Sokcho Central Market [Sokcho, South Korea]

Headed down to Sokcho over one of the weekends to hit the beach, eat good food and catch some Pokemon before Summer ended. My my what a great time to have been going to Sokcho. The weather was great (said it would rain but didn't) and then I had my fill of good food, Pokemon and also a really nice hotel at half the price. Anyway the main highlight of the trip was going to the Sokcho Central Market as it is a place with amazing food and many people actually make day trips there just to eat, see the beach and then head home.

여름이 끝나기 전 어느 주말에 바다를 보고 맛있는 음식을 먹고 포켓몬을 잡으러 속초에 갔다왔다. 비가 온다고 그랬는데 날씨가 참 좋았고 잘 먹었다 왔다. 근데 속초중앙시장에 맛있는 음식이 많다고 가려고 한다. 속초중앙시장은 다른도시에서 사는 사람이 속초까지 먹으러 갈정도 유명하다. 

If you remember, I mentioned Seed Hoddeok in the post about Busan's night market. Well, Sokcho has one as well! Apparently it's so famous that there's always a snaking queue from the time it opens till the time it closes.

그땐 부산깡통시장의 씨앗호떡이 팔린다고 했지. 속초도 있더라고! 그리고 줄이 엄청 길었다. 가게가 열릴 때부터 닫힐 때까지 줄이 있다고 들었다. 

Another dish that is extremely famous here is the Squid Blood Sausage. It doesn't really make any sense because it's based off the word Blood Sausage of a dish in Korean (Sundae, pronounced Soon-day) and the one in Sokcho is special in which the ingredients isn't wrapped around the skin of a pig's intestine, but wrapped in an entire squid. Hence the name Squid Blood Sausage (Ochingeo sundae, pronounced oh-jing-or soon-day). It's really really nice and it's fried dipped in egg. It makes an extremely delicious snack or even a meal. 

속초에 유명한 음식 중의 하나는 오징어수대다. 다른 곳에서 파는 순대랑 조금 비슷한데 오징어순대는 오징어 한 마리로 껍질이 되는 것이다. 당시에 시켜먹으면 오징어 순대를 계란물에 담그고 굽는다. 

The entire market is really lively and colorful, and you don't actually feel like it's a market, but more like a community of people. There are many different shops selling different things. There are 2 different streets, one selling seafood and wet products, and another street selling food. On top of that, there is also an indoor area where they sell dried food and other products. 

시장이 너무 예쁘고 활발하다. 시장의 느낌도 없고 그냥 고을처럼 생겼다. 다양한 곳을 파는 가게들, 해산물도 팔고, 길거리음식도 판다. 실내 시장도 있는데 대부분 건조식품을 판다.

The entire place is swarmed with people, especially on weekends. As you walk around, you'll smell the sweet aroma of food everywhere. It's definitely a great place to get lunch, as some of the famous food would be the Abai Sundae, Squid Sundae, King Prawns, Fried Crispy Chicken, and some other snacks. There is this shop as well that sells fried vegetable snacks and it's just so good. They're pretty costly at 10 bucks per pack but it's really worth it. I've not found another snack better than the fish skin one nor the seaweed one. Not to mention, they even have it out for people to try so you can eat as much as you want before buying.

어디든지 가도 특히 주말에 사람이 넘나 많다. 돌아다니면서 음식의 향기가 땡긴다. 속초 중앙시장은 아바이순대, 오징어순대, 왕새우, 닭간정, 뭘먹고싶든지 판다. 그리고 튀긴 간식도 파는데 완전 맛있었고 비싸지만 꼭 사야된다고 생각한다. 이거 진짜 다른 도시에서 이정도의 맛있음을 찾을 수가 없다. 시식도 가능하니까 많이 맛보고 사서 가보세요~

This is the snack shop I mentioned!

Another thing that Sokcho is famous for is the Crispy Fried Chicken, or Dakkanjeong (닭간정), which is chicken fried till crispy, then doused in sweet and spicy sauce with peanuts and other condiments. As it got famous throughout the past few years, there are many other shops that started to sell the same thing as well, but this brand right here is the original one. I've tried a few from the other shops and they're nice, but just not as nice as the original.

속초에 처음으로 왔을때 닭간정이 맛있다고 들었는데 그땐 닭간정을 파는 가게가 하나만 있었다. 지금 가다 보니까 엄청 많이 나왔다. 다른 건 다 맛있긴 한데 이 브랜드는 원본거고 제일 맛있더라.

Sokcho may be a tad too far for some people, being all the way up. But it's definitely worth a try to go there to try out the food. Dishes such as the Abai Sundae and Squid Sundae are unique to that area and even in Sokcho you can't find it everywhere, but only at the area near the market. Therefore it's definitely worth the visit, and considering the fact that you can't play Pokemon Go in any other part of Korea other than Ulsan, Sokcho's one of the nicer places to go to. Who knows, you might catch a rare one too!

속초가 멀긴 하지만 갈만하다. 바다 보러 가든지 음식을 먹으러 가든지 포켓몬도 잡으러 가든지 상관없는데 속초에 가게 되면 꼬오오옥! 중앙시장에 가봐야 할듯!