Vegas: Sushi Wa dinner

When it comes to food, there's absolutely no question in my mind that the supreme contender for my utmost favorite thing to put into my face-hole has to be sushi. I love most forms of seafood to begin with, whether it's black-bean coated stone crab at the All-You-Can-Eat Chinese buffet nearby during their seafood special night, or slippery slabs of cold salmon sashimi bedecked with golden orbs of salmon roe upon a bed of steaming hot white rice. I will gladly consume most things you can dredge out of the ocean, though sea cucumber and daebul aren't things I'd eagerly seek out again. Sushi, though, is the kind of food I can eat any day, anywhere. I mean, there's definitely a huge distinction in quality between your typical grocery store ready-made packages of sushi and a legit sushi restaurant, but when you're in a bind there are the occasional lucky finds.  Luckily for us, we weren't resigned to eating sushi pre-packaged in thin plastic containers from the deli section! Sushi Wa is a good bit more out of the way than we would normally dine at, but when Antho and I happened to be in the area, hungry and in need of fuel, Sushi Wa was there so we decided to give it a go. We weren't disappointed! 

We had to have our usual favorites, of course, like the fatty goodness of salmon or the unctuous briny essence of the sea that is uni, but there were some fun new dishes available for the curious consumer to sample, too, like this dish below with tuna and sweet, sticky rice crisped on the outside drizzled with a spicy sauce and a piquant pickled jalapeno to wake up your tastebuds. Everything we tried was tasty and fresh, full of flavor and contrasting textures, like in the fried ice cream! Yes, fried ice cream. I know that's not a novelty to some of you, but it's always an amusing conflict of temperature states and textures to me when I find it on a menu. Overall it was an excellent meal and the only reason we didn't frequent the restaurant when living in Vegas was the fact it was so far removed from us. There's no shortage of delicious places to eat in the city, but if you happen to find yourself out in Henderson this is an excellent option to fill your belly with some quality sushi goodness!  

Vegas: Sushi Twister

When it's time to #TREATYOSELF, to pick out one of your utmost favorite, most luxurious and decadent choices to eat, what would you choose? For me, there's no doubt I'd veer hard into the seafood section, especially towards things like sea urchin, sweet shrimp, salmon, and salmon roe. I'm a sucker for sushi, what can I say? I won't say it's the penultimately perfect food, though it's bite-size portions with their perfectly balanced balls of tender seasoned rice and meticulously sliced servings of succulent fish are definitely getting pretty close to what might entail perfection. Each bite of rich, creamy sea urchin gunkan (or battleship) style sushi floods your palette with that briny essence of the sea and deep umami flavor that makes sea urchin such a decisively loved or hated food for many, much like raw oysters who's texture and flavor I find absolutely enjoyable, despite their resemblance to some kind of awful lung-lump you might hock up during a particularly bad chest infection. Maybe I'm the weird one here, but Antho loves many of the same oddities I do, so perhaps they're not so odd after all.

If the gonads of sea urchin and roe of salmon are too freaky-deaky for you baby, you can always opt for the warm, flaky, oily goodness of grilled eel smothered in a sweet and sticky sauce that compliments its flavor. Not only is the eel cooked, for those who struggle to stick cold slices of raw fish into their maw, but it's also served warm fresh from the grill so it's extra-enjoyable! There's also a ton of different side dishes available, along with "hidden" extras like the fried sweet shrimp heads, which a chef may politely inquire about your interest in prior to dishing it up. I recommend the crispy little craniums, but I've also mowed them down in raw, living form while living in Korea, so it's safe to say I love all things shrimpy. What I'm trying to say here, though, is that Sushi Twister has long been a staple restaurant of mine for sushi in Vegas for a very good reason: their food is good, very good! And consistently, at that! That's a wonderful thing, because there aren't that many restaurants on this side of the Strip offering sushi, let alone quality sushi, so Sushi Twister is a unicorn of sorts. They were the first decent sushi restaurant I ever encountered this side of Eastern, and the chefs have always been extremely pleasant, or at least polite when I interacted with them. This place is a gem, and while I no longer reside within a reasonable distance to visit them, I hope they are able to prosper and dish up these delicious dishes for years to come!

