Muslim and Vegetarian Travellers in Sokcho: What's in Each Dish
Visit tips · Sokcho Hangari Mulhoe
Sokcho Hangari Mulhoe, our mulhoe restaurant facing Sokcho Beach (mulhoe is Korean chilled raw-fish soup), has no halal certification. We have no vegetarian menu either: every main dish is a seafood dish. The Red Snow Crab Ramyeon, however, is made with a shop-bought instant ramyeon seasoning packet, which may contain meat. So we can’t tell you our food is halal, and we can’t call ourselves a vegetarian restaurant. What we can do is set out, dish by dish, what goes in and what doesn’t. Whether you can eat it is your decision, made from the ingredients.
What can we tell you if you’re looking for halal food?
We can tell you the ingredients. Whether something is halal depends on the standard you keep, so that’s for you to decide; we won’t make the call on your behalf.
There are no beef, pork or chicken dishes on our menu. The meals we serve are mulhoe, raw-fish rice bowls (hoedeopbap) and bibimbap, hot soups, ojingeo sundae (stuffed squid) and raw squid, and that’s all. The Red Snow Crab Ramyeon, however, is made with a shop-bought instant ramyeon seasoning packet that may contain meat (more on that further down).
Here is the rest. Our special mulhoe broth contains no meat stock. The two seaweed soups (miyeokguk) are made without any added stock, and no other stock goes into the Abalone Porridge or the Kids’ Abalone Porridge. The filling of our ojingeo sundae contains no meat. The seopguk is cooked with gochujang (Korean fermented chilli paste). If you’d like to know what else goes into the seopguk broth, please ask our staff.
We don’t add alcohol such as matsul (a Korean rice cooking wine) to the mulhoe sauce, to the sauces for the hoedeopbap and bibimbap (including chogochujang, a vinegared chilli-paste dressing) or to the side dishes. We do, however, sell soju, beer, corn makgeolli and bokbunja. This article doesn’t cover whether we use separate utensils or a separate cooking area. If that matters to you, please ask our staff before you order.
What goes into each dish?
Our special mulhoe broth isn’t made from meat, and no stock is added to the seaweed soups or the porridges. The table below shows what goes into each dish and what doesn’t; dish names and prices are on our menu page.
| Dish | What goes in, and what doesn’t |
|---|---|
| Mulhoe, 5 kinds (Assorted Mulhoe in Hangari Pot, Sea Cucumber & Abalone, Sea Cucumber, Abalone, Squid) | The special broth contains no meat stock and no anchovy stock; it does contain fruit. The sauce contains no jeotgal (salted fermented seafood), no anchovy fish sauce and no alcohol such as matsul. Topped with raw fish and seafood, and served with noodles and rice. |
| Hoedeopbap and bibimbap, 8 kinds | Rice topped with raw fish or seafood. No jeotgal, anchovy fish sauce or alcohol such as matsul goes into the sauces, chogochujang included. |
| Sea Urchin Seaweed Soup, Crab Tomalley & Abalone Seaweed Soup | No stock added. The Sea Urchin Seaweed Soup contains sea urchin. The Crab Tomalley & Abalone Seaweed Soup contains red snow crab innards and abalone. |
| Abalone Porridge, Kids’ Abalone Porridge | No other stock added. They contain abalone. |
| Seopguk | Cooked with gochujang. Contains seop (wild mussels). |
| Red Snow Crab Ramyeon | Made with shop-bought instant ramyeon and its seasoning packet. The seasoning may contain meat. |
| Ojingeo sundae, Crispy-Griddled Stuffed Squid | The ojingeo sundae filling contains no meat; it is made with squid, egg, rice and so on. The crispy version is ojingeo sundae with the outside griddled until crisp. |
| Side dishes | No alcohol such as matsul added. There is a jeotgal side dish. |
| Alcoholic drinks | We sell soju, beer, corn makgeolli and bokbunja. |
If you don’t eat jeotgal, just leave the jeotgal side dish to one side. If you want to know whether any of the other side dishes contain jeotgal, please ask our staff. I’ve written about our mulhoe broth in Why our mulhoe comes in an earthenware pot, and about how spicy it is in How to eat mulhoe.
What can vegetarians eat here?
That depends on how far your diet goes. If you eat seafood, you’ll have plenty to choose from. If you don’t eat fish or seafood, it’s hard to make a meal of it here.
If you eat seafood (pescatarian)
You can have most of the menu, apart from the Red Snow Crab Ramyeon. Every main dish on our menu is built around seafood. Our special mulhoe broth isn’t made from meat, and there’s no meat stock in the seaweed soups or the porridges either. The ojingeo sundae filling is squid, egg, rice and the like. We don’t recommend the Red Snow Crab Ramyeon if you avoid meat, because its seasoning may contain meat.
If you don’t eat fish or seafood, or you’re vegan
There is no main dish you can eat. The mulhoe broth contains no anchovy stock, but the bowl is topped with raw fish and seafood, and the bibimbap, the soups and the ojingeo sundae all contain seafood too. The only things on our menu without seafood are extra rice, extra noodles, soft drinks and alcoholic drinks.
You could ask us to leave the sea urchin out of the Sea Urchin Seaweed Soup, but we wouldn’t recommend it. Most of what you pay for in that soup is the sea urchin, and we’d honestly tell you that you’re better off not ordering it than having it without.
Does the Red Snow Crab Ramyeon contain meat?
It may. We cook it with red snow crab, shop-bought instant ramyeon and the ramyeon’s own seasoning packet, and we don’t make that seasoning ourselves. Nothing in the dish’s name suggests meat, so if you eat only seafood or avoid meat and choose by the name alone, you could end up eating it without knowing. That’s why I’ve given it a section of its own.
If you’d like something warm, choose one of the seaweed soups or the Abalone Porridge; no stock is added to either. If you’ve come with a child, there’s also the Kids’ Abalone Porridge, which is a children-only dish.
When you order
The ordering tablets on each table work in several languages, including Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese, and every dish has a photo. You can see what’s on top before you order.
We’re happy to leave out an ingredient or bring the sauce separately. Tell our staff, or do it on the tablet. If you have a question this article doesn’t answer, such as whether separate utensils are used, please ask our staff before you order.
I haven’t suggested any other restaurants nearby, because we have no first-hand information about them. We can’t point you to a place as halal or vegetarian when we haven’t checked it ourselves.
If you have a question before you come, you’re welcome to phone us.
033-635-4488 · See the menu · Find us
FAQ
Is your restaurant halal-certified?
No. We have no halal certification. There are no meat dishes on our menu, but the Red Snow Crab Ramyeon is made with a shop-bought instant ramyeon seasoning packet, and that seasoning may contain meat. We don't add alcohol such as cooking wine to the sauces for the mulhoe, hoedeopbap and bibimbap, or to the side dishes, but we do sell soju, beer, corn makgeolli and bokbunja. Please look at the ingredients and decide for yourself.
Is there anchovy stock in the mulhoe broth?
No. Our special mulhoe broth contains no meat stock and no anchovy stock; it does contain fruit. The mulhoe sauce has no jeotgal (salted fermented seafood), no anchovy fish sauce and no alcohol such as cooking wine either. The mulhoe itself, though, is topped with raw fish and seafood.
Do you have a vegetarian menu?
No. Every main dish on our menu contains seafood. If you eat seafood, you can have most of them, apart from the Red Snow Crab Ramyeon. If you don't eat fish or seafood, or you're vegan, we have no main dish that suits you.
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