How to Eat Mulhoe, Korea's Cold Raw Fish Soup — A First-Timer's Guide

Order mulhoe, Korea’s chilled raw fish soup, for the first time and it arrives as an earthenware pot piled with raw fish, alongside thin noodles and a bowl of rice.

Most people then make the same face. “So… how do I eat this?”

That’s fine. Everyone starts there. There’s no single correct method, but locals in Sokcho follow a particular order. In short: taste a few slices of fish plain, pour the broth and mix gently, add the noodles about halfway through the fish, and finish by stirring rice into the last of the broth. Do it this way and it tastes noticeably better.

Step 1 — Taste the fish before you pour anything

Before adding the broth, eat a few slices of the fish plain. This is the step people skip most often.

It is your only chance to taste the ingredients before the seasoning takes over.

The springiness of abalone, the crunch of sea cucumber, the clean sweetness of white fish are all at their clearest right now. Skip this and pour the broth straight away, and it’s hard to taste what the fish is really like.

Our insistence on wild-caught seafood shows up in these first bites, too. The gap between farmed and wild is most obvious with no sauce at all.

Tip — skip the dipping sauce for these first bites. You’ll pick up the natural sweetness.

Step 2 — Pour the broth and mix gently

Now add the slushy, half-frozen broth.

Don’t dump it in all at once. Pour slowly, moving around the pot, so the ingredients stay in place and get evenly coated.

Then mix so the fish, vegetables and seasoning combine. Mix too hard and the fish breaks up, so think of it as folding rather than stirring.

Take a spoonful of the broth first. That first sip is the highlight of mulhoe.

Sweet, tangy and ice-cold as it goes down, this is when you’ll see what the fuss is about. Taste it properly now, because once the noodles and rice go in, the flavour changes.

Step 3 — Noodles at halftime

Add the thin noodles once you’ve worked through a decent amount of the fish.

It’s a shame to add them at the start. They soak up the broth and bloat, leaving too little to mix the rice into later. About halfway through the fish is ideal.

Noodles soaked in icy broth are a different pleasure from naengmyeon, Korea’s well-known cold noodles. They’re thin enough that the broth flavour comes straight through.

Tip — add only half the noodles at first. Save the rest until just before the rice, and both servings stay springy.

Step 4 — Finish with rice

Stir the rice into whatever broth remains.

Locals call this “completing the mulhoe.” The savoury depth drawn out of the seafood soaks into every grain, and you finish genuinely full.

Save plenty of broth for this last spoonful, right up until the rice goes in. That’s also why we suggested not adding the noodles at the start.

This is also where our earthenware pot earns its keep. An ordinary bowl would be lukewarm by now; thick ceramic keeps that last spoonful of rice cold too.

Everyone has their own version

Like we said, there’s no single right way. Watch our guests and you’ll see:

• Broth-first people — drink lots of broth early, barely any rice. All about the cold.
• Fish-first people — pour only a little broth, eat it almost like a salad, then add more later.
• All-in people — dump everything in and mix. Honestly, also fine.
• No-noodle people — plenty of guests skip straight to the rice.

Eat however suits you. Just please do step 1: taste the fish first. Get that right and you’re halfway there.

Common questions

Is it spicy?

Ours is on the spicy side. It isn’t a mild dish. That said, it won’t hurt your tongue, and unless you really can’t handle chilli, you’ll most likely enjoy it.

Think of it as sweet-tangy first, with warmth arriving gently behind it. If you’re still worried, we also have non-spicy dishes like abalone porridge and sea urchin seaweed soup.

Can children eat it?

We don’t recommend mulhoe for children because of the spice. Instead there’s kids’ abalone porridge (8,000 KRW), a lightly seasoned dish for children only.

Non-spicy options include abalone porridge, sea urchin seaweed soup, red snow crab bibimbap and stuffed squid. Look for the “kid-friendly” badge on the menu. See also travelling in Sokcho with children and our FAQ.

Do you serve it in winter?

Yes — mulhoe is a year-round dish. Many regulars insist winter mulhoe in a warm room is the best version there is. Fish also carries more fat in winter, which can improve the flavour.

I’m not great with raw fish. Will I be okay?

The broth masks the fishy taste people usually struggle with, so guests who avoid raw fish often do fine here. If you’d still rather ease in, try the red snow crab bibimbap or abalone porridge first, since neither has raw fish.

Can I drink the leftover broth at the end?

Please do. Once the rice is in, finishing the leftover broth is the proper way. Ours is built to finish clean, so it never turns heavy. Hearing “I drank the whole thing” is basically our goal.

Do you do takeaway?

Yes. We pack the fish, vegetables and broth separately so you can combine them at home and keep the texture. Takeaway orders close 30 minutes before we do.

Do ingredients change by season?

They do. We use whatever fish is best at that moment, and during closed fishing seasons some species aren’t available at all. Treat menu photos as examples; we fill the bowl with the best of what came in that day.

After your meal

Head up to our top-floor Sky Stairs viewpoint. The sea and the Sokcho Eye Ferris wheel fit into one frame, and any diner is welcome to go up.

We are right in front of Sokcho Beach, so walk out for a stroll — or a swim in summer.

Curious where the dish came from? Read the history of mulhoe. Knowing the story changes how it tastes.

See the menu · Directions

Enjoy your meal.