Seoul: Noryangjin Seafood Market

Ok, ok.  I promise at some point this blog will not be just about food, but the Noryangjin Seafood Market was by far the coolest part of Seoul (and that's saying a lot!)
** Apologies that the videos aren't uploading properly!  Internet is slow here... I'll try to get them up soon :-) **

Also, Shelma and Mike have posted more pictures and a flowery narrative of the same sequence of events.

When we got off the metro, we could immediately see, feel, and smell that we were in the right place.  It just had a really gritty port atmosphere.

We crossed over this railyard/station, stepped over a passed-out drunk, and made our way in to...

The fish market!  

(more after the break)

[Mom, that means you click "Read more >>" to see the rest :0) ]

Which seemed to go on forever.  It was Sunday, so the wholesale portion was closed, and "only" the first row of stalls was open for individuals to come and buy seafood to eat or take home.

A first stroll through the market.

Oh yeah, they had live shark, too.

Yum.  Doing the math, the top row are jumbo shrimp (~12 shrimp per pound) for about US$ 8 per pound.  Not too bad...  I wonder what the big ones at the bottom are, supermegajumbo 3 per pound?!

[VIDEO]

After resolving a brief panic over an ATM giving me a receipt saying I withdrew 200,000 won without actually giving me 200,000 won (eventually resolved by a helpful local and Shelma's Korean skills), we began the process of negotiating for dinner.  Note that Shelma looks like she knows what she's doing, but off camera she kept reminding us: "Just because I know how to speak Korean doesn't mean I know what to do in a fish market!"  :-)  Tensions were high and the troops were hungry, but ultimately we definitely made the right choice.

[VIDEO]

Next step, securing the octopus appetizer. (Mike:  "You eat that thing WHOLE?")

Meanwhile...

After concluding the transaction, Shelma carried the crab (still thrashing) and the octopus (still writhing) to a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the basement where they prepared them both for us, along with some kimchi and other tasty sides

Shelma, making friends with the octopus.

Yum, again.

You might be big and scary, but (now that you're dead) I'm bigger and scarier!  Ummm, yeah, please don't jump off the tray and attack me; you're still pretty scary.

Post-feast carnage.  No one said a word other than "mmmmm" as we voraciously devoured the whole thing.  I'm not sure why we don't use kitchen shears more in the U.S., but they certainly beat the cracker, hammer, and pick method of getting meat out of the crab.

They took what little leftovers we couldn't scrape out of the shell, and made a delicious, crab-flavored rice dish.

Recap:  Hmmm. Whoa!  Yum.  Yum.  Yum.  Ick!  Oh wait, actually, yum.  Big yum.  Rice yum.  The End.