14 Jeju Food Ranked!

Let's talk about my favourite topic ... Food!

Here is the collection of food we tasted in Jeju. You'll see them in my other posts but for food, they definitely deserve a dedicated post. Although they are from different categories but I am RANKING them anyway based on ... well Havana's Undefined Ranking Criteria 😁

Let's go...

14. Seaweed/Kimchi Clear Noodle soup at E-Mart, Seogwipo

Ended up having this because their JaJang Black Bean noodle and other stuff ran out. This was the only option as I was hungry. The only good thing I liked about this set are those yellow pickles.

   

13. Pork noodle soup at Jeju Town

We entered this shop seeing many locals in it. Ordered their pork noodles which the broth were boiled with pork bones for 10 hours. Had high expectation for it. Ordered another bowl of vegetable noodles in anchovies broth. 

Noodles portion was big served hot with generous pork slices. However, both noodles just tasted salty without the rich aroma that I was expecting. So I started to put in other condiments provided like the seaweed but it made the meal even saltier. The restaurant's staff were friendly and brisk but too bad I don't know how to appreciate these noodles. 

12. Takeaway from C-U convenience shop near Breeze Bay Hotel, Seongsan

Sorry to rate this better than an established restaurant. This was the first night when we arrived in Jeju. It was extremely cold and windy so we just hopped over to a convenience shop to get our dinner. By the way, the noodles were supposed to be dry but being a noob we made it soupy which tasted well...blant! The savior was the rice set which wasn't great either but being hungry suddenly the macaroni and cheese, ham and weird fried stuff tasted all right. 

11. Jajang black bean noodles at E-Mart, Seogwipo

This is the top order in the food hall at E-Mart, Seogwipo. Generous portion of noodles. Again, I like the pickles. Though I've also tasted better Jajang noodles in Busan and Seoul. I am not generalizing the Jajang noodles by region. There could be better Jajang noodles somewhere in Jeju too. 

10. Shrimp burger & Bulgogi burger at McDonald's at Seongsan Illchubong

Nothing much to comment here since it's your typical McD and most people would have tried these before. We even forgot to take the Bulgogi burger's picture but nothing much that you have missed here. 

9. Self made breakfast 

Who would have shamelessly put a self made breakfast in their food ranking? Tsk tsk

What I liked about this is, part of the breakfast was made of fresh produce from Jeju and an "imported" chocolate drink from Malaysia. Hehe... These were our 2 days' breakfast made in our small but well equipped kitchen at Ocean Tree hotel. Food were sourced from E-Mart. 

8. Fresh cream flat bread at Jeju City

OK, there should be a proper Korean name for this food. Anyone who knows it please let me know! I stumbled upon this shop while wandering in Jeju city. This shop sells different types of flat bread with different fillings. I went for the fresh cream. Sorry, we were in a rush to the airport so I chucked it into my bag. It got squashed so it looked pretty messy in the picture. However, the taste was really good. The cream was so refreshing and cool. I would go back to try the other flavors next time and of course still grab the fresh cream one for just-in-case-situation. 

Again I can't translate the shop's name but at least I got the location here Google Map (opposite Caffe Pascucci in Jeju City)

7. Paris Baguette at Jeju City

I can't decide to put the flat bread before or after Paris Baguette. After some indecisive decision and some "you probably can't compare like this", Paris Baguette goes up one spot higher because...

1. It offers more variety of food and drinks
2. It has better ambiance with a place to chill out  
3. Went there more than once (once in Seongsan Illchubong and twice in Jeju City)
4. Sells BT21 goodies (not related to food)

6. Jeju's Hallabong

It was hallabong season and the trees were blooming with this fruit literally everywhere in Jeju. There were streets with rows of shops just selling one thing - Hallabong. In Jeju, they plant Hallabong trees on the streets. I wonder if you can pluck and eat them from the trees in the street? Tell me...

I bought these from E-Mart. I still remember copying an aunty in E-Mart who's also buying these for her kids. After picking up the fruits, she went to weigh them and I followed suit. The unattended weighing machine was all in Korean. Since it was pre-selected by the aunty on the same item, I got mine weighted and price tagged too! 

Unlike all the oranges I've tasted so far in my life, the Hallabong is indeed sweet with no sour taste. It's skin is like Mandarin oranges so you'll need to peel it with hand. It is also very,very juicy and much more tender than Mandarin oranges. 

Please don't just get 3 like me. They are very small so at least treat yourselves with a dozen.  

5. Banana Milk

Need I say more? I had this as my daily supplement in Jeju

4. Banana milk dessert

This was from Yellow Cafe featured in my other post. Read all about it here
Need I explain more why I like it? 😍

Here comes the top 3!  

It's really difficult to rank the top 3 as each of them has their own charm. 

3. BHC Chicken

I've been eyeing this since the first day at Seongsan Illchubong but the outlet there was closed 😟

We almost did not get to try it until our last night in Jeju at Jeju city. We were looking for dinner close to our hotel and guess what? Just next to the hotel was BHC! 

This was the best fried chicken I had so far in my life! This was the smallest set and we couldn't even finish it. The attraction was the chicken with the sweet and spicy sauce. The feel of eating a piping hot, succulent & crunchy chicken with Coke is just heavenly in a cold night. The packet sauce and the stuff that looked like a jelly dessert that comes with the set meal are something that can be skipped. 

2. Jeju Women Diver lunch set with Hallabong inspired dessert at Innisfree

Read more about this in my other post here. The reason why it's highly rated by me was its aesthetic. The amount of thought and work put in to make these beautiful dishes especially the Hallabong inspired dessert. On top of how perfect it looks, it also tasted really good. One of the best dessert I've had in my life! 

1. Hi-tea at Narnia Restaurant

Sitting at the top spot for me is the Hi-tea at Narnia why?
I've also dedicated a blog post for this place. Read more about it here

1. The ambiance
   Located at a hill top in an exclusive building that I feel like I am walking into Narnia. An open patio overlooking the ocean and hills. Beautiful and posh interiors. 
2. 
   
   
   
   
3. The customer service - Fine dining customer service
4. The food presentation
   
   
   
   
5. Technical detailing
   Well I was impressed by the usage of a lava timer to wait for my tea to properly infused before drinking it. The thoughts of putting different elements to ignite your senses such as the rosemary leaves that lingers on your table as the scent was carried out by the "smokey clouds" 
6. The food itself
   So beautifully made. The pastries served were very different from other hi-tea I had. I can tell that they curate their own pastry with combination that pleases the palette. One thing though, the dessert on the floating bowl looked nice but didn't taste as nice as the one in Innisfree.

There were other famous Jeju food that we didn't try. I did not try the famous Jeju black pork simply because I didn't really fancy pork especially those chewy ones with lots of fat. I also did not get to try a lot of fresh seafood simply because we couldn't find those seafood restaurant we targeted. 

OK this is worth mentioning but technically it is not part of Jeju's meal. This is the Pak Nasser's nasi lemak in Air Asia on the way home. I thought I lost the last pack of Banana Milk until the airport scanner found it. Luckily I get to keep it to have it with my nasi lemak 😋