Korea: Simple snacks at home and lessons in simplicity

This may come as something of a surprise to you, but I'm a person who absolutely and utterly adores food. Not only is food a necessary form of fuel to power us through the routine tasks of everyday existence, but it's also a form of entertainment and escape, an art in and of itself. The foods that speak most strongly to each person's soul are going to be as unique to that individual as their thumbprint, due in large part to what they grew up eating but also to the formative food experiences they've had over the years. I know, some of you probably rolled your eyes so hard at the phrase "formative food experiences" that you're reading this sentence through your nostrils. That's fine. I understand your hesitance, the skeptical glare sweeping your eyes. For a lot of people out there, walking around, food is solely fuel and therefore maintains a lowly stasis as something that must be done, not something that should be done, and that's a shame. A formative food experience, however, is a resplendent and unimitable experience, where something simple takes on all new elevation. 

    

Fish was one of these formative food experiences for me. Growing up I was pretty lucky, for a desert dweller, to be blessed with the opportunity to try various kinds of seafood at an early age. I was a pretty adventurous eater from youth, so I was more than happy to mow down mussels or join my dad for a crab leg night at the local buffet, and an obsession with the original Japanese Iron Chef (dubbed over for American television) didn't hurt either. Even so, fish itself wasn't something we ate much of- definitely never was it ever cooked it in our home. It was looked down upon as a diet food, something bland and boring to be breaded and deep fried and only eaten on a whimsical flight of fancy in the form of a filet o'fish on some drunken eve. Plus, there's that notorious smell it's known for releasing, so it just wasn't around much. One fateful day while living in Japan, however, I found myself introduced to a new approach to eating fish- skewered, simply grilled for a long, slow cooking period over charcoal. The skin was crackly, crispy and had that deep, unmistakable charcoal essence while the juices ran down the stick and along my arms. I sat hunched over among the stones at a temple near my home, a festival raging around me, focused on my fish. It was ridiculously affordable, and in the end it changed my approach to fish. Now, any time I confront an unfamiliar type of fish at the market, as I had while living in Korea and found a package of these long iridescent belt fish, I would grill them, simply, with salt. While using a frying pan sorely lacks the charcoal essence, you're still able to get a decent level of crispiness to the skin and the salt brings out the flavor in the fish without burying it in unnecessary extravagance. The method is simply called 塩焼き or shioyaki, salt-grilled. While Korea has taught me to appreciate soups, Japan taught me to enjoy rice and the simple pleasure of a well-seasoned fish.  

And, of course, dessert is always nice, too.

Korea: 짬뽕 Jjampong

짬뽕, or Jjampong is one of those delicious soul-warming foods you never knew you were missing until you try it and realize in shocked horror that you've been sorely lacking something in your life all this time. Typically served with a bright, fiery red broth based on pork or seafood and loaded with a variety of delicious goodies foraged from the waves, it'll cure what ails you whether it's a hangover or homesickness. There are endless varieties and iterations on the dish, some with a white or light colored broth, some with more or less seafoods, some with oysters and some without. As with most foods, the variations tend to be regional as tastes change from region to region, and these differences are highly esteemed and valued in their communities. The dish itself isn't even of Korean origin, it's one of their Korean-Chinese fusion dishes, much like jjajangmyun or tangsuyuk. The Japanese version is Nagasaki-champon, for those familiar with the dish. I was definitely introduced to Champon first, in Japan, by my friend Yuka, but I never associated the two dishes as being one in the same due to the strong differences between the first versions I tried and those I had later on in the US or Korea. Given that's it's one of their Chinese fusion dishes, you can find it at restaurants that cater to that genre of foodstuffs, and it's often exceptionally affordable to boot. For example, I had this meal in Dongdaemun, only a short walk from the train station, and paid less than $5 US for the heaping bowl of sea-filled goodness. Not only did it warm my tired, hungry, homesick soul, but it didn't break the bank, either! Koreans seem to have a pretty good handle on how to make really good food at reasonable prices, and jjampong is a shining example of this ethos. Delicious, full of vegetables, noodles and plenty of healthy protein- but don't mistake this as a health dish, there's tons of fat and sodium to give it all that flavor, too!

 

You don't have to book a trip to Seoul to enjoy jjampong, there's plenty of restaurants that serve it stateside too! You can even find instant noodle versions if you're really craving for it. I definitely recommend trying it fresh, at least once in your life!

I may have been doing some research for my impending return to Vegas... lol!

