Jejuhayoung (제주하영본점): Jeju Flavors in the Mainland
In South Korea, Jeju Island is the source of premium quality ingredients including black pig, cutlassfish, and a variety of other seafood. It is even home to the Haenyeo, a community of aging female divers who make a livelihood by gathering clams, sea urchin, abalone, seaweed, and many other sea creatures. Amazingly, the Haenyeo don’t use oxygen tanks and can hold their breath for up to 3 minutes at a time.
One of the most popular dishes to eat in Jeju is cutlassfish, which is a type of hairtail. Cutlassfish is a common fish used in a variety of Korean dishes. It can be fried, stewed, braised, or prepared in a soup. Cutlassfish is in season between late-summer and fall months. This fish is characterized by its long, slender body, similar to that of an eel. Not only is it delicious, but the cutlassfish is high in protein and rich in essential amino acids.
At Jejuhayoung, you can taste authentic cutlassfish without having to travel all the way to Jeju. They use silver cutlassfish, which is a larger and more expensive species of cutlassfish. These fishes can grow to one meter in length.
For this visit (July 2021), I came with Annie and her dad. It was my first post-quarantine meal in Korea! Not only was it incredible to eat hot food again after two weeks but I was also excited to try something new.
We ordered the Braised Cutlassfish and Mackerel Set (갈치조림 고등어구이 세트, pronounced Galchi-jorim Godeungeo-gui Set) comes with several side dishes, a filet of grilled Mackerel (Godeungeo-gui), and a generous portion of Braised Cutlassfish (Galchi-jorim). You already know which dish was the star of the show. It was spicy, invigorating, and wholesome. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start my trip.
The exterior is unassuming but clearly a local favorite.
The Braised Cutlassfish and Mackerel Set (갈치조림 고등어구이 세트) is generous. It includes three rice bowls, three sea urchin seaweed soups, white kimchi, cabbage kimchi, soy sauce marinated crab spicy marinated crab, pork katsu, soy sauce marinated shrimp, pickled peppers, seaweed, and garlic.
The seaweed soup is unlike other seaweed soups I’ve had in the past. Upon further research, the sea urchin is actually gathered by the Haenyeo in Jeju!
The soy sauce marinated crab (pictured to the right), spicy marinated crab, and soy sauce marinated shrimp are all interesting delicacies as they are served raw. These dishes are naturally sweet but the marinade gives it salty or spicy flavors. These dishes might seem a little intimidating at first but the best strategy here is to use your teeth to crack the semi-soft shell and draw out the meat.
I’m glad we got this set because both kinds of fish are prepared very differently. On one hand, Grilled Korean Mackerel is oily, salty, and strong. It comes with soy sauce, wasabi, and a lemon slice. Personally, I just prefer a lemon squeeze to balance out the richness.
The Braised Cutlassfish (Galchi-jorim) was fiery . It comes with sliced onion, radish, and potato, all of which have properly soaked up all the flavors of the braising marinade. The main ingredients here are gochujang (red chili paste), gochugaru (red chili flakes), sugar, soy sauce, and minced garlic. The meat of the cutlassfish is white and semi-sweet. There’s a lot of small bones to watch out for but it’s worth the extra work.
[112,000 WON]