The unmistakable smell of fish-fry grew stronger as we approached the restaurant famous for its jeonbok (abalone). It was same overpowering smell that conquered our whole apartment whenever my grandmother cooked godeungeo (mackerel) for dinner. As hinted by the several parties lingering outside the entrance, there was quite a wait for a table. But I couldn’t have been happier to wait.
Across the restaurant lied the vast water from which the seafood we had been enjoying throughout the trip had been collected from. Three orange bulbs bobbed up and down in the sea – the unmistakable orange taewak of the legendary haenyeo of Jeju Island. Excited to see them in action, I crossed the black volcanic rock, making it as far as it extended. The haenyeo were making dives to scour the seafloor in search of the jewels of the sea that sustain the lives of so many on the island. While observing them dive and waiting for them to resurface again, the wait for our table expired.
The food was worth the wait as much as the wait was worth the food. Banchan, which included a whole, fried godeungeo that we had anticipated earlier, was served first. The salty and fatty fish fell right off the bone. The jeonbok-gui (grilled abalone) announced its arrival with a loud sizzle. Served on half a shell, each piece was a soft and chewy bite of delicate sea flavor and butter. Jeonbok-bap (abalone rice) cooked in a stone pot completed the meal. Rice had been mixed with jeonbok viscera (much like how it had been prepared for the jeonbok kimbap in my previous post) and cooked with sweet squash, sweet potato, dates, and thinly sliced jeonbok. We scooped the flavorful rice into a separate bowl to enjoy it with our fish and banchan, then poured hot water into the stone pot to turn its leftover contents into nurungji rich in sea flavor.
Yeon Mi Jeong
Address: 14 Saepyeonghang-ro Gujwa-eup Jeju-si
Hours of Operation: Daily 10:00AM~10:00PM (closed on the 3rd Wednesday of the month)
연미정 주소: 제주 제주시 구좌읍 세평항로 14 영업시간: 매일 10:00~22:00 (셋째주 수요일 휴무)
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