Busan Trail: Jagalchi Market (자갈치시장)

We only planned for a 3D2N trip in Busan and it was alright, if we stayed for 4D3N, we would have a bit more time to stroll around more places in Busan. Busan is alright, though I must say that I prefer Jeju Island better.

Anyway, the first place we headed to in Busan was the Jagalchi Market (자갈치시장). It’s the largest seafood port in Korea and hence the right place to eat fresh fish and other seafood.

It’s really easy to get there, just take the Busan subway to Jagalchi Station (Line 1), get out from Exit 10, walk straight till you reach the road and then turn right. Thereafter, you will get a whiff of a slight fishy smell and just follow your nose. LOL. You will also start seeing the stalls so just walk wherever you will.

While it’s a seafood market, there is really more fish than anything else. It’s mostly a place for you to see because after all, it’s not like you as a tourist, can buy the fresh fish and bring it back home to wherever you are from.

If you are into sashimi, this is the place to be.

There is an enclosed market space where you can eat sashimi or seafood. We sashimi-ed a fish but I have no idea what fish it is (see picture below) for ₩20,000.

They will amazingly just use their hands to grab a fish from the tank and slice it up for your immediate consumption.

I’m not really into the raw fish/sashimi stuff but I did eat a one of two slices just for the sake of trying. The fish was mostly tasteless but the texture was like that of a jellyfish… firm and chewy. When you bossam it (ie, wrap it with lettuce + sauce + green chilli), it’s really delicious!

The market is not exclusive to fish and there are other things you can sashimi too; just point and check the price first before you agree to anything and sit down.

Some of them can speak Mandarin and do take note that the vendors can be quite pushy but it’s still manageable; just be firm.

One of the stall vendors grabbed an octopus from the tank and put it in my face to try entice me to eat raw octopus but I started running away screaming because the tentacles were coming. LOL. It was really so not funny at that point.

Anyway, we started Busan at Jagalchi Market so we could eat seafood/fish for lunch. We ended up at this shop and got a platter of pan-fried fish.

It doesn’t look like much but those fishes are really delicious! The fish was definitely very fresh. Most of the fishes’ meat are really fine. There was one of the fish where the meat was really smooth. I don’t know which one though… Sorry. LOL.

We also happened to be in Korea when it was strawberry season so…