Why Our Sokcho Mulhoe Comes in an Earthenware Pot

Our name contains the word “hangari”, the Korean earthenware pot. That is because your mulhoe, Korea’s chilled raw fish soup, really does arrive in one. The thick pot holds on to the cold, so the broth stays icy right down to the last spoonful.

Most first-time guests react the same way when it lands on the table. “Wait, what is this?” Then out come the phones. It does look good, but the real reason we use these pots is the temperature.

Why serve mulhoe in an earthenware pot?

Because a thick earthenware pot keeps mulhoe cold right to the last spoonful. Mulhoe is at its best when it is cold, and that first shockingly cool spoonful is a big part of why people eat it.

The problem is that an ordinary bowl cannot hold that cold.

Serve mulhoe in a thin bowl indoors in midsummer and it starts going lukewarm before long. The flaked ice is long gone and the crispness with it. By the time you add the noodles you are eating a different dish.

That is why we use earthenware.

Thick ceramic walls hold on to the cold. We chill the pots in advance and pour in the ice-flaked broth, and the pot holds that chill so the temperature barely rises.

So through the raw fish, through the noodles, and right down to the rice you stir in at the end, it stays as cold as the first bite. It is the part that surprises guests most by the end of the meal.

Heavy, but we won’t give them up

Honestly, these pots are a nuisance. They are much heavier than normal bowls, harder to wash, and they break when dropped. They are hard on our staff’s wrists.

We keep them anyway. Without them it isn’t our mulhoe. The inconvenience is worth it for the moment a guest takes the last spoonful and says, “It’s still cold.”

A broth we spent years getting right

Half of mulhoe is the broth. The other half is the seafood. No matter how good the fish is, get the broth wrong and it isn’t mulhoe.

We hold to three principles.

One: never mask the ingredients. Overpowering seasoning erases the taste of the fish — which would make expensive wild-caught seafood pointless. Sweet-tangy notes lead, then step back so the natural sweetness and texture come forward.

Two: finish clean. It shouldn’t leave your mouth heavy or make you thirsty. Only a clean finish gets people to say, “I finished every drop of the broth.”

Three: spicy, but not punishing. Our mulhoe is on the spicy side. It is not a mild dish. It won’t hurt your tongue, though, and most people enjoy it just fine unless they really can’t handle chilli. Holding that line is trickier than it sounds. If you can’t eat spicy food, we have separate dishes that aren’t spicy, such as abalone porridge and sea urchin roe rice.

Balancing all three took years. We still adjust with the season and the state of the catch.

Why we insist on wild-caught

Our sea cucumber and abalone are wild-caught.

The cost difference is significant. Farmed would be easier and more profitable. We use wild because you can taste it.

Wild sea cucumber has a distinctly firmer, crunchier bite. It keeps its spring, so it holds its own inside the bowl.

Wild abalone gets sweeter the longer you chew. Never tough — chewy in a good way, with a faint sea aroma inside.

Our signature sea cucumber and abalone mulhoe was featured on KBS 2TV’s evening food programme. It is the dish we recommend with the most confidence.

When it isn’t good, we say so

With ingredients like squid, whose catch swings wildly, we don’t push to keep them on the menu. Our fresh-squid dishes (Squid Mulhoe, Squid Hoedeopbap, Raw Squid) are always listed at market price, because the catch and the closed season move the price, and on days when the quality isn’t there we simply don’t sell them.

Guests do ask, “Why not today?” We hear it fairly often. We still think it beats serving something mediocre.

Not selling on days without good ingredients matters as much as selling good ones. It is also how we stay worthy of the fisherman friends who bring us their best catch.

The mix changes with the season

The fish and shellfish in our mulhoe change a little with the seasons.

We use whatever is best right now, and during Korea’s legally mandated closed seasons certain species are simply unavailable to us.

So please treat the photos on this site and on our menu as examples. The same dish in spring and in autumn may be composed a little differently. Whenever you come, we fill your bowl with the best of what’s in season.

Good ingredients, cleanliness, kindness

There is no grand philosophy here. Those three things are all we try to hold to.

Use good ingredients, keep the kitchen clean, treat people well. Obvious, maybe — but doing it every single day is harder than it sounds.

When you visit Sokcho Beach, we’d recommend trying Sokcho mulhoe in an earthenware pot. Afterwards, go up to our top-floor Sky Stairs viewpoint for a photo of the sea.

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New to mulhoe? Read how to eat it properly first.