I heard a rumor that a place called Gyeongmi Hyugeso, near Seongsan Ilchulbong on Jeju Island, is famous for its boiled octopus and seafood ramyeon. Seafood ramyeon is something I eat plenty of in Seoul too, so I did wonder whether I really had to eat it on Jeju, but either way it looked like the most approachable restaurant around Seopjikoji for lunch, so I put it on the schedule.
The front entrance
After coming down from Seongsan Ilchulbong, we left the car in the parking lot and walked over to Gyeongmi Hyugeso. It was closer than I expected. Searching on Daum Maps brought the location right up, so finding it wasn’t hard at all.
If you look closely, you can see an octopus swimming around inside the tank.
Inside
It looks shabby, but it seems to be very popular. The place is plastered with autographs and scribbles everywhere.
Sea urchin rice bowl
When I asked the lady what was good that day, she said they had a sea urchin rice bowl, which isn’t on the menu every day. Since I had to pick either the ramyeon or the rice bowl, I went with the rice bowl.
A two-shot with the kimchi
It was a treat to eat a big pile of fresh sea urchin for the first time in ages, but they poured on so much sesame oil that it masked the flavor of the urchin a little. There were far too many sesame seeds as well. Personally I’d season it lightly with soy sauce mixed with wasabi, but that’s probably asking too much on Jeju.
The house specialty, boiled octopus
They boil a live octopus right then and there, so there’s no way it could taste bad. This is exactly what you’d call the taste of the source.
Steamed horned turban
Nice and fresh. It was a shame not to have it with soju. We wrapped up a light lunch like this and left Gyeongmi’s place. I felt a little unsatisfied and thought about having the ramyeon too, but the others talked me out of it so firmly that I never got that far.
Seongsan Ilchulbong seen from below
It really does look better from down here..
Haenyeo coming up from a dive
I struck up a conversation with one of the haenyeo here, and she told me boiled octopus was ten thousand won and I should buy one.. it was fifteen thousand at Kyeongmi’s.. In the end Kyeongmi’s is running its business on octopus the haenyeo catch in the waters off Jeju anyway, so I figured buying here would actually have been the better deal. Next time I’m around here, I should ask a haenyeo to boil the octopus for me directly.
A seaside view
Peaceful.