Eating in Jeju: 4 Course 갈치 (Kalchi) Meal
Two months ago, I went to Jeju Island for the annual Fulbright conference to present my research. I stayed a few extra days after the conference to explore the island. Which, of course, means trying different foods as well!
For our first meal after the conference, we decided to stop at a restaurant that specializes in the fish known as 갈치 (kalchi) in Korean, which literally translates to sword fish, but is not the same type of sword fish with the long nose that is more common in restaurant menus in the US. The official name of this fish is the largehead hairtail, and it is a small and long fish shaped like a sword, hence the name in Korean. This fish is a speciality of Jeju Island and this restaurant (which I unfortunately forgot the name of and I didn’t take photographs either of the name of the restaurant!!!) is located in Seogwipo, which is where we stayed.
We had just walked an incredibly long distance, following one of the beautiful Blue Pony trails (officially they are the Jeju Olle trails, but the mascot is a blue pony), which is also the same name of our fabulous AirBnB! The owners, a lovely couple, had walked every single trail, which traverses the entire island and its coasts and their love of walking gave birth to the idea of opening a guesthouse named after what brought them to Jeju Island in the first place. We actually walked from the Blue Pony Guesthouse to the KAL Seogwipo Hotel and were pretty much starving by the time we were ready to eat dinner.
We figured since we had essentially been receiving free food from the conference and since we were so hungry, we decided to splurge on the four-course kalchi meal, which came with kalchi prepared 4 different ways: raw, in soup, stewed, and grilled. This seems like a lot of food to commit too in case we didn’t like the fish, but it turned out to be a really great meal!
First up was raw kalchi (갈치회). I normally don’t like Korean-style sashimi because usually the fish tastes too frozen (as if it was just taken out of the freezer) or the flesh is too firm and chewy. (I generally prefer raw fish that tastes as if it almost melts in my mouth like butter…) While the kalchi was still chewier than I would prefer, the fish definitely tasted extremely fresh and dipping it into the vinegared gochujang (초고추장) made for a perfectly suitable bite.
Shortly after the sashimi arrived, we received the second course: stewed kalchi (갈치조림). The spicy sauce was perfect and the fish was so delicate. Despite thinking that the small long fish would be oily like mackerel, the flesh is more similar to a white fish – meaty and surprisingly substantial. And it also tastes just as good cooked as it does raw!
Third course was kalchi soup (갈치국). This is a traditional Jeju dish and the fish is boiled with some green vegetables and pumpkin (단호박). Compared to the 조림 (stewed dish), it was very bland, so we ended up not appreciating it as much. I would have preferred to have this dish come out second because then we would have eaten a lot more of it. The stewed kalchi and then the next course ended up completing stealing the soup’s thunder sadly…
This is the grilled kalchi (갈치구이). This was everything I could have ever wanted in a fish dish – salty (the kind of salty that is addictive so you go back for bite after bite), crispy (just look at that skin!), and meaty (the white flesh of the fish was just so good). Each bite was perfect and we unanimously agreed that this was the best of the four courses. Simple and delicious, this is fish and kalchi at its best.
I would definitely recommend giving kalchi a try; my partner’s mom in Seoul cooks the fish quite regularly as well! This fish tastes good in so many different preparations as well – raw, stewed, boiled, and grilled – so there is something for everyone! Hopefully I’ll be able to find this restaurant again!
What’s Happening i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve found It positively useful and it has aided me out loads. I hope to contribute & help other users like its aided me. Great job.
1Yay google is my world beater aided me to find this great internet site! .
2Hi there, just was aware of your weblog via Google, and found that it is really informative. I’m going to watch out for brussels. I’ll be grateful in case you proceed this in future. Numerous people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
3Keep up the great work, I read few content on this website and I think that your site is very interesting and has got lots of fantastic information.
4Some really excellent posts on this internet site, appreciate it for contribution.
5It’s really a great and useful piece of information. I am glad that you shared this useful information with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
6This website can be a walk-by for all the info you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll positively discover it.
7Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your web site and in accession capital to assert that I acquire actually enjoyed account your blog posts. Anyway I will be subscribing to your feeds and even I achievement you access consistently fast.
8I’ve learn several excellent stuff here. Definitely price bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how a lot attempt you place to make such a fantastic informative web site.
9I have not checked in here for a while because I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are good quality so I guess I will add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
10It’s actually a nice and useful piece of info. I’m satisfied that you just shared this useful information with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
11Appreciate it for all your efforts that you have put in this. very interesting information.
12Hello, Neat post. There’s a problem together with your site in web explorer, may test this… IE still is the marketplace chief and a large component to other folks will leave out your great writing due to this problem.
13Deference to website author, some good selective information.
14Hi! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.
15I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your site. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Superb work!
16I have recently started a site, the info you provide on this site has helped me tremendously. Thanks for all of your time & work. “The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.” by Mark Twain.
17You are my inspiration , I own few blogs and very sporadically run out from to brand : (.
18wonderful submit, very informative. I’m wondering why the other experts of this sector don’t understand this. You must proceed your writing. I’m confident, you’ve a huge readers’ base already!
19I am impressed with this site, really I am a fan.
20You have brought up a very wonderful details , thankyou for the post.
21My coder is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the costs. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on numerous websites for about a year and am nervous about switching to another platform. I have heard good things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress posts into it? Any kind of help would be really appreciated!
22I got what you mean ,bookmarked, very decent website .
23Perfectly indited content material, appreciate it for information. “In the fight between you and the world, back the world.” by Frank Zappa.
24Wow! Thank you! I permanently wanted to write on my website something like that. Can I take a portion of your post to my website?
25I discovered your weblog web site on google and test a number of of your early posts. Continue to keep up the excellent operate. I just further up your RSS feed to my MSN Information Reader. Looking for forward to studying more from you afterward!…
26You are my inspiration , I have few blogs and very sporadically run out from to post .
27frax swap beats the rest easily
28frax swap handled everything fine
29Hey very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your web site and take the feeds also…I’m happy to find numerous useful info here in the post, we need develop more techniques in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
30moved over to metis bridge
31metis bridge just works for me
32Awsome blog! I am loving it!! Will come back again. I am taking your feeds also.
33Great items from you, man. I’ve take into accout your stuff previous to and you are simply extremely fantastic. I really like what you have received here, certainly like what you are stating and the way in which wherein you assert it. You are making it enjoyable and you still care for to keep it smart. I cant wait to read much more from you. That is actually a great website.
34Thank you, I’ve just been searching for info about this topic for a while and yours is the greatest I have came upon till now. However, what concerning the bottom line? Are you positive about the source?
35It’s truly a nice and useful piece of information. I am glad that you just shared this useful information with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
36I simply could not leave your web site before suggesting that I actually enjoyed the usual info a person provide for your visitors? Is gonna be back continuously to check out new posts.
37Thanks for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such great info being shared freely out there.
38i default to para swap now
39Lovely just what I was searching for.Thanks to the author for taking his time on this one.
40I don’t even understand how I finished up right here, but I believed this publish was once great. I don’t recognize who you are however certainly you’re going to a well-known blogger if you happen to are not already 😉 Cheers!
41Some times its a pain in the ass to read what people wrote but this web site is rattling user friendly! .
42Nice read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing some research on that. And he just bought me lunch because I found it for him smile Therefore let me rephrase that: Thank you for lunch!
43Wohh precisely what I was searching for, thankyou for putting up.
44Very interesting details you have remarked, thanks for posting.
45I went over this internet site and I think you have a lot of wonderful information, saved to favorites (:.
46I went over this site and I conceive you have a lot of fantastic info , saved to fav (:.
47I’ve recently started a web site, the information you provide on this web site has helped me greatly. Thank you for all of your time & work.
48I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I don’t know who you are but definitely you’re going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!
49Hello! Would you mind if I share your blog with my zynga group? There’s a lot of people that I think would really enjoy your content. Please let me know. Cheers
50