Hallim Kalguksu in Jeju: Bomal Noodle Soup
On January 20, 2017, blizzards and strong winds battered Jeju. It was a day I experienced a sight I'd never seen before, where even stepping out to take a single photo in front of the ocean required bracing myself. After getting battered by the wind so much, I was craving some hot broth. That's when my older sister found the famous Hallim Kalguksu at Hallim Port on her way back to Seogwipo.
Since bomal (top shell) is their main ingredient, we ordered bomal kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup), bomal juk (porridge), and bomal jeon (pancake). We sat down in the warm room to thaw the chill from our bodies and waited.
Since you can't really find dishes made with bomal and maesaengi (seaweed) in Seoul, I couldn't tell if this was supposed to be good or not. However, the kimchi served as a side dish was delicious, and the ojingeo jeotgal (salted squid) was so incredibly good that I wanted to buy some to take home. The squid was fresh with no fishy smell at all, and it wasn't overly salty. I could easily eat two bowls of rice with just that salted squid. The mumallaengi (dried radish) was also unique—instead of the usual spicy flavor you get in Seoul, it had a soy sauce base. The main dishes are filled with green, so they might not look the most appetizing, but the moment you take a bite, your whole body relaxes. Paired with those top-tier side dishes, our bowls were emptied in no time.
It was a place where the side dishes—especially the salted squid—really stood out in my memory, but it wasn't until I had a maesaengi dish in Seoul that I realized just how delicious this restaurant truly was. The porridge, noodles, and pancake I had at Hallim Kalguksu went down smoothly with a subtle seaweed aroma and zero fishiness. In contrast, the version I ate in Seoul felt like the raw ocean was being shoved straight into my mouth.
If you have a picky, childlike palate, I recommend the bomal juk. I have the taste buds of a kid myself and don't usually like seaweed, but I had absolutely no problem with the porridge. However, if you love the scent of the ocean, I recommend the kalguksu. Of course, no matter what you order, you'll end up finishing every last drop of the broth.