Doljib Sikdang: Jeju Korean Food in Seogwipo
One of my biggest regrets living in Seogwipo (southern Jeju) is the lack of casual or fine dining Korean restaurants that are good for bringing older relatives or families. Even now, I can't think of any place other than Doljib Sikdang, the restaurant I'm writing about today. While thinking about where to have my last meal of 2021 with a friend, I decided to visit Doljib Sikdang because eating their duruchigi (spicy stir-fried pork) felt like the most appropriate choice for the occasion.
Since my friend was visiting Jeju, I felt I had to feed them something the locals eat often before sending them off, so I settled on duruchigi. To be exact, it was the black pork duruchigi set meal. The grilled fish included in the set is imported okdom (tilefish). It's a pretty solid combination, making it a great value for the price.
Personally, I was most curious about the Doljib Rice Thief Set, but I saved that for next time.
As soon as the side dishes came out, our chopsticks started moving busily. With a whole plate of both soy sauce marinated crab and spicy marinated crab proudly served, our bowls of rice were steadily disappearing even before the duruchigi arrived. Right after the side dishes, the duruchigi was placed on a portable stove. A little later, a mugwort pancake came out, and finally, the grilled tilefish. True to a proper set meal, food kept arriving at the table endlessly. It was funny how the little kid in our group would chatter away, only to go completely quiet every time a new dish appeared.
First of all, the side dishes are wonderfully savory and salty, constantly calling for more rice. The marinated crab is especially delicious. They use plump, meaty crabs, so there's plenty to eat—I honestly felt like the crab alone was enough for a full meal.
The main dish, duruchigi, has a great nutty flavor from the addition of soybean paste, which is very typical of Jeju. I thought the kids would be able to eat it too, but the dad diligently deboned the tilefish for them, saying the pork was still too spicy. It's not an incredibly unique or special flavor, but it's a safe, comforting choice to eat with rice—exactly the classic duruchigi taste that comes to mind.
The tilefish is a bit small but has plenty of meat. The only downside was that I couldn't drink soju because I had to drive. Ah, soju is just perfect with this kind of grilled fish. The mugwort pancake is great for filling you up. Since the other dishes tasted so good, I mostly ended up eating the pancake just to balance out the salty flavors.
With a table full of delicious food, both the kids and adults ate hurriedly. It's not the most delicious or unique restaurant in Jeju. It really just feels like a standard home-cooked meal with a slightly larger variety of local Jeju dishes. It's the perfect place to visit when you're traveling with older relatives and don't want to just grab noodles or settle for a simple bowl of soup, but fine dining is too expensive. It's not located in the city center, so accessibility isn't the best, but if you stop by for lunch or dinner while moving between tourist spots, you'll definitely earn some compliments from the elders.