Eating and drinking on Jeju: from black pork to tea ceremony

What makes Jeju food special?

Jeju lies a bit away from the South Korean mainland and has done its own thing for centuries. You can taste that in the food. The island has a handful of signature products it’s famous for:

• Jeju Black Pig: Jeju’s black pigs are smaller than regular pigs and have a more intense flavor. The meat is juicier and less fatty. If you’re on Jeju, you have to try this.
• Green tea: the volcanic soil and subtropical climate are ideal for tea plants. Jeju produces the best green tea in South Korea.
• Mandarins: you see mandarin trees all over the island. Hallabong (a cross between a mandarin and a pomelo) is a Jeju original.
• Seafood: freshly caught by the haenyeo, the female free divers. Think abalone, sea urchin, and octopus.

Here are my restaurant tips!

Jeju Island Grill: black pork BBQ

If there’s one thing you have to eat on Jeju, it’s the black pork. We go to Jeju Island Grill for the iconic black pig BBQ. We order the couple’s menu and get bavette, pork belly, and pork shoulder. The meat is grilled right at the table on a built-in BBQ.

The staff is friendly and explains that a lot of what they’ve put on the table is homemade — like the pickled radish and the sauce. We also try the “volcano cheese steamed eggs.” It’s sort of a dessert made with eggs, cheese, and a sauce. Fun to try, but the flavor is pretty flat and a bit of a letdown. The black pork itself, though? Absolutely worth it.

Google Maps location

Jinsim Gogi: beef BBQ

Finding a Korean BBQ restaurant on Jeju that serves beef takes a bit of effort, since it’s almost always black pig. But we find one: Jinsim Gogi. It’s a small restaurant where we order boneless short ribs and chuck flap tail. Both are 19,000 won (about $14) per order.

The meat is good. Really good, actually. But honestly, not quite as good as the BBQ we had in Seoul. If you have to choose between beef and black pork on Jeju, go for the black pork. That’s the real specialty here.

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Tea session at Orteas: the best experience

Because tea is such an important part of the island’s culture, I think a tea session is one of the most worthwhile things to do on Jeju. We book a tea session at Orteas through Airbnb Experiences.

We arrive at a small tasting room where we are shown how to properly taste tea. It’s quite a process — from cleaning and warming the cups to smelling and tasting by slurping. Different types of tea even have different cups.

We learn how the tea leaves are picked and processed, and we taste several varieties, including matcha. We make the cold matcha version ourselves. After the tasting session, we take a short walk through the tea fields. It’s already cold, so we cut the walk short — but it’s beautiful to see where the tea actually comes from.

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Simple and delicious: gimbap

During this trip in South Korea, we