Under the sea, atop your table - Korean seafood feast
-by Brad Lewis, CKC guest blogger
You know it’s going to be an interesting dinner when you’re about to enter the restaurant and pause, eyebrow raised, glancing around entrance saying, “Did we go to the wrong place? I think this is the aquarium.” If you like seafood, and you like it fresh, you’d make a good Korean. This adventurous meal was the culinary equivalent of Finding Nemo in 4D. Better be ready to plunge in!
Like a magical snorkeling reef, right from the starters my eyes were transfixed by the colorful assortment of seafood bites, including full bodied crustaceans, pieces of crab, jumbo shrimp, sea snails (including shells if you’re a collector), tube worm-like things (to be scientifically precise) and various assorted little sides, including squash and peanuts (why not??). Ok, now what? My thoughts exactly. Well, take up your chopsticks, or toothpick (also provided) and spear something! This is only warm-up after all. So, I went for the shrimp first, which demands a low-skill ripping-the-head-off maneuver.
I had to get more coached to tackle the crawfish creatures. The snail-like shellfish was a little hard to extract (for an utter novice) but tastier than your garden variety snail (I imagine). Good thing we had some Korean fruity wine to take the barnacle-ly edge off.
Oh, and as if the already mentioned appetizers were not were not enough, there were warm bowls of abalone congee (like porridge) and the supremely tasty pumpkin pancake. No maple syrup though – darn.
Then the main course. What there’s more?! Indeed. Much more. The main event was large platters of elegantly presented white fish sashimi, sliced perfectly. It was cool, fresh - not “fishy” in taste at all.
Leave that to the grilled croaker served as a side. Nice salty flavor.
And then the side of all sides – the quad plate of assorted raw sea creatures: sea cucumber, abalone, sea worms of some sort, and sea squirt. For texture sensitive folks like me, this was the test. I sampled them all. No backing down.
And finally, the most electrifying part of the meal (no not an eel) – a plate of wriggling, very much alive-looking, bite-sized pieces of small octopus was presented. The nervous system still kicking, this made for a true chopstick skill test! Don’t forget to eat with your mouth closed on this one, either. Don’t want an escapee. Yum! Just like calamari, except raw and right from the tank.
(Watch me eating live octopus here.)