Korea: Dongdaemun Grilled Fish Alley 동대문생선구이골목

One of my favorite things in all of this great big, beautiful, strange, horrifying, ecclectic world is certain to be the immense and borderline incomprehensible variety of things we can dredge out of the depths of our oceans and waterways. From cute little crustaceans and mollusks filtering particulates out of the water for sustenance, to the big burly beasts lumbering in the deeper reaches of the unknown. Most seafood is something I'm quite resolutely content to devour, whether its completely raw and potentially squirming or cooked until crisp and crackling over charcoal. Luckily, being a peninsula, South Korea has no shortage of delicious options to satiate any seafood fan! 

An especially apt location to find your fix is Noryangjin market, of course, where you can pick out and point out your unwilling dinner while it swims hopelessly in a tank, but if you prefer your food already dead and long detached from consciousness before you interact with it, 동대문생선구이골목, or Dongdaemun grilled fish alley, is going to be your destination of choice. You'll probably catch a whiff of the signature charcoal and fish smell as the fresh catch is thrown atop the grill, one after the next, to fill the aching bellies of the various visitors who filter through the many restaurants lining the small alleyway. If you'd rather have chicken soup, or dog meat stew, those were both available in their own restaurants during my visit, though the dog meat (보신탕 or "Boshintang") may be growing harder to find these days. Obviously, it's a bit of a controversial food, just saying that as of late 2016 it was still very much available and visibly advertised. While this alley might not be at the top of many tourism to-do plans, it's really not a bad option for a delicious and affordable meal with a real taste of South Korean hospitality. My grillmaster was exceptionally friendly and accommodated my foolish over-ordering of fish with patience and a smile. Cheers, my friend. Thanks for an excellent meal! 

And, I mean, what's not to enjoy about piping hot fish fresh off the grill, the grease still sizzling and sputtering from the crispy skin? While I'm not one to be upset by the scent of any fish, I can understand that some people don't necessarily want their house to be perfumed with the pungent scent of fresh mackerel. To each their own. Another benefit to eating here, though, is the smell only lingers on your clothes for a short while. It felt almost like dining in a private home, with the small restaurant I dipped into being empty during the majority of my meal. It was a bit early in the evening yet, though, and the flocks of hungry visitors had yet to really descend upon the area. As was always the case, there were plenty of banchan side dishes to nibble on alongside the main course, and some even danced for me! Dinner and a show, how can you beat that?

Seoul: Octopus Stir-fry and Seafood pancake Street food stall in Dongdaemun

The food in South Korea is bountiful, beautiful, and naturally quite delicious. You have an incredible variety of options for getting fed, too! Not only was South Korea way ahead of the US on the McDonald's delivery service, you can have all sorts of different foods delivered almost anywhere, whether you're beachside, at the park, or fervently studying at the library. This could be in part due to the fact that being a geographically small country makes it easier to ensure delivery to all its corners, and the little scooters used specifically for delivery are deftly able to navigate the winding alleys and side streets of the city. If you're feeling more like going somewhere sit-down, there are the food carts and stalls such as this one where you can get to pick out your food from either a menu or a mountain of ingredients, then wait while it's prepared (or be annoying like I was and hover with a camera). Your food will be made hot and fresh!  It will likely be pretty reasonably priced, too, unless you're silly like me and accidentally over-order and feel obligated to stuff as much of it in as you can. Even so, for the amount of food, it wasn't very expensive at all.

You'll find these little food carts all over Seoul and, presumably, the rest of South Korea, too. I can only vouch for Seoul as that's where I'm familiar with, but given their ubiquitous appearances, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find them all over the country. You can always go to a more enclosed sit down restaurant if you aren't keen on the plastic siding that constitutes the barrier to the outside world.  Personally, I don't mind it, but on extra cold days it might be a challenge to endure the blistering chills creeping in. Luckily your meal starts with a hot bowl of soup, free of charge, or at least mine did. Most meals in Korea will have some form of light soup and various side dishes included unless the main itself is a soup, which makes sense, right? It's a small touch, but a nice one. 

For this meal, I opted for stir-fried octopus with vegetables, and accidentally also ordered a seafood pancake that ended up being massive. Both dishes were good, but could have easily been shared with 2-3 other people, so I walked out quite stuffed. I hate to waste food but I doubt they do take out, and even if they do, my Korean skills were pretty weak and I doubted my ability to relay my request after failing to communicate my order properly already. Chalk it up to live and learn. 

More photos below!

