Eating in Sokcho

Sokcho is a port at the northern end of South Korea's East Sea coast, and much of what you eat here carries a story of people who left the North and rebuilt their food on a sand bar. This page is a guide to following that story at the table. For the city's history, see the Sokcho region page, and for the province, Gangwon.

Abai Village, briefly

VisitKorea says Abai Village in Cheongho-dong was settled by refugees from the Korean War, mostly from Hamgyeong province in the North, and that abai is a Hamgyeong dialect word for a kindly old man or grandfather. The village has changed a great deal, though a few old shacks remain and murals recall the residents' homesickness and hardship. A TV drama filmed there made it a major tourist site, as the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture also records. The restaurant alley serves cold noodles in Hamheung style, stuffed squid and sausage soup. For what those northeastern foods are, read the northern provinces.

Abai-sundae

The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture describes abai-sundae as pig intestine stuffed with sticky rice, sometimes mixed with millet, blood curd, bracken, napa cabbage leaves and bean sprouts, then steamed. It says refugees adapted their hometown's sundae using what they could find in Sokcho. A 2019 Korea Herald food piece adds that it is made with sticky rice rather than the glass noodles common elsewhere, and that the slices are bigger and thicker than the usual sundae. That makes it a good first introduction, even for people who have tried sundae before. Also look for sundae served as a hot soup; see sundaeguk.

Ojingeo-sundae

Squid sundae replaces the intestines with squid, which are abundant in the East Sea. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture describes the Gangwon method: the body stays whole, the innards are removed, and the tentacles are blanched and chopped. They are mixed with drained tofu, bean sprouts, chili, scallion, garlic and egg. The squid is filled about two-thirds full so it will not burst, sealed with a skewer, steamed for roughly twenty minutes, cooled and sliced into rounds about a centimeter thick. The Korea Herald says the version it tried was dipped in egg and pan-fried. Both are valid, so you may see either in a restaurant. See ojingeo.

Mulhoe: the chilled raw-fish bowl

The Korea Herald calls mulhoe, a cold raw-fish soup served with ice, a highly sought-after Sokcho specialty. Its broth is reddish, spicy, sweet, briny and salty at once, and a mix of seafood is common, including white fish, octopus, abalone and conch. Plain noodles often accompany it. It is a good order on a warm day and a useful contrast to the warm, steamed sundae. For handling and ordering raw fish, see preparing hoe and hoe culture, and read food safety at home if you have any condition that makes raw seafood risky.

Fermented fish and pollack

Other refugee foods covered on the region page include gajami-sikhae and salted pollack roe (myeongnan-jeot); both are acquired tastes and suit a small tasting portion. Pollack itself is covered under myeongtae, and its dishes under bugeo-guk.

A simple route

A workable day: sundae and a walk in Abai Village in the morning, mulhoe at lunch, and the raw-fish market at Daepo port in the afternoon, which the region page describes. Hours, ferry operations and which restaurants are open change often, so check local information before you go. For manners see dining etiquette. Just south is Gangneung, and the same province's lake city is Chuncheon.