Sweet pumpkin sikhye and low-salt pollock roe at Sokcho Market

Fresh hot rice with a piece of pollock roe drizzled in sesame oil, mixed right in... I don't usually go for jeotgal (salted seafood), but pollock roe is different! I headed to "Hwangbuja Jeotgal," a salted seafood favorite at Sokcho's Jungang Market.

Hwangbuja Jeotgal location and parking (voucher over ₩15,000)

🏡 Address: 강원특별자치도 속초시 중앙로147번길 16 속초관광수산시장 27호

Park at the Sokcho Tourist and Fisheries Market parking lot across from Sokcho Jungang Market, and Hwangbuja Jeotgal will give you a 30-minute parking voucher with any purchase over ₩15,000. The 30-minute fee is only ₩400, and it's the closest lot, so I highly recommend it. Since the shop is run together with Hwangbuja Twigim, it's much bigger than neighboring stalls, which made it easier to find.

⏰️ Hours: Daily 08:00–20:30

The owner of Hwangbuja Jeotgal, a salted seafood favorite at Sokcho Jungang Market, moving briskly and packing orders fast!

Tasting jeotgal and choosing pollock roe — top grade vs. scraps

Hwangbuja Jeotgal is basically the whole universe of jeotgal, with such a huge variety! There were so many kinds that the owner happily brought out samples for tasting, so I got to try everything from octopus jeotgal to several other types. It was great.

There were many kinds of pollock roe (myeongnanjeot) — top-grade for gifting, regular grade, and the scraps (paji) that I bought. The taste is the same, and since I was planning to portion and freeze it at home anyway, I chose the scrap pollock roe. The color was identical, just a mix of large and medium sizes with some slightly split(?) pieces — but seeing it in person, it was really just minor nicks, so I picked the scraps without hesitation.

Sokcho Jungang Market snacks: pumpkin sikhye

Hwangbuja Jeotgal also sells sikhye (sweet rice punch), so I bought one pumpkin sikhye and one regular sikhye each. Drinking them while taking a break from wandering Sokcho Jungang Market's food stalls was pure bliss.

Deep pumpkin flavor!! Not sugary-sweet like sugar, but genuinely tasting of pumpkin's natural sweetness — a drink I couldn't stop sipping. I kind of wished I'd bought two pumpkin sikhyes instead of one regular one, but I consoled myself with the thought that next time I visit Sokcho, I'll get the large-size pumpkin sikhye haha.

Traditional drinks born from our ancestors' wisdom seem to get more appealing and easier to drink as you age. That's probably why they've been passed down for generations~~~

How was the packaging on the white pollock roe?

It was tied and packed so tightly that there was zero smell and nothing leaked, arriving home in perfect condition. Since I couldn't portion it right away when I got home, I put it straight in the freezer, so there are some white frost marks in the photos — please just take those as a reference.

Portioning the low-salt pollock roe & eating it

About two hours after taking it out of the freezer, I started portioning. I cut it into bite-size pieces and packed them into small side dish containers, then put them back in the freezer! Portioning like this makes it easy to grab and eat, so it doesn't get pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten.

Being low-salt makes it especially versatile!

• For pollock roe cream pasta
• As a side dish with rice
• For rolling gimbap

Portioned to use in all sorts of ways~~

I drizzled on fragrant countryside sesame oil. While the rice was cooking, I couldn't resist tasting it — true to being low-salt, it wasn't salty at all, and the flavor was outstanding.

This is why people crave pollock roe!

I put a piece of sesame-oil pollock roe on top of steaming hot rice, and my mouth watered instantly. All jeotgal is salty by nature, but Sokcho Hwangbuja Jeotgal's low-salt pollock roe had just the right seasoning — not too salty at all, and perfect as a rice side dish. I really liked it. Actually, "satisfied" is probably more accurate. Even after piling my dinner rice with pollock roe, I still wanted more. There's a pleasant saltiness lingering on my lips even now haha.

Final thoughts

If you travel to Sokcho, buy the pumpkin sikhye in the large bottle haha, and get the pollock roe scraps. Skip these and you'll regret it. You can order by delivery, but since you're already visiting Sokcho, stopping by Sokcho Jungang Market and picking things out in person at Hwangbuja Jeotgal seems like the better way to go. Adding this to my must-revisit list!!