Korea: Mystery sushi

How adventurous are you? Are you willing to eat the unknown, the mysterious, the...uh...crunchy? On this particular evening, I decided to take a leap of faith and purchase an unknown seafood platter at the local market... Living in Hwajeong, I had access to multiple varieties of fresh seafood and fresh markets where all sorts of delicacies from the oceans were made readily available...With so many options available, I felt I absolutely had to experiment and try a few new things, given the ready proximity to the seas that the Korean peninsula offered. There's a mixture of sweet and spicy chili-pepper paste that you will frequently find served alongside Korean raw fish that sets it apart from it's Japanese equivalent, where wasabi and soy sauce may be the regular choice (some fish varieties are served with grated ginger or garlic instead of the wasabi)... trust me, however, when I say that the Korean sauce is exceptionally tasty, with a balance between pungent spicy goodness and sweet, savory smoothness. It's an invigorating way to enjoy the fresh seafood, with the complex flavor profile of the sauce adding to the satisfaction you feel upon completion of your meal. I enjoy most presentations of raw fish, so long as the fish is of good quality. 

This fish was very fresh! It had a beautiful reflective skin and mild fishy flavor that was enjoyable...but I'm the kind of girl who enjoys a good mackerel from time to time, so strong oily fishes aren't something that bother me. I don't fully understand why they were sliced in this specific way, though, as it meant that many of the bites had tiny bones that could potentially revenge the fish's death by stabbing your mouth as you eat. Not that I can blame the vengeful fish spirits...given the size of the cross-sections, the fish themselves are likely not that large, to begin with. I ate a fair portion of it with soy sauce and wasabi before trying the bright red sweet and spicy sauce.  Like I said above, I appreciate most preparations for raw fish as long as the fish is good, but with all the bones to contend with in this batch I found the sweet-spicy chili sauce helped me finish the generous portion.  

Overall, it was pretty good. There's always the chance that my foolish self simply dove headfirst into it raw, when the preferred preparation for this specific fish would have been cooking... but as I don't know, I went for it and was pretty happy. The bones were mildly annoying, but when you're consuming the flesh of little beings sliced up whole you kind of have to expect some degree of anatomy to be involved. I know there are plenty of people out there who can't handle chicken or fish on the bone, and I respect that. The bones were certainly not my favorite part of this meal... 

Live and learn, and try new things!

Until next time~

🐟

XOXO,

NAU

Korea: Simple noms at work and home

Tornado potato!!! These are one of those foods that you see in all the travel blogs and videos espoused as a "must-try" street food... I had walked by a few places that sold it, but never stopped to buy one for myself. Well, lucky for me, one of my amazing coworkers at Fun Caricature grabbed one for me to try while they were out on their lunch break! I think they got the onion flavor? Whatever they chose, it was delicious! To make these pretty looking spirals of spud, they'll take a whole potato and cut it in one go before deep frying it to crispy carbtastic perfection and drenching it in flavored powder fresh out of the fryer. Delicious. It's a bit of a novelty- I mean, it's just a glorified potato chip / french fry hybrid, but you only live once so get you one if you ever get the chance. Live a little. We can always eat more kale tomorrow, right?

 

Of course, a girl can not live by potato alone... though some have tried... so I had to round out my night after getting home with some more carbs- ramen. I gussied it up with some form of crustacean I found at the market, along with soybean sprouts. It's not fancy, for sure, but it was an easy way to stretch my budget and get a little more bang for my buck. Kongnamul, or soybean sprouts, are extremely cheap and fairly healthy. I'd add a heaping amount to any bowl of ramen, so that the bowl was more bean sprouts than noodles! If I had it, I'd toss in an egg, too, and some green onions. Since I had the crustaceans/mollusks here, I opted to skip the egg this time. Not every day living abroad is going to be an epic adventure of hiking a mountain or eating unusual new foods that you picked live out of a tank. Sometimes you just want to go home from work, kick off your shoes, eat some junk food and watch a bad movie. It's okay. This is real life. 

 

Check back next time for more adventures!

