Sokcho market mulhoe shop: beer & Cheongha drinking snack, Hwanggeum

Mulhoe from Sokcho Hwanggeum Mulhoe Hoetjip: the Jungang Market takeout for your lodging

The most satisfying thing I carried back to the lodging from Sokcho Jungang Market was the mulhoe from Sokcho Hwanggeum Mulhoe Hoetjip (속초황금물회횟집). When you travel to Sokcho, the real fun is packing up all sorts of things from the market and laying out a feast at your place, right? That day we wandered the market and bought a ton of the things we wanted to eat.

I like raw fish in general, but on trips I especially love a cold, tangy, spicy mulhoe. We brought it back, pulled out beer and Cheongha too, and wow... this goes down way too easily with drinks, haha.

Don't just pack the market's fried chicken (dakgangjeong), bring the mulhoe along too. I really, really recommend it.

Where is Sokcho Hwanggeum Mulhoe Hoetjip?

Sokcho Hwanggeum Mulhoe Hoetjip is at 24 Jungangno 147beon-gil, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do, ground floor, on the main side of Sokcho Jungang Market. It isn't hard to find while you stroll the market, and it was really convenient to pick up along with other Jungang Market food.

You can eat in, but that day we wanted to relax at our lodging, so we ordered takeout. Taking Sokcho raw fish back to your room really feels like a proper trip, haha.

What mulhoe options does Sokcho Hwanggeum Mulhoe Hoetjip have?

There's quite a range of mulhoe here. From the basic Hwanggeum mulhoe to abalone mulhoe, sea cucumber mulhoe, haebok mulhoe with both sea cucumber and abalone,

and even wild squid mulhoe, so you can choose to your taste.

Besides mulhoe, there are these dishes too, so anyone looking for seafood inside Sokcho Jungang Market has plenty of choices.

• Sliced raw fish (hwal-ohoe)
• Hoedeopbap (raw fish rice bowl)
• Abalone porridge
• Maeuntang (spicy fish stew)
• Spicy baby octopus salad and flounder salad (hoemuchim)

How does the mulhoe takeout hold up: still cold at the lodging?

The sauce is prepared cold, so it stayed chilled all the way to the lodging. When I opened it there was still an icy, slushy feel, and I thought, "This is going to be so good," haha.

The fish, vegetables, sauce and buckwheat noodles come packed separately, so it's easy to mix them the way you like right before eating.

Way more fish than I expected

The first thing I liked on opening the mulhoe was that there was no skimping on fish. Some mulhoe is all vegetables with only a few slices of fish, you know?

Here, nearly every spoonful catches some fish, so it was properly satisfying. The fish itself is chewy, and eaten with the cold sauce the texture seems to pop even more.

Crunchy vegetables and flying fish roe: layers of texture

The mulhoe comes with plenty of fresh vegetables. Fish matters in mulhoe, but the texture of the vegetables really matters too, right? Mix the sauce well, then take a big bite with the fish: chewy fish and crunchy vegetables together, so good.

Flying fish roe is added too, and the little pops now and then were great. It's not just one texture; you get several in one bowl, so my chopsticks kept going back.

How is the mulhoe sauce?

The sauce is why I found this mulhoe so good. It's cold and refreshing, but not just sharply spicy and sour; it has real savory depth, so I kept spooning up the broth.

I started by eating mostly fish, then scooped broth with vegetables and fish, then added the buckwheat noodles, haha. It was one dish, but the way I ate it kept changing, which was fun.

Add the buckwheat noodles and it turns into mulhoe naengmyeon

After eating a fair amount of the mulhoe, I added the buckwheat noodles that came with it, and you really have to do this. Mixing the noodles into the cold, tangy, spicy mulhoe broth, I went from eating mostly fish and vegetables at first to something close to mulhoe naengmyeon (cold noodles) by the end.

Save a little fish and eat it with the noodles for even better results. It felt like enjoying mulhoe and a noodle dish in one bowl, so I never got tired of it until the end.

Mulhoe and beer: a crazy good combo, haha

We ate the mulhoe with beer at the lodging. A bite of cold mulhoe followed by a sip of cold beer is just such a great combination.

If you've been eating greasy snacks, a bite of mulhoe suddenly refreshes your whole mouth, so it matched especially well on a day when we'd packed up lots of things from Sokcho Jungang Market. I ate it less as a meal and more as proper drinking food, haha.

Mulhoe goes really well with Cheongha too

It wasn't only beer; we had Cheongha (a clean, light sake) as well, and personally I thought mulhoe and Cheongha was a great pairing too. Add crisp Cheongha to the tangy, cool mulhoe and it feels just right for a drink with raw fish.

If you like raw fish but setting up a full raw fish restaurant spread at your lodging feels like a lot, get mulhoe to go and prepare a beer or a bottle of Cheongha. I really recommend it as a trip dinner.

Lodging feast in Sokcho: market food plus mulhoe

Buy a few things at Sokcho Jungang Market like dakgangjeong, fried snacks and jeon (savory pancakes), then add the mulhoe from Sokcho Hwanggeum Mulhoe Hoetjip, and the feast is complete. You know those days when you're traveling with kids, or you've walked around all day and want to eat comfortably at the lodging in the evening?

Especially since mulhoe doesn't overlap in flavor with the other market foods,

it pairs really well when you eat several dishes together. If you're stuck choosing Sokcho takeout raw fish, I strongly recommend the mulhoe.

How big is the mulhoe portion?

One bowl comes with plenty of vegetables and generous fish, so eaten with other market food it was fine for sharing among several people. If you're the type to spread lots of dishes out at your lodging like we did, a single mulhoe makes the whole table much richer.

And if you add the buckwheat noodles partway through, it gets even more filling, so it worked really well as drinking food and a meal in one.

My honest overall verdict

On this Sokcho trip I took the mulhoe from Sokcho Hwanggeum Mulhoe Hoetjip back to the lodging and ate it with beer and Cheongha, and I really enjoyed it so much. The fish is generous, the vegetables are crunchy, and the icy sauce is tangy and spicy with savory depth, so it's good even on its own, and adding the buckwheat noodles at the end made it perfect to the finish.

It suited beer and Cheongha especially well, so we had a proper trip food session at the lodging, haha.

If you're traveling in Sokcho and looking for Sokcho Jungang Market food, a cool and hearty Sokcho mulhoe restaurant, or a takeout raw fish dish to eat comfortably at your lodging, definitely try Hwanggeum Mulhoe Hoetjip. I think I'll pack it up again on my next Sokcho trip.

• Sokcho Hwanggeum Mulhoe Hoetjip: 24 Jungangno 147beon-gil, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do, ground floor
• Takeout available / reservations available / parking assistance available for dine-in