BUSAN ― A couple walks through one of the many narrow alleys of the open bazaar of the city’s famed Jagalchi fish market.

While the man is busy snapping away photos of old women slicing and gutting a vast assortment of fish and sea creatures with worn out wood-handled cleavers stained with blood, the woman has nearly half of her face wrapped in a scarf as if she’s about to rob a bank.

But there are no banks here. The spot is teeming with people looking to buy freshly caught seafood.

Walking around the vicinity of Nampo district, immediately the presence of the adjacent Jagalchi market can be identified not by sight but with its pungent odor of fish and the half-century old sea port that hauls thousands of tons of fish every morning.

The next thing to remind you that you are in Busan is the Gyeongsang Province dialect, best described as an up and down rollercoaster of an accent that people gun through whenever speaking to each other.

The sight is secondary to the smells, sounds, and taste of Busan, where middle aged Koreans can be seen congregated around street side eateries drinking rice wine and eating fish.

Such is what defines the small little enclave that is the Jagalchi Market.

The market opened in 1946 and has quickly become a popular tourist spot, but in 2006 the fishery market moved to a new building constructed in the shape of three flying geese.

The structure lies on a floor space of 25,000 square meters with seven stories above the ground.

Sashimi eateries and dry fish markets are located on the first and second floors, while marine exhibition halls line the third and fourth floors with seafood restaurants on the fifth floor topped off by cafes and bars on the sixth.

The seventh floor has a lounge overlooking the sea.

Some say the modernization of the market is less appealing than the old rustic, working class atmosphere of yore.

“Everything about the structure feels generic. There’s nothing traditional or historic about it,” an employee with Mode Tour, a local travel agency said.

“The down-to-earth ambiance is missing. It just doesn’t have the feel of the past. It’s a shame, really.”

Eat at your own risk

Locals here are convinced puffer fish soup is the best remedy for a hangover.

There is, however, one big difference from other Korean hangover foods, and that’s an element of danger.

Puffer fish are believed to be the second most poisonous vertebrate in the world after the golden poison frog.

Specific parts of the fish’s internal organs and skin are believed to be highly toxic if consumed, resulting, most of the time, in death.

Fatalities from poisoning usually result from incorrectly prepared bok jiri or puffer soup and occasionally from puffer sashimi called bok hoe.

Puffer soup is described to be more likely to cause death than puffer sashimi, which in most cases result in just intoxication, light-headedness, and numbness of the lips. Some people even choose the sashimi for these effects.

However, poisoning from puffer soup induces more severe symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting, followed by numbness, rapid heart rate, decreased blood pressure, and muscle paralysis.

Of course none of that matters to the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean as it is a popular delicacy at specialty restaurants that are prepared by expert chefs trained to keep you from dying.

Many puffer fish chefs prepare them freshly caught by skinning them while they are still alive ― a practice they say prevents the toxins from contaminating the edible portions despite the fact there is no firm evidence to support such claims.

To some, this is simply an excuse and more about keeping up with the old traditions. Elsewhere in the world, these poisonous but tasty fish are eaten safely by simply killing and gutting it while still fresh.

When it comes to Korean style puffer fish soup, there are two methods of preparation: One is bok jiri, without red pepper paste sauce and the other is bok maeuntang ― translated literally as spicy stew ― with generous helpings of red pepper paste sauce added to the broth.

The former is on the tamer side and perfect for anyone uncomfortable with spicy foods. The latter, is extremely spicy, and made to kick that hangover out of your system with a jolt.

The fish is simmered in its broth with radishes, fresh bean sprouts and flavored parsley that result in what locals describe as refreshing.

landmark restaurant

It all began in Kumsu Bokguk.

With nearly 40-years of history serving up puffer soups since 1970, Kumsu Bokguk has become the model for all puffer fish restaurants in the area.

According to Lee Bong-duk, the owner of the restaurant, the soup in each of the bowls are specially prepared “as if it is a restoratative dish.”

Lee, a Korean-Japanese, emigrated back to Korea as a young adult after liberation.

She then worked as a nurse at the Jeonju Jesus Hospital and it was there she discovered the practicality of the traditional Korean stone pot that sparked an idea to incorporate it into puffer fish soup.

Stone pots can keep foods piping hot for long periods.

According to the restaurant’s lore, Lee hauled over 1,000 stone pots back to Busan and gave birth to the now famous soup in Busan.

The Kumsu Bokgul restaurant has now become a landmark on its own in the Haeundae district, much loved by both heavy drinkers and early birds that dine out for breakfast.

Celebrities who converge on the port city to take part in Asia’s biggest film festival, the Pusan International Film Festival, make sure to stop at Lee’s establishment.

The restaurant also serves a variety of other dishes such as puffer sashimi, steamed puffer or “bok jjim,” boiled puffer fish, and puffer fish bibimbap

For inquiries call Kumsu Bokguk on (51) 743-5291.

By Song Woong-ki (kws@heraldcorp.com)