Udo abalone restaurant, Sora Festival sidecar trip: Soseom Jeonbok

Soseom Jeonbok on a sidecar trip around Udo Island

Soseom Jeonbok (소섬전복) is an abalone restaurant on Udohaean-gil, known as a real-deal Udo favorite. Udo, the island within an island! I don't go to Udo on every Jeju trip, but this time I did. We rented a sidecar on the island to look around, got hungry, and went looking for a good Udo restaurant.

Most people getting around Udo rent an electric car, but we rode a sidecar where two people sit side by side, and headed to Soseom Jeonbok. The breeze was gentle and the sun was warm. It was a peaceful day.

What are Soseom Jeonbok's interior and sea view like?

Sunlight pours in through the full-height windows, so the inside of Soseom Jeonbok is bright and warm. The view is just stunning.

Fresh green grass, a blue sky, and a sea even bluer than that. It was so beautiful. I have no idea how many times I said "what a view." We kept saying that anything would taste better in a place like this.

You can't help looking outside while you eat. This is an Udo restaurant where you can enjoy a fantastic Udo view with your meal.

Soseom Jeonbok wait times: when to go to avoid a line

We arrived around 4 p.m. during the Udo Sora Festival (conch festival) and got in right away with no wait. There's no break time, so you can eat comfortably even in the late afternoon.

The festival was in full swing, so there were especially many tourists on Udo. Soseom Jeonbok is so well known that I suspect there had been a wait until just before we came. There were lots of leftover traces of meals on the tables that hadn't been cleared yet. Still, going in the late afternoon meant we didn't have to wait, luckily.

Soseom Jeonbok also sells Udo peanuts, hallabong (Jeju mandarin) juice and more. It looked like plenty of people buy some after eating.

What's in the Honryesang set at Soseom Jeonbok?

As the name suggests, Soseom Jeonbok is an abalone restaurant, with a wide range of single dishes and set menus. We ordered the Honryesang set (a wedding-table-style set), which suits two people. You pick two single dishes, and we got one abalone stew + abalone rice and one abalone mulhoe + abalone rice.

Side dishes and pork at Soseom Jeonbok

The side dishes were laid out in no time. My friend diligently cut up the big pieces of pork. The bean sprouts, soy-marinated crab and the rest all had a lovely homemade touch.

The pork, cut into bite-size pieces, was heavenly, even more so with the various sauces. I went in thinking it was an abalone place, but the pork is delicious too!

The table was set in no time! I've feasted a lot since coming to Jeju, but a place with a view this perfect too? Since it was an Udo restaurant we'd found after crossing over to the island, it felt extra special.

The Honryesang set for two includes six pieces of butter-grilled abalone. If you choose single dishes, abalone rice comes with them, so it's a really generous meal. Taste aside, a table made of such healthy ingredients! I felt like I'd properly restored my strength in Jeju.

Abalone mulhoe that won over a mulhoe skeptic

The abalone mulhoe (cold raw-seafood soup) at Soseom Jeonbok is cool and tangy, and packed with seaweed as well as abalone. Abalone mulhoe is surely something you can barely find outside Jeju. The cool-looking presentation really stands out. I'm normally not much of a mulhoe person, but the one here was really good. The abalone and seaweed go well together, and I couldn't stop spooning it up.

Abalone rice with a rich butter aroma

The abalone rice is so good. The abalone, grilled in butter and wonderfully fragrant, is seasoned with seaweed flakes and assorted seasonings, and it's so, so delicious!

Abalone stew with an incredible broth

The hot abalone stew (in an earthenware pot) warmed me up after the strong wind had left me a little chilled. The hearty ingredients like abalone and shrimp were tasty, but the broth was seriously crazy good! I was completely won over by its deep flavor. I kept spooning it up.

Butter-grilled abalone, 3 per person

Butter-grilled abalone is love. The abalone aren't small, either. Three per person was just the right amount. I'm proud of how much good abalone I ate in Jeju, haha.

The abalone stew had big pieces of crab, shrimp and more in it. The abalone in the pot was delicious, and the shrimp, crab and mussels were all fresh and tasty too.

Soseom Jeonbok: the Udo restaurant that kept us until the last ferry

We fished out everything in the pot and drank loads of that wonderful broth. I started with a spoon and ended up just drinking it, haha. To think there's a restaurant on Udo that satisfies this much with such a generous spread. I'll definitely go to Udo whenever I visit Jeju from now on, and Soseom Jeonbok will be the first place I think of when looking for an Udo restaurant.

Any other time, we'd have spent the hours circling Udo in an electric car, but I was so taken with Soseom Jeonbok that I took the last ferry out and didn't really get to sightsee on Udo. Even so, it was a delightful Udo restaurant.

• Address: 1158 Udohaean-gil, Udo-myeon, Jeju-si, Jeju, South Korea
• Hours: 09:00–20:00