owner said that they keep flies away because flies are scared of the hand (strangely, I don't know anyone that can kill a fly with their bare hands) and of their reflection in the water. Interesting... Dan

Samarikand I was told over by the man who ran the Samarikand that there are 17 locations all over Korea and the same family runs them all. The food is authentic and portions are hearty. You can get a giant, flaky pastry bread stuffed with savory lamb (Samsa) for only 3000 won. 2000 won gets you a hearty frisbee sized sesame roll (Lepeshka) and 6,000 won gets you a big bowl of Borsch. The entrees don’t cost all that much either. You can get cabbage rolls stuffed with meat (Golubtsy) for or, my favorite, fried lamb over french fries (Chiz-Biz) for only 7. And you can wash all this down with big Russian beers labeled 3, 6, and 9. Samarikant 02-2277-4261 Directions: Go out Dongdaemun Stadium Station Exit 5 and walk until you see the 광교빌딩 and Woori bank. To the left is the A+ noraebahng, Samarakand is a few buildings before the A+ noraebahng.It is across the street and down an alley. Ask someone on the street. They all know where it is. (Thanks Paul for the update) 영진수산 (Yeong Jin Su San) ...

Recession my ass. For 5,000 won you can usually go into any Korean restaurant and get a feast. This place is called 전남회수산 and it is right down the street from the Institute for Korean Traditional Foods  . If you want to find it just go to Jongno 3-ga (Lines #3,5) exit 7. Walk straight for a block and cross the street. You'll see tanks with fish out frong. The food is good. For lunch I just had the 알 탕 (Al Tang). This is a spicy fish soup that has fish eggs in it. It's great for cold days. Now accompanying this main dish came a plethora of side dishes. We had some grilled mackerel, fried fish cake noodles, kimchi, two pieces of sushi, a spicy turnip kimchi. It's just amazing you can get all this for so little. 영진수산 (Yeong Jin Su San) 02 747 1868 서울시 종로구 묘동 139-1