About a month ago, right in the middle of cockle season, we had a cockle shabu-shabu meetup in Noryangjin on a weekend.
Buying the cockles..
If you ask them to clean the shellfish right there on the spot, they will. My expectations kept climbing.
Sea cucumber
Sea cucumber as a starter first. This much freshness is simply a given in Noryangjin.
Salami flown in from Italy
Salami from the home country really is different. There were three kinds, so we could taste them side by side, and the plain salami at the bottom right was the easiest to enjoy.
The bottles people brought
Roughly this kind of lineup turned up. The Japanese shochu Torikai that I brought along was opened last of all, so there is no photo of it. By that point I was no longer in my right mind…
A bowl of cockles
In the end this was not enough… everyone eats so well..
Oysters
The oysters were so sweet that day that they were even better than the cockles. We threw the cockles and the oysters in at the same time and ate like mad.
The broth
We asked Yudal Sikdang to make it for us.
Highland Park 12
It was a one-litre bottle, and it was done for by the end of the day. With this lineup of people, that was only to be expected.
Mochi (juvenile mullet)
A little burnt, but tasty.
As always, we finished up with ramyeon..
The broth the cockles had been swished through was so good that we added three portions of noodles. A thoroughly satisfying meal.
Going to Noryangjin every season to catch whatever is in season is a real pleasure. It is goodbye until next season, though~