Gol-Mok-Jib (literally: Alley House): "Live Octopus....yes....LIVE" Top 5 Page for this destination Seoul Restaurant Tip by jburron

So we were walking down one of the main throughways in Insa-Dong (which is an older part of Seoul near downtown). Then make a right down an alley (well, here they don't call it an alley, it's just a 3-foot-wide street). Then another right and into a little hut-style restaurant.

It's sitting on the floor, but that's ok...I'm in the mood for (Korean) food. Service is pretty prompt and smiling (of course).

Favorite Dish: We start with some sashimi-type food which I recognize from my travels in the east of the country (near Youngdeok and Pohang) but then we get the main dish.

It's literally a dish of water with 15-16 immature octopi (4 of us) lounging and swimming around inside it. (Hint: immature is a good thing....no beaks!) They are basically whole and uncooked (hence the movement). What do you do? Get your chopsticks, grab one of them, dip 'em in some oil & sesame seed mixture then down the hatch! Ya, weird at first (and my fourth one was a real lively one...made a break for it--got out of the bowl and was heading across the table!) but got used to it. Oh ya, and follow with copious amounts of soju.

Here is a vid of 'someone' eating some: barbarian!

The rationalization is that in the wild these things get eaten alive everyday...the difference is I'm doing the eating, not a fish.

Call to order this at least a day in advance, and if you don't show up at your reservation time expect a call from them to ask where the heck you are. Cost for 4 people with 2-3 other dishes and soju: 140,000 won.

Address: Near Jung-no-3(sam)-ga Subway (Lines 1,3,5)
Comparison: more expensive than average
Directions: Jung-no-3(sam)-ga exit near Line 5 and ask around for "Fraser Suites" (1 block away). Facing the entry, go rt down the road, take a rt and then the 2nd rt (Insa-dong 5-gil). The alley elbows right...and it's the second last on the right.
othercontact: cell 82-(0)11-239-5228
Phone: 82-(0)2-732-6989
Price: US$31-40
Rating: 5
Theme: Local