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Fish & Seafood 생선·해산물·회

16 Korean fish and seafood dishes explained — what's in each one, how spicy it is, and how to order it.

Korean seafood meals range from grilled fish set meals to raw fish platters (hoe, 회) at fish markets and seaside towns. At a raw fish restaurant you choose the fish, it is sliced for you, and the meal often ends with a spicy stew (maeuntang) made from the bones.

Good to know

Raw fish is eaten wrapped in lettuce with garlic and chili, dipped in vinegar chili sauce (chogochujang) or soy sauce with wasabi. Many specialities are seasonal: snow crab from the east coast is best from winter to spring, and half-dried saury (gwamegi) from Pohang is a winter dish. Snow crab and some fish are priced by weight — ask before you order.

Quick picks

From our dish notes. Recipes vary, so ask if an ingredient matters to you.

Not spicy

No pork

Questions about seafood dishes

Is Korean hoe the same as sashimi?

Both are sliced raw fish, but in Korea it is often eaten wrapped in lettuce with garlic and chili and dipped in sweet-tangy vinegar chili sauce. Firm white fish such as flatfish (gwangeo) is the favourite.

What is ganjang gejang?

Raw crab marinated in soy sauce. It is nicknamed "rice thief" because you keep eating rice with it — mix rice into the shell with the sauce at the end.

Which seafood dishes are not spicy?

Not spicy: Grilled Mackerel, Grilled Hairtail, Grilled Fish Set Meal, Grilled Eel, Grilled Clams, Assorted Raw Fish, Raw Flatfish, Live Octopus, Soy-marinated Raw Crab, Oyster Rice Soup, Snow Crab, Fermented Skate with Pork and Kimchi, Half-dried Pacific Saury, Sea Squirt.

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