Jagalchi Market — Attraction in Busan

View @ Jagalchi Market (부산 자갈치시장). . This the largest seafood market in South Korea, surrounded by the ample waters of the port around Jung-Gu, Busan. . The wet market at the ground floor of Jagalchi Market sells every kind of seafood available; fish, squid, octopus, shrimp / prawns, shellfish (clams, mussels, scallops, abalone), sea snails, crab, and more. . You can bring purchased fresh seafood to the restaurant level of Jagalchi Market, where they will then clean and cook exquisite dishes for you. . Ambience is lively and buzzing. The wet market area is a cacophony of sights and sounds, vendors calling out to passing visitors, customers haggling with stall owners, large displays of seafood flanking the main walking aisle. The restaurant area has the clang of woks and the woosh of flames, with rows of functional modern furnishings in the brightly lit area packed with customers enjoying their meals. Recommend to visit during early hours, or, after the peak meal periods. . Service is enthusiastic and friendly. The wet market vendors will thrust large menus with pictures and English descriptions at you, and are more than pleased to welcome inspection of their fresh seafood. Each stall on the wet market floor is affiliated with a corresponding partner stall on the restaurant level, once you've made a purchase, the wet market vendor will direct you to the partner restaurant stall owner. Here, the chefs will whip up delicious dishes using the cooking style of your choice. They offer recommendations, and orders are served efficiently. I note they clean up quickly too. . Food is Korean cuisine, focused on fresh seafood. You opt for a style of cooking, and the kitchen prepares it on the spot. Very convenient, and a great dining experience. Quality is consistently good, thanks in part to the freshness of the seafood. Most of the restaurants will also serve complimentary Banchan / Side Dishes, and you can order beverages too. Portions are sized for communal group dining and sharing. Prices command a...

This place can be confusing to a newcomer. Here's some background info. There's 2 floors. 1st floor is the live market where you can purchase live seafood by weight and they will assign you to a numbered "stall" (restaurant) upstairs to have it all cooked for you to eat right away for a seating and cooking fee. 2nd floor is all restaurant stalls. You can skip the first floor and pick a numbered restaurant stall and order off a menu instead. 3rd floor is bathrooms

Pretty much all the vendors on the 1st floor sell the same live seafood. Only difference is if you speak their language and they give you a slight discount or you bargain a bit. Various vendors speak Korean, English, Chinese, etc. 2nd floor restaurant stalls all have the same menu and prices (government regulated). So it doesn't really matter which one you choose aside from again, if you speak the language and they give you a deal or you somehow know of their cooking skills. All vendors on 1st and 2nd floor will try to talk to you to get your business

We went straight to the 2nd floor and went with stall 36 since we speak mandarin and the person gave us a deal. Service was good and so was the food. I recommend them. Total was 274000 for 3 people. Seafood is not cheap no matter what country you eat or at, but can be slightly cheaper and is very fresh here. Whole king crabs are popular here. Bonchons are included at all restaurant stalls

I think it's worth checking out once even though good seafood is everywhere in Busan. It's sort of an experience eating at a live market and sitting in a restaurant with a view of the bay. It's a busy place but it's also really big so you should always be able to find a restaurant stall to eat...

Three stars. Why? If you’re reading this then you’re serious about where you travel and how you spend your money.

This place is a tourist trap waiting to pounce on your hard earned money. Is it fresh? Yes. Is it delicious? YES. Will you get ripped off? That depends.

Is Disneyland a rip off? How you answer this question is exactly how you should consider this. Any premium you are paying is simply the price of admission to watching live seafood get chopped into submission.

The vendors all know to keep their mouth shut when one of their fellow stallmates gets a customer. It is a classic case of price anchoring and price fixing, but applied several times a day differently to every single customer.

The vendors speak English to varying degrees (some have very very good English) but they pretend not to unless they feel like doing so will benefit them.

The cost of the seafood is different depending on how they assess you. Our king crab (Russian) was 140,000KRW for 2.6kg and the guy threw in 10 small scallops. Locals will probably pay less, foreigners probably more (as evidenced by another persons review here who spent 200,000 KRW for a similar size).

Once they send the seafood upstairs all bets are off. You might pay for 2lbs of fish but only get a 1/4 of that as sashimi. Did you want the head or other parts as a stew? Probably not. That means you paid for fish that you aren’t gonna eat.

Once upstairs you pay a per-seat charge as well as a fee to cook the seafood, and you can order other dishes as well.

Is it a great experience? Yes. Would I recommend it? Wholeheartedly. But bring your full negotiation A-game....