Jeju Jungmun Cutlassfish: Ijoeun Sikdang Review
My friend came down to Jeju on Valentine's Day, so we went out for lunch together. We booked our accommodation in Jungmun (a major tourist hub) and rushed straight to a restaurant. I convinced my friend that since we're in Jeju, we absolutely had to eat either mackerel or galchi (cutlassfish), and we headed to Ijoeun Sikdang, a place I'd been wanting to visit for a while.
Jungmun is one of the top tourist destinations even within Jeju, so there are plenty of great restaurants. There are a few places famous for cutlassfish dishes in particular, and Ijoeun Sikdang had pretty good reviews. With high expectations to see if it lived up to its reputation, we ordered the cutlassfish set meal.
We ordered the set menu consisting of cutlassfish sashimi, braised cutlassfish, and grilled cutlassfish. The sashimi came out first. This was my second time trying cutlassfish sashimi in Jeju; the first time I had it, the fish was dry and stiff, but this restaurant's sashimi was at least moist. Honestly, I'm not really sure about the taste. I don't know much about sashimi in general, but cutlassfish sashimi in particular always makes me tilt my head and wonder, "Why do people come all the way to Jeju just to eat this?"
The braised cutlassfish (jorim) finally came out right around the time we had almost finished the sashimi. I was desperately holding back my craving for soju because I had to drive, but the braised dish made it really hard to resist. Still, I held it in and ate the braised fish with rice, and that's when it felt like the restaurant's true flavors were shining through. Places that aren't good at braising tend to make it just excessively spicy or sweet, but true to its reputation, the umami here was excellent. I don't know if it's the taste of MSG, but it balanced perfectly with the rice, starting an infinite train of eating rice, eating cutlassfish, and eating rice again.
The grilled cutlassfish (gui) came out almost at the same time as the braised dish. If you eat the braised fish for the seasoning and texture, the grilled cutlassfish lets you experience the pure taste and texture of the fish itself. Some restaurants serve a whole cutlassfish, but here they serve two large chunks. You can just grab one per person, and for my taste, the grilled version is definitely better. If it feels a bit bland, you can dip it slightly in the wasabi soy sauce meant for the sashimi; the saltiness kicks in, and before you know it, one whole side of the fish is gone.
The price of 60,000 KRW is a bit of a burden, but it's worth trying at least once. It feels generous because you get to experience various flavors of cutlassfish, and the fish itself isn't some cheap, shriveled-up catch with nothing to eat—it makes you feel like they caught a thick, high-quality fish.
Ah, still, it's a bit of a shame that we went during the day. If I had eaten this for dinner with some soju, this blog post wouldn't have turned out so bland.