8 Great Restaurants in Gangneung

Jumunjin Seafood Street, located near Jumunjin Port, has many restaurants serving various seafood dishes such as sliced raw fish, spicy seafood stew (haemul-tang) and braised spicy seafood (haemul-jjim).

Sliced raw squid and cold raw fish soup (mulhoe) are popular during squid season in Gangneung, while moray soup (gomchi guk) is best enjoyed in winter. Steamed eelpout (jangchi-jjim), one of the specialities of Jumunjin, is also a dish you should try when visiting Jumunjin Seafood Street.

Gangneung Jungang Market Food Alley has plenty of stalls selling Korean dishes and snacks. Located in Seongnam-dong, it’s adjacent to Jungang Market, an iconic traditional market. While many people often visit the market for seafood shopping, this food alley is excellent for sampling a wide range of regional dishes.

Delicacies to try include dak gangjeong (sweet-and-sour chicken), ojingeo gangjeong (sweet-and-sour squid), dak kkochi (chicken skewers), kkwabaegi (twisted bread stick), hotteok (sweet Korean pancake), eomuk goroke (fish cake croquette), kalguksu (noodle soup), oksusu-ppang (cornbread) and sikhye (sweet rice punch).

Gyeongpodae Beach has more than 50 raw fish restaurants lining its promenade. You can enjoy fresh seafood dishes overlooking the sea and pine trees.

Some restaurants here specialise in grilled clams and snow crab, and others serve delicious mulhoe (cold raw fish soup) or spicy tofu soup with unlimited side dishes. The area is popular with people of all ages, including young people. You'll find lots of busy and trendy cafés and coffee shops near the beach, where the atmosphere is elegant and exciting.

Sacheon Port Mulhoe Street has many restaurants specialised in raw fish soup (mulhoe), a summer delicacy made with chopped fish and vegetables in a cold sweet-and-sour broth. The taste of broth is the key, with each restaurant offering its own variation. Cold raw squid soup (ojingeo mulhoe) is very popular among locals, but you can also find mulhoe containing sole, flatfish, and sea cucumber.

A special cold raw fish soup made with a combination of various seafoods is also available at some restaurants at the Sacheon Port Mulhoe Street. It's good to eat warm abalone and seaweed soup (jeonbok miyeok guk) or mussel soup (subguk) together with mulhoe.

Yeongjin Jang Port Fish Street is close to a small port that’s located around 10 minutes south of Jumunjin Port. Along the street leading to the port, you’ll find many restaurants offering fresh and raw seafood directly sourced from the East Sea. Most of them are small rustic restaurants that have been around for years, giving you a very local feel.

The formerly secluded Yeongjin Jang Port is known as the filming location of popular K-drama, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God. After your meal, you can walk around the area and check out a beautiful red lighthouse that was featured in the TV series.

Chodang Dubu Village is a long-standing village with dozens of soft tofu restaurants. Made with seawater, Chodang sundubu (soft tofu) has a very soft texture and a light yet savoury taste.

You can find different variations of sundubu at Chodang Dubu Village, including jjamppong sundubu (spicy seafood noodle soup with soft tofu). The name 'Chodang' came from the pen name of Heo Yeop, the father of famous writer and poet Heo Kyun. Locals also believe that he’s the creator of this local dish.

Seongsan Restaurant Street has a cluster of local eateries at the entrance of Daegwallyeong in Seongsan-myeon. It’s most famous for serving daegu meori jjim (braised cod head), which contains bean sprouts, tofu, potatoes and various vegetables and spices.

There are a variety of restaurants specialising in different Korean dishes, including sundaeguk (blood sausage soup), mak-guksu (buckwheat noodles), hwangtae-gui (grilled dried pollack), hanu-gui (grilled beef), duck dishes and pork cutlets.