Jagalchi Fish Market & Busan Market Tour in Busan with Local Chef

Heeyoung was a fabulous, generous & informative guide. So happy to share her knowledge & love for food and South Korea. if anyone is on the fence about taking this tour, just do it! Such an enjoyable experience, foods we may not have tried or come across had we not taken this fabulous adventure with Heeyoung.

Love this foodtour. Heeyoung was amazing, told us so many great information. We had a tour through the fishmarket and through the biff foodsquare. She told us where to eat. Totally recommend this tour

We took a food tour with local chef Hee-young and can fully recommend it. We learned so much about South Korea, Korean ingredients and food. W also tried some delious local things like fresh octopus (San-nakji), fish cake (Eomuk), fried pancacke (Hotteok) and multi grain powder milkshake (misugaru).

Chef Heeyoung has been very professional and also close to the group, the tour has been better than I expected. She knows the people of the market and that is a great help to know the reality of the food's culture. I have learned and I have had a very good time! :)

This tour was really educational and delicious! I was happy to learn about Busan food & culture from a native who was very passionate about their hometown. I really appreciated the tour being pretty low key and getting to experience some food that was off the beaten path. I’d recommend this tour to anyone who wants to learn more about Busan’s rich history & food culture.

Really enjoyed the tour, was great to be taken round so the different places by someone with so much knowledge. As well as trying a few things we also got information about some history, culture, as well as details of all the food we walked past in the nether stalls, plus any questions we had. Overall definitely a must for anyone visiting Busan, foodie or not!

Chef Heeyoung provided a very interesting tour. Aside from bringing us around for good food, she shared alot of interesting knowledge on food and the traditional market. My wife and I had a wonderful time during the tour!

My family (2 adults and 2 teenage daughters) met up with Chef Heeyoung at the start of the Jagalchi Markets. Straight away we were able to converse in fluent English, which really enabled our daughters to be engaged with the activity. We took a photo at the I ❤️ Jagalchi sign first and we quickly saw the squid fishing boats, that had little white round lights on them, to attract the squid and octopus! Our first stop was to go through the marketplace, which was a little quieter then normal, due to many vendors still being away due to the Lunar New Year. However, there were still plenty there to show us their produce of fresh (alive) fish, squid, octopus, clams and prawns. I was surprised to learn that there are around 300 different variety of squid, with the port of Busan having many of them. This enable Busan to have fresh Squid all year around! Heeyoung also told us about the history of Busan and the reason why there is a Japanese influence in their food. We then went and tried the Busan speciality of the Fish cakes on a skewer (as seen in many K-drama’s for those interested). It was so yummy to have this steaming hot snack accompanied by a yummy soup as well! After this we went through to a different part of the market (the first and largest market in South Korea) and was introduced to Hotteok. This was a freshly made doughnut type that is deep fried. Once it is nice and brown and crispy, it is sliced in the middle and filled with a filling of different nuts! It was absolutely delicious!!! We went past many fresh food vendors for making kimchi…. Starting from the basic ingredients, such as the dried chillies, the sesame oil, the dried prawns, the chilli powder, the garlic, then the vendors that sold the perfectly boiled ingredients for the various types of kimchi (radish, cabbage, stems, seaweed). One of the street food vendors sold us some chive pancakes and a spicy squid salad….eaten separately or together, it was delicious!!!! Our only regret, was not being able to finish all the food, as we were trying to try so many different foods! It was interesting that her price sign was in both korean & mandarin. We then went into the seafood section of the Jagalchi Markets, where Chef Heeyoung picked us a fresh yellow tailed tuna, octopus, absolute and oysters for the merchant to prepare for us. We had steamed oysters, butter abalone, sashimi tuna and sashimi octopus. We went to the designated “eating” section for the vendor where we waited for our freshly prepared food and was also able to order drinks. I was surprised by how much I loved the fresh squirming octopus sashimi! The octopus was prepared with sesame oil and sesame seeds. The texture of the freshly made Tuna sashimi was also amazing! Firm in texture and delicious when eating with lettuce, chilli paste and garlic, or just as sashimi with wasabi and soy sauce. We also learnt how to do the right quantities for soju and beer bombs! Good to learn from a chef, then from a k-drama! We will go home with new drinking skills!!!! Overall, we had a fantastic tour, as Heeyoung was very knowledgeable and engaging for all of us! I look toward to seeing her in more food documentaries and in the vlogs! Thanks!!!

It was a wonderful experience of traditional markets, with an experienced guide going through the little details with us. The street food was nice to try but i would say having skewers would even be better. For those who are very interested in the seafood market, this is an exceptional way to get to know more about it!

This is a must do tour. Chef Heeyoung knows Busan and the local markets very well. I particularly liked the explanation about the seasonal food, tips on how to cook the different types of fish and seafood and extra recommendations for where to have dinner after the tour.