🍜

XOXO,

NAU

Korea: Spicy octopus dinner out in Hwajeong

Given that Korea is a peninsula surrounded by the life-teeming waters of the ocean, seafood plays a crucial component in the cuisine. There are countless delicious dishes utilizing this bountiful booty in endless ways, from still squirming sannakji (small octopus) to bubbling cauldrons of seafood stew called maeuntang, to quick dishes like this octopus stirfry. It's a dish I ate several times during my stay in Korea and have since recreated for Antho, who quite enjoyed it too. There are a lot of awesome recipes for it out there on the vast expanses of the internet, but it's always nice to go out and try it in a restaurant! On this evening, Yonie and I went out for a meal together and enjoyed this delicious dish in a restaurant I had walked by hundreds of times without realizing. Even in the suburb of Hwajeong practically every building is multiple stories tall with various shops and restaurants occupying the many rooms within... walk down a hallway and you may find yourself surprised to pass a budaejigae (Army base stew) restaurant, a nail salon, a fashion shop and noodle house before exiting to the other side.  There are simply so many options available, it's really astounding. Personally, I love it. There's absolutely no way I could have tried every single restaurant in the time I was there, even if I ate out every single night of the week. Another mind-boggling thing is how affordable it all is... because of the steep competition there, costs of dining out in restaurants is often less than $10 per person! It can go up depending on the cuisine and the location, of course, as again there's no shortage of options for high-end dining, too, but for a budget diner and aspiring gourmand, South Korea is a wonderland. There's something for everyone, too! Whether you like spicy food or prefer to keep things on the mild side, can't get enough noodles and carbs or are devoutly carnivorous... Even vegans can find some tasty things to eat, though I have to admit that's one particular culinary leaning that doesn't have much traction there just yet. There are temples and places that do serve strictly vegan food but you may have to seek them out specifically, as even seemingly innocuous "safe" things like vegetable banchan will frequently have fish broth or sauce as a base or flavoring component. I'm decidedly omnivorous to the point of eating live shrimp and squirming octopus, so this isn't an issue for me, and I'm in love with the abundance of different dishes that proliferate the Korean dining table. To each their own, though! Make it your own. 

More photos below!

Homemade Sushi Party April 2018

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you might have noticed that Antho and I are both big fans of sushi and seafood in general. I'll eat it while it's still squirming when I can get it, even if that means having to chase my meal down the alleyway (yes, it's happened). 

Here in Vegas we're fortunate enough to have access to a wide array of fresh seafood from a variety of markets, which helps to keep the prices more reasonable (competition, baby). Fresh shipments come in often from all over the globe, so we can find an incredible selection not far from our abode. Many of the markets sell sushi grade fish ready to take home and devour, which is fabulous! As much as we love to eat sushi, our wallets and our budgets can't always swing the cost. The base components, however, aren't that expensive! To make your own sushi at home you'll need:

Sushi rice

Rice vinegar

Sugar

Toasted seaweed

Sushi grade fish (or smoked salmon, imitation crab, whatever floats your boat!)

Bamboo mat

We've made batches with cream cheese and without. Avocado and cucumber are staples for our simple rolls, though, as they add richness and crispness which help to compliment the fish. Salmon is my absolute favorite, while tuna is a classic. We can buy the sushi fish at a nearby market for under $10 for the two, which is a whole lot cheaper than going to a restaurant and ordering a few small pieces of nigiri! We can never just order ala cart and end up spending upwards of $50 for a sushi meal out, while making it at home I can buy several kinds of fish and groceries for the week with the same money. I'll be making bossam (Korean style boiled pork belly) with one of the slabs of pork belly I picked up ($7.50 for a 6" by 10" by 2" hunk cut into thirds, which will make at least 3 meals), pork and shrimp dumplings to make a wonton noodle soup using the shrimp broth (from when I poached the shrimp for sushi, then reserved the shells and boiled again to increase the shrimpy-goodness in the broth), and several other meals. Once you cook up your rice (which I do in my electric pressure cooker by Farberware), you season it with the rice vinegar and sugar (google for the ratios for the amount of rice you're making). Wet your hands before touching the rice (to keep it from sticking) and roll away! If you have a hard time trying to get the pressure right on your rolls, you can always opt to make handrolls or sushi bowls instead! There are so many recipes and videos out there to help guide you on your way, whatever your favorite sushi rolls are! Don't feel intimidated, try giving it a roll!

Korea: Spicy jjampong on the way to Ilsan lake park

Oh, jjampong, what a delightful dish!

