Jagalchi Fish Market - Largest Seafood Market in Korea @ Busan, South Korea

All these while, our impression of fish market always had been a one floor wet market with a few stalls selling various sea produce. However, everything changed when we made a visit to Jagalchi Market in Busan! It was an eye-opening experience, where we see a 7 floor complex housing fish market, fish restaurants and convention hall in one building in such organised matter!

It is easy to get into Jagalchi Market via Busan vast metro system. In order to get here, take exit 10 at Jagalchi station, walk pass 2 streets then turn right and you shall see a huge 7 floor building standing tall in front of you. There are plenty of roadside stall selling seafood there that probably worth your exploration.

Each floor of the building offers different services and items that depends on your needs:

1F: Live fish market

2F: Raw fish restaurants / dried seafood products store

3F: Jagalchi Cypress Enzyme Spa / Soribada Noraebang (karaoke) / Mangeum Restaurant

4F: Dadohae Korea Restaurant

5F: Oase Seafood Buffet

6F: Oase Convention Hall (Wedding Hall)

7F: Terra Guest House 

Rooftop Sky Terrace (Observation Deck)

We can only say, expect the unexpected at Jagalchi market. There are a variety of seafood here, and some never came across our mind due to our limited knowledge on vast seafood creatures. Most of the sellers are friendly and willing to take time to explain, though at times they may be pushy in getting a sales. After all, it should be tough to stand out among dozens of stalls here.

You know, we were like a small kid that get intriguing by everything inside this building. It is our first times seeing fresh Alaskan crabs, sea urchin, sea squirts (ascidians) and many other sea produces that we failed to name. 

Fret not if you cannot speak Korean as language is never a barrier here. The sellers are so accustomized to the needs of tourists and they can speak excellent English or Chinese. Due to our Chinese appearance, they even greeted us in Chinese! 

Just like any tourists, it is impossible for you to "import" any fresh sea produce back to your country. However, you can purchase it and bring it to the second floor seafood restaurant and the chefs can cook for you for a certain fee. 

Second floor of Jagalchi Market hosted dried seafood produces.

If you really keen on getting some seafood products back to your hometown, this is the place that you should go. 

We were not that keen in spending time here as some of the products can be found in our hometown. Furthermore, we felt it was such a burden to have another 1 or 2kg seafood products in our luggage if we see something that real intrigued us. 

Skip directly to get some treat to our stomach in another section on second floor - the seafood restaurant! 

The restaurant section on the second floor is quite happening during our visit. Mixture of locals and tourists can be seen dining here.

Having no idea which restaurant to choose (almost all of their menu look identical for us), we simply choose a restaurant that we feel comfortable and at least they speak English. 

We thought we ordered a seafood pancake (40000 Korean Won) but it came out as seafood soup. It was not clear that we ordered wrongly or the owner misunderstood us. As language is a barrier, we did not return it and take it as our lunch choice. 

The seafood soup turned out to be delicious. A variety of seafood can be seen inside the soup, including prawns, octopus, crabs, seashells and etc. Overall the soup bears a natural sweet taste that is very delectable. 

Sometimes, life is like this. Not necessarily everything that comes against your odd is bad. It could be a blessing is disguise.

Next, we had the infamous "Live Octopus" (30000 Korean Won). The octopus is so fresh that it is still "moving" upon served to your table. To prepare the fresh octopus, the chef brought a live octopus and immediately turned it to a dish in the kitchen without any cooking.

Technically speaking, the creature is dead but the movement is due to muscles spasm. No worries on the animals cruelty.

It may be very chewy but the sesame oil gave it a pleasant finishing. The feeling of having the "live octopus" was not that eerie compared to what had been described by some youtubers or bloggers. 

Nevertheless, it ain't cheap dining here. The live octopus we had cause a whopping 30,000 Korean Won, and soon we discover having it at Seoul normal market cost us a fraction of it only. Probably Jagalchi market is a tourist destination nowadays.

After the meal, you can choose to have a stroll by the shore side and enjoy a breeze. 

3-4 hours time should be more than enough to explore Jagalchi market, unless you are a seafood geek!