I was craving hamo (pike conger), which is in season in summer, so I went to a place called Namhae Bada that’s supposed to be famous for Namdo-style seafood from the southwest coast. It’s near the Garden Hotel in Mapo, but it barely shows up in searches, so it wasn’t easy to find. From now on, restaurant owners, please pick a name that’s easy to search for… “Namhae Bada” (literally “South Sea”) just doesn’t turn up anything…
The basic spread
The more confident a place is in its ingredients, the simpler the side dishes tend to be. The one in front is deep-fried eel bones. Nice and salty, a great drinking snack…
Croaker (mineo) swim bladder
It was so chewy that I kept picking at it, but it turns out it came out because an order got mixed up… Sorry, sorry…
A trio of sauces
You need these to properly enjoy the fish
Pomfret sashimi
I thought pomfret was something you slice thin and eat in a spicy dressed salad; I’d never seen pomfret cut this thick… Nicely fatty, and the bones were soft enough to chew, so I wolfed it down.
Well-fermented kimchi
They brought this out when we ordered the Spanish mackerel.
Laver
Apparently it’s tasty to put Spanish mackerel and kimchi on the laver and eat it together…
Soy sauce
They gave us a plate of soy sauce too…
Spanish mackerel
Spanish mackerel at its fattiest. People seem to think of it as a cheap fish, but a fish eaten in season with its fat up can’t possibly taste bad. It’s fine on its own, but since the flavor is so mild, it really was better with laver and kimchi.
Cups filled with sake
I brought these from home. I bought them on impulse and never used them. Then again, I don’t think I’ll be drinking much from now on, so who knows when they’ll come out again.
Spanish mackerel jeon
Not as good as croaker jeon, but tasty. Spanish mackerel is mild, so I think it’s better with a bit of seasoning, like in a braised dish.
Geumpungsaengi (a type of grunt)
This fish is supposedly so delicious that it’s nicknamed “the fish you save for your secret lover.” It’s nicely fatty and definitely tasty, but that nickname feels a bit over the top. Same league as the old tale that bokbunja (black raspberry) wine makes a man’s stream strong enough to tip over the chamber pot…
The hamo set
At last it’s time for today’s main event, the hamo. In Japan you dip it lightly in a pickled-plum sauce, but in Korea it’s a bit more elaborate.
Setting up the shabu-shabu pot
Just swish it briefly and eat.
Hamo waiting its turn
A generous portion, too~
They say it’s delicious eaten as a set like this
It has a rough-and-ready deliciousness you can’t get in Japan. The Japanese version is more refined, though. Honestly, hamo is a bit bland, so I think it would have been even better with a tart plum sauce like in Japan.
Seafood ramyeon to finish
The ramyeon is made with the shabu-shabu broth, so the soup is amazing. They said the noodles are potato noodles…
Dessert comes out too, without fail.
Soy milk + agar jelly. Overall a very satisfying place; it’s just a shame it’s so hard to find. If I get the chance, I’d love to come back each season for fish dishes from the south coast.
Then we moved on to Gabenaru, the home ground of our foodie group.
Yubari melon jelly
We shared a Hokkaido specialty that one of our group had gone to some trouble to get hold of. You could really taste Yubari melon. Of course it can’t match an actual melon… Having spent this summer hooked on melons, I found it a little lacking.
Plum juice
I can’t drink coffee, so I tried this, but it was a no-go… Anyway, it looks like there are even more cats now…
Cheesecake vs. face size
LeTAO’s famous cake came out too, but while I was distracted by the cute cats it vanished in a flash and I only got one bite. The taste was excellent… I’ll have to order one next time…