Gangjeong Haenyeo's House: Classic Sea Urchin Bibimbap
Walking along the Jeju coast, you can easily spot haenyeo (female divers) going in and out of the water. Although their numbers have decreased lately, they remain an important intangible cultural heritage of Jeju and play a vital role in the island's tourism and gastronomy. Perhaps that's why several seafood restaurants in Jeju use the phrase "Haenyeo's House" in their names.
Among them, Gangjeong Haenyeo's House in southern Jeju, which I'm introducing today, is quite famous. Their sea urchin bibimbap (mixed rice) is especially popular, making it a great spot for a light lunch. For this reason, I drove all the way down to Gangjeong-dong for lunch today.
After a short wait, the side dishes arrived, followed shortly by the sea urchin bibimbap. Before adding the sauce and mixing it up, I took a sniff—it was packed with sea urchin roe, filling the bowl with the scent of the ocean. Once you add the sauce and mix, the sea urchin roe seems to disappear, but with every bite, you get a subtle, lingering taste of sea urchin. Eating it eagerly alongside the mildly seasoned side dishes, the bowl was empty before I knew it.
It was so good that I wanted more, but ordering a second bowl would have been a bit too much. It's a really tricky portion size for my stomach. This seemingly simple bibimbap was so delicious that I had a hard time just getting up and leaving for my next destination.
Gangjeong-dong is a neighborhood that was heavily featured in the news a while back due to controversies over environmental destruction from the naval base and opposition to military facilities. Because of that, there are various protest banners hung up along the way.
Unfortunately, rather than looking at the banners and nodding in agreement, my first thought was just that they looked messy. I don't know much about politics and even less about military affairs, so I don't know whose side is right, but it's true that the road to get lunch looked a bit gloomy.
