This post was written in 2006. Shop details and prices may have changed since then.
I went back to Korea for the Chuseok holidays, and as luck would have it there was a gizzard shad meetup at Maknae, a place I used to go to a lot. Really I should have organized a welcome-home meetup myself, but getting one together wasn’t easy. Plus it was Chuseok, so most places were closed anyway.. So I decided to just tag along ^_^;
Sea cucumber.
The freshness is to die for. Perfect with drinks~ The picture quality isn’t great, though.. The downside of bigger photos is that bad image quality really shows..
Prosciutto, brought along by one of the group.
We ate it wrapped around melon, but it looks like I never took a picture of the melon -_-;
They’d even brought organic soy sauce.
And fresh wasabi, too! Respect! I was really happy to share a table with people who’ll go to this much trouble just to enjoy their sashimi.
Gizzard shad sekgosi (thinly sliced, bones and all).
It was nice and plump with fat. Maybe because jeoneo was right at the height of its season, the texture was a work of art.
Today’s contributed wine #1
Despite the name, it’s a California wine. It had a nice bit of body to it.
Contributed wine #2
Very fruity. It’s not a cheap wine, but since it was a contribution I didn’t hold back. ^_^
The sashimi.
From left to right: marami (young yellowtail), jeonbokchi, and gwangeo (flatfish). It melts in your mouth.
The Kubota Manju I contributed.
Nihonshu goes great with sashimi. Kubota Manju in particular is the top of the Kubota line, and true to its junmai daiginjo grade it has no harshness at all, just rolling smoothly over your tongue and down your throat. Superb.
Today’s main event: grilled gizzard shad.
Everything’s delicious, from head to tail. The toasty aroma of the grilling and the golden, fatty belly were enough to whet my appetite just looking at them. But I guess there wasn’t much jeoneo to go around, because we only got one fish each..
Maknae’s signature dish: turban shells + dak-saeu (spiny shrimp).
The turban shell photo seems to have gone missing. All you can see is the shell.. Dak-saeu is delicious every single time! I ate the whole thing, shell and all. Nom nom..
Golbaengi somyeon, made with Dongpyo whelks that someone contributed.
Here it is all mixed up.
We rounded things off with seafood ramyeon.
Seafood ramyeon is supposed to be twice as good when you throw in all the leftover seafood, but there wasn’t much left over today ^_^
For round two we went to Ju Bean, a coffee shop in Yeouido.
It was a fun second round. I’d love to go again ^_^