Day Trip to Daebudo: Part I, Dining

Photo Credit: GGTour

While the majority of my Chuseok was spent with relatives and family, I wanted to squeeze in at least one day trip to take advantage of the long holiday.

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My criteria:
1. Avoid the horrendous traffic coming back into the city, so nowhere too far
2. Venture to the west coast, which I haven't had as many opportunities to explore

The answer:
Daebudo

Daebudo Island

Daebudo (the "do" in Daebudo stands for "island") is in Gyeonggi Province, roughly an hour and a half outside of Seoul. Daebudo was an island connected to the inland by the Shihwa Tide Embankment Construction of 1994 and has since then become a popular tourist area, especially in the summer. It's a heavy fishing and farming town, with baby clams and grapes the local specialties.

According to the Information Network Village, 10.660 tons of Daebu grapes are produced every year by about 90% of the village farms. These grapes are different from the ones I grew up with in the States in that they are sweeter and are usually eaten by popping the grape out of its thick peel.

As for the clams, about 1,320 tons of them are collected from the island's huge tidal flats each year. In fact, clam digging is a popular family activity for the many visitors, and tools such as buckets and shovels/small rakes are easily rented. It's a clever (yet still legal) way for parents to put their children to work! The little ones get to dig around in the sand and everyone gets to enjoy fresh seafood.

Daebudo Food

You can't say you've traveled somewhere without having tried the local food. My traveling buddies and I sought out a restaurant that would let us taste these famous baby clams and as much seafood we could get our hands on… we got what we wished for and then some.

We went to a place where the owner apparently brings in seafood he has directly caught! The idea of amazing, fresh seafood was so tantalizing, we decided to go for the biggest course, the "VIP Special". The pictures and description of my meal will give you a great look at how Koreans like to enjoy their seafood.
**For the seafood squeamish, you may want to skip down a few paragraphs.**

The gastronomical adventure kicked off with live shrimp, which are placed in a pot to be steamed and to pick up some salt for flavoring. It was here that I came to the enlightenment that there is a huge difference between frozen and fresh shrimp.

Next, a large metal box completely filled with crabs, clams, mussels, scallops and other sea creatures (some of which I don't even know their names) arrived at our table. As if that wasn't enough protein, the box also included a whole cooked chicken, samgyetang style, and boiled eggs. While we were snacking on the shrimp, the box was left on top of a hot fire in a pit in the middle of the table to steam all the goodness inside.

By the time we made our way through the box, we were already pretty full. However, four more plates were awaiting our taste buds, so we powered through.

Following the metal box of gluttony, as it became known, was a plate of sannakji, or live squid. These are doused with sesame oil and sesame seeds and are still wriggling on the plate. Sannakji is the ultimate delicacy to experiment with texture and prove freshness. If you're able to grab a wild moving piece with your chopsticks and get it into your mouth, you can feel the tentacles stick to your tongue and the way down. Trust me, they taste way better than they sound or look.

Though we really didn't have any more space in our stomachs, a dish of raw fish was then thrust onto our table. The sashimi was meaty and full of flavor, especially when dipped into soy sauce or chogochujang, a sweeter variant of the gochujang pepper paste that is a base ingredient for many Korean dishes.

At this point, we were worried our stomachs might quite literally explode. There were two dishes left in the VIP course of death, and we pleaded for them to bring out only one serving size of each. We wanted to just taste, and not let food go to waste.
The waitress ignored our pleas and brought out the final two dishes: kalguksu, or knife-cut noodles, and mae-un tang, a spicy fish stew. The kalguksu had more of the famous baby clams and the mae-un tang featured our friends from earlier on in the never-ending meal, such as abalone and shrimp.

Not surprisingly, we weren't able to finish these last two. If nothing else, this is one place where you can't complain about portion sizes!

Our two-hour lunch was a good representation of the local town. The fishing culture was more than apparent through the food and indicative of why Daebudo is so popular with Korean tourists.

To digest what felt like the entire sea floor, we headed out to see some sights, including an awesome glass museum and a beautiful ocean view. I'll tell you more about those in my next post! Stay tuned.

About the author by Donna Choi

Born and raised in the States, I came to Seoul in 2009 and have loved living and working in such a high-tech and connected city ever since. I enjoy collecting unique, cute gadgets/items (I have a bread-scented smartphone case!) and traveling around Korea. My personal mission while living in Korea: Try every type of Korean food known to exist.

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