Pufferfish in the morning, hagfish at night: a first-time taste experience at a seaside market!
Busan is South Korea's second largest city. While it has a wide range of tourist facilities, its greatest attraction is its markets. The largest of these is Jagalchi Market, located along the coast. Outside the market building is an outer market stretching for about 600 meters, lined with stalls selling seafood.
Around 7am, the colorful parasols open, signaling the opening of the marketplace, and the cheerful voices of shopkeepers negotiating prices with the shopkeepers echo through the streets. This is the vibrant daily life you'll find in a seaside town.
Among the common fish such as mackerel and hairtail, there are also crabs and monkfish, which are considered luxury ingredients in Japan. I found a restaurant with a sign for pufferfish near the market and went in, where they served me a soup made from stewed chunks of pufferfish.
The fluffy flesh is in a richly flavorful broth. "I don't add anything except salt," Ajime says proudly. If you add rice to the remaining broth to make a rice porridge-like dish, it's also delicious! The price of 15,000W, which comes with rice and side dishes, is only possible at a seaside market.
Jagalchi Market also has a nightlife. In the evening, when the parasols are closed, the lights of the food stalls come on. Many of the stalls are gomjangokki (grilled hagfish) stalls, where the vendors pull out hagfish, a deep-sea fish similar to eels, from tanks in front of the stores, prepare them in a spectacular fashion, and grill them over charcoal.
The firm flesh exudes fat as you chew it, giving it a texture similar to beef or pork innards. The local way is to snack on it while slowly sipping soju (Japanese liquor). Before you know it, you'll have spent the whole day at the market and be slightly tipsy on your way home. I want to know more about Busan's markets and the lives of the people.
At the port of Nampo-dong, where Jagalchi Market is located, fishing boats come and go busily. In the evening, the illuminated Busan Tower is beautiful. 
In the street stalls, you can see Ajime preparing fish caught that morning. 
Spicy mentaiko, also known as myeongnanjo, is said to have originated in Busan and was introduced to Japan. 
Many of the hagfish grill stalls are run by Ajime alone. 
Hagfish are chopped up alive and grilled over charcoal, then wrapped in perilla leaves with roasted garlic and ssamjang (ssamjang paste). 
I happened to pop into Onmasonpatchi, a restaurant that serves puffer fish soup. One of the joys of touring the market is going into restaurants following your intuition rather than relying on a guidebook. 
Ongma Songpat (엄마손밥집) / 10, Chungmu-daero276beon-gil, Seo-gu, Busan
