Jagalchi Market

Went for breakfast since hotel is just a stone throw away. Visited stall 210 and wanted to get a king crab. The owner suggests that we get snow crab(1.6kg)since there is only 2 of us and might not be able to finish the king crab (2.5kg). We are glad that we took his advise and we add on 4 sea urchin, 6 giant cockles, 1 eel. Total cost is about 85 SGD. which we think is value worth. We were brought to the second level where we sit and choose how we wanted the seafood to be cooked. The cooking stall charges a fixed fee per head. The fee depends on your choice of cooking. We paid another $15 for the cooking. Total cost $100 SGD which includes a Korean rice wine. Overall the seafood is fresh and the eel deep fried and season with salt and pepper is something we have not tried before. The texture is chewy, unlike the Japanese teriyaki eel which is soft. Highly suggest to tried the eel.

Jagalchi Fish Market in Nampo district is the biggest seafood market in South Korea. There are hundreds of stalls selling all kinds of fishes, squids, shellfish, seaweeds, and everything else from the sea. It is clean, orderly and has a lively atmosphere. We can buy the fishes and have them cooked for a fee in the restaurants upstairs. We can also go up to the viewing platform on the 7th floor of the building for a panoramic view of the port and the surrounding areas. Personally, it is definitely a place not to miss in Busan.

Jagalchi market is one of the most unique experiences I've ever had. You go in on the first floor, and you see all these vendors. They all sell about the same things, and you choose which vendor you want to buy from. We chose a vendor, and we discussed the prices: 35,000 for the crab and 10,000 for an octopus. There is room to negotiate. We ended up paying 40,000 for both the crab and octopus. The vendors will communicate with you via calculator but it's good to have a translator app on the side in case you have questions. Once you've paid for the seafood (which is live by the way), you go upstairs to get it cooked. The woman asked us how we'd like it cooked, and whe has a menu where you can choose other dishes and drinks. We ordered the seafood pancake on the side. The food is cooked so well. It was so flavorful, and this was hands down my favorite meal on my korea trip. Once you've eaten the crab legs, add rice into the head to make crab rice which is just a flavor bomb. We paid 60,000 for the cooking fee, extra dishes, and drinks. Overall, this is just a unique experience that you have to experience if you're in the area. I will for sure be coming back on my next trip to Korea.

We were looking for some good meal to end our 2025 with a big bang when we come across Mr Chong Gak of stall 183. He is especially friendly and sincere. He speaks English and provides very helpful tips on the way to indulge in his seafood. We picked a king crab of approx 1.8kg, 1 big fish and oysters. He generously threw in a dozen of Canadian scallops and smaller oysters for us. The fish was recommended to be cooked in 3 styles of sashimi, soup and pan fried… the crab was astonishingly fresh and delicious. Restaurant Service staff speaks Chinese well and meets all our requirements. Thank you for a memorable dinner

Came across this stall on level 2 and the owner could speak chinese so it was a very seamless and pleasant experience having our dinner here 🙂 Knowing that we are a little scared about ordering sashimi, she accommodated to us by allowing us to order an even smaller portion to try out 😊 The food came out to be very fresh, even for the ingredients in the stew 😌 Would highly recommend this store!! 🙂 We really enjoyed the whole experience as it could get very overwhelming for some with the amount of options available here 🥶

Such a wonderful experience!! If you love seafood this is a must do in Busan!! We bought from stall 148 he was so kind and friendly! We ate at restaurant 38 and also received amazing service and great cooking!! Would go again in a heart beat!

Jagalchi Market is one of those Busan Things to Do. The seafood market on the ground floor is fun for tourists to explore and take photos of the live wiggly seafood. The upstairs contains all the food stalls and dry seafood vendors. There are about 50 food stalls and seating for thousands. It is built to cater to tourists. We were there for a late lunch/early dinner at about 4pm on a dreary October Thursday, so it was pretty empty. We were hungry and decided to to try a Jagalchi food stall. FWIW, we chose Food Stall No. 9 "Yong Gong" because the old lady seemed nice. We ordered fresh grilled eel and seafood onion pancake, plus drinks. Well, the seafood was fresh (but I always select places where the seafood is supposed to be fresh (unless it is something like a McDonald's filet-o-fish sandwich) and I am rarely disappointed. Any place that sells marginal seafood does not last long. The total price of KRW76,000 was one of our three highest priced meals during our trip. Not outrageous, but we ate at a small seafood restaurant in a back alley near Gwangalli for about the same price and that meal and dining experience was a superb 5*. If comparing the two places, I would only give Jagalchi 3*. But I got a touristy photo proving that I was there, so that counts for something.

There are some local seafood stores outaide the Jagalchi Marjet building, these are more for people to buy seafood for home cooking. The onsode of the Jagalchi market has many seafood stores and you are able to select seafood of your choice and be sent upstairs for cooking (it requires additional cooking fee). The cooking fee is standardised across all kitchen and generally the seafood shop have their recommended one (so you can't really choose which stall to kitchen to cook for you). There is a seating fee of 5000 WON per person; seafood steaming is 10000 WON, other cooking style is 20000 WON. Most seafood store owners can speak soke broken engly, communication isn't too difficult. It was a fun experience to shop around, seeing fresh seafood in a wet market. There are a great selection of local seafood that are often unheard of overseas.