Noryangjin fish market (or Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market) in Seoul recently seems to have been put on the map by foodies youtubers like Mark Wiens and Luke Martin. I decided to test it. This review is illustrative of the situation in July 2019.
The visit
Getting to Noryangjin may seem super easy as there is a metro station with the same name. WRONG! Yes, you have to get to Noryangjin station, then you might be tempted to cross the rail tracks using the pedestrian overpass pictured above. That does not work anymore.
As the pictures above show, if you take the overpass, you will end on the rooftop of the old market building where at the time of posting some vendors are still barricaded. Avoid this way for your own safety (the main problem is the trash everywhere).
Rather, go to street level and follow the track until you will encounter an underpass (above the entrance from the market) with signage indicating the market.
The first floor and part of the second floor are of course packed with vendors.
Octopus, crabs, lobsters, prawns, you name it… are on display.
Sashimi is available everywhere. I am just not sure about the freshness of the pre-assembled set of sashimi. I went during a weekday and there was really little business going on with retail buyers like me.
Eventually I bought a couple of inexpensive items from a vendor to test the restaurant system. One was the sea pineapple pictured above. Then I added some wild prawns.
Then the vendor matched me with her preferred restaurant (on the second floor). The restaurants will clean and cook the fish for you and will provide you with a comfortable environment for your feast.
They like to display messages signed by happy customers.
My prawns were quickly grilled and were very good.
The sea pineapple had a weird flavor. I left it.
I shall also mention that on the second floor there were a couple of full-fledged restaurants, but they did not seem to be particularly interesting.
The check
I spent 14,000 WON for the seafood and 13,000 WON for the cooking (see check above): around 22 USD. The cooking fee did not seem right. I have the impression they overcharged me and I have the following advice for you:
- Take pictures of what you wish to eat.
- Go to a restaurant or two to get a quotation for the cooking service before buying anything.
- Buy what you need and go to your selected restaurant.
If I go back, I would definitely avoid the restaurants indicated by the seafood vendor. It is clear that there is collusion and part of what you pay to the restaurant goes back to the vendors’ pocket as a commission.
Where in Seoul:
674 Nodeul-ro, Noryangjin-dong, Dongjak-gu.