Sokcho Tourist and Fishery Market

Sokcho's market sits a few minutes from the harbour and does two things at once. Downstairs and along the wet aisles it is a working fish market - crab in season, squid, pollock, flatfish, and the dried and salted products of the east coast, sold to households as much as to visitors. On the covered street above it is a food market, and the thing that made it nationally famous is dakgangjeong: sweet-and-spicy fried chicken from a handful of stalls, one of which has a queue that regularly runs down the street and around the corner. The local dish worth ordering instead is ojingeo sundae - squid stuffed with vegetables, noodles and egg, steamed, sliced into rounds and pan-fried. Sokcho also has a substantial community descended from northern refugees, and abai sundae and other dishes from that tradition are sold here. Cash is still easier at some stalls.

What you actually see

• The wet market - east coast fish, crab and dried products.
• The dakgangjeong queue - the fried chicken the market is known for.
• Ojingeo sundae - stuffed squid, sliced and fried.
• The northern dishes - the refugee-descended food tradition.

When to go

Any season; autumn and winter for crab and squid. Mornings for the fish market, late afternoon and evening for the food street. The chicken queue is shortest before noon.

Honest expectations

The famous chicken stall queue can be an hour, and there are several near-identical stalls without one. Prices for seafood are quoted by weight - agree it before they start cooking. Busy and cramped at weekends.

Nearby

Seoraksan National Park is inland; Sokcho beach and the Abai village ferry are close.