Sokcho restaurant for a small steamed skate for two: Jungang Sanghoe

Chuseok holiday is coming up! How about a trip to Sokcho, Gangwon? One dish you have to eat when you're in Gangwon — steamed skate.

I've been to all kinds of famous restaurants — places I called 500 times to book, places I waited from the morning for — but this is the first time I've eaten two whole bowls of rice. This is a spot already famous among Sokcho locals.

Sokcho Jungang Sanghoe

📍Location: 28 Jungang-ro 121beon-gil, Sokcho, Gangwon, South Korea — 1st floor, Centum Mark building, Sokcho Jungang Market ⏰Hours: 10:00 – 21:00 / Break time 16:00 – 17:00 / Last order 1 hour before closing 🚘Free parking in the building's basement

Where is Sokcho Jungang Sanghoe, and how close is it to Sokcho Jungang Market?

Sokcho Jungang Sanghoe sits right near Sokcho Jungang Market. You're basically always going to visit the market when you're in Sokcho, right?! It's in the Centum Mark building right next to the market, so it's super super easy to find, and the building itself is clean and pleasant — good good!!!!!!

There's a waiting area too, so it's easy to visit without stress! Perfect timing to stop by when you're heading to the market!!!! I went to the market after eating, and being full meant I didn't overspend hahahahahahaha

Inside Sokcho Jungang Sanghoe: atmosphere and group rooms

The inside of Sokcho Jungang Sanghoe is also really spacious and clean. There's group seating for 8–40 people, and the spaces are well divided so you can eat privately!! The warm lighting on top of that is such a good feeling...♡ Is this seriously a newly built building right next to the market?

The menu: Gao Han-sang and Guo Han-sang sets

Sokcho Jungang Sanghoe uses a table-side tablet ordering system!!! Steamed skate and stir-fried squid seem to be the famous dishes, and there's a Gao Han-sang set where both come together!! There's also a Guo Han-sang set with grilled fish and stir-fried squid!! Order whichever fits your taste.

Do check out the Sokcho Jungang Sanghoe menu! Along with steamed skate and stir-fried squid, there are tons of delicious options like grilled fish and braised king hairtail!!! They also sell bokbunja, so it seems like a great place to enjoy a drink with your meal!!!

Is the small Pro Steamed Skate enough for two?

I'm a steamed skate lover, so I ordered the pro steamed skate (small). For two people, that size was exactly right! Apparently skate is served by weight rather than by piece!!!!!

Side dishes, raw seaweed, and how to finish two bowls of rice

The side dishes come out neat and tidy. They gave us raw seaweed, which I really appreciated... and wasabi soy sauce on top of that — they really know what they're doing. You mix rice into the steamed skate sauce, add some skate meat, throw in bean sprouts, then wrap it all up in seaweed and eat it. Mix the bean sprouts into the sauce too!! This is exactly how you end up eating two bowls of rice...

Seaweed soup with octopus

And there's also a seaweed soup with octopus in it!!! It was genuinely refreshing, clear, and delicious. It really cleanses your palate between bites, and even after finishing everything I ended up just scooping up the seaweed soup at the end hahahahahahahahaha. This place is a seaweed soup spot too.....

How spicy is the steamed skate? Can you handle it?

The moment the pro steamed skate (small) arrived, a spicy-sharp sauce smell hit my nose immediately!!!!! The sauce isn't too sweet or too spicy — more like a clean, perfectly balanced sweet-and-spicy? For me, a spice lover, it was total rice-thief sauce, so I mixed it into rice and ate two bowls, and even the spice wimps at the table were going 'hoo hoo hah hah' while saying it was deliciously spicy and eating happily!

The skate meat is completely tender and comes off the bone so easily... it's genuinely so good that I want to eat it again just writing this;;;; At first I wondered if the portion looked a bit small, but the meat was so plump and generous that I ended up completely full. Don't doubt it, just try it...

Don't skip the corn noodles

Mixing in bean sprouts and corn noodles makes it completely completely completely delicious... the corn noodles were honestly a hidden gem!!! How did they even think of this... you can add extra corn noodles, and there's a review event going on too, so make sure to try the noodles as well!!!

Is Sokcho Jungang Sanghoe worth a visit?

The restrooms inside the building are clean too, so if you're heading to Sokcho Jungang Market, I recommend grabbing a meal here first! The place is spacious and comfortable, and the owner was super friendly, so I left feeling really good about the whole meal^___^