It's a spicy soup with seafood and crisp vegetables atop springy, chewy noodles. Served with pickled radish and savoury brown sauce here, it was a warming lunch indeed. This restaurant advertises their flare for spice with these cute posters adorning their walls; 

I mean, look how satisfied he looks despite the sweats! What spice level would you dare? I tried to order the level 3 but the two people I talked to advised against it, and when the cook himself comes out of the kitchen to try to admonish you about your food choices it's probably time to sit back and listen. In the end my soup was plenty spicy, just enough to make my nose and eyes water without being inedible, so I was able to eat the entire bowl with little problem. I do remember my lips burning for a little while afterwards, but that's a reasonable price to pay for the thrill of the heat. I wonder what a level three would have been like...someday I hope to try it, but until then it was a good meal and I enjoyed myself. It gave me plenty energy for the afternoon hike around Ilsan lake park that was to come, and then the ambitious hike back to Hwajeong after that. If you've never had jjampong, I highly recommend it! You can find it in a lot of Korean restaurants in the US, like Island Style or at the food court of Greenland Market here in Las vegas, along with countless restaurants in most large cities. Tiny restaurants like these are all over the place through any suburban area of Seoul and they're one of my favourite things, so I'm always happy when I find places back home that remind me of that experience. It's a special kind of nostalgia, the kind that leaves your lips tingling and your belly full and satisfied. One of the best things about living in South Korea is how affordable the food is- this big bowl of goodness and all the side dishes were only 6,000₩, or roughly 6$US (give or take, depending on exchange rate) with no need for a tip. It was a fully satiating meal and had lots of fresh colourful vegetables and seafood so I'd consider it reasonably nutritious...I mean, it's a lot of carbs and likely a lot of oils too, but probably not the unhealthiest thing you could eat for that sort of value. Most fast food orders cost more than that, after all, and how many veggies are you getting in that typically that aren't deep fried? Suffice to say, I love and miss meals like this, and try to replicate them when I can. So good!

After lunch I made my way to Ilsan lake park, which was only one or two trainstops away from where I was staying at the time. During my first week living there I'd walked back from there to the apartment where I was staying after my guide had to leave for other matters. We'd ridden to the area in her vehicle, so i'd been able to watch the roadside landmarks as we passed through and was able to use those to guide myself back. It was a long walk, over 10 miles, but it felt good and this trip was taken with the intent to recreate that original trek. This time I had a pedometer and map with wifi so I was better equipped than the first time through...yet in the end I found myself getting rather lost... so it's quite a good thing I fueled up with a hearty bowl of jjampong before striking out on my adventure! Ilsan park is beautiful and I highly recommend giving it a visit at any time of year, as it's charms change and evolve with the seasons. There's even a toilet museum. How can you resist that?!

More photos below!

Korea: Noryangjin New Fish Market Fall 2016

Now that I've feasted on the flesh of still squirming shrimp and sampled the infamous slithering octopus tentacles of sannakji once more, it's time I set aside my unease and explore the newest Noryangjin building. In my previous visit to Seoul in 2014, Noryangjin was one of my favourite destinations! It was so raw, quite literally, and seeing so much seafood bubbling in tanks or still twitching it's last throes on the icy tables while the bright-apron-clad aunties climbed up the tanks to wrangle out a massive lobster, crab, or other delicacy was fascinating. The old building, which is still operational next to the new market, has been in it's current location for over 40 years and feels like an established, and invariably older, market.  The new building still offers plenty of seafood, yes...but it's in a much more sterile environment. The floors, while still prone to being slick, are a lacquered linoleum reflecting the bright florescent lights from above. Instead of feeling like a wet market, it's more of a department store gone super fishy. Some people will indubitably prefer this, and I suppose that's okay. I don't despise shopping malls, after all...I can see how the clean, austere, controlled environment and crisp appearance would appeal. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions on the matter, and everyone's tastes are different.  Seoul is a city that strives to perfect itself and strive towards modernisation whenever and wherever possible and their old, established markets are not immune. To me, though, it feels like a shadow of the former market. If I came to Seoul for the very first time and had never visited the older market, maybe I'd have swooned over this one. From what I've read, the new building costs more for the vendors to rent their stalls, which means that their prices are typically higher to account for that, but it's also a sticking point for many of the vendors who site the higher rent as prohibitive. Roughly half the vendors have refused to move into the new building, so the new market still feels a bit unfinished and empty as a result. You'll still find people diligently breaking down fish for various methods of consumption and various uncles and aunties mostly eager to sell their goods (when not in the midst of an afternoon nap, of course), and there are restaurants upstairs you can take your choices to, should you opt to purchase anything while here. If you find yourself in Seoul, check it out and decide for yourself. For now, here are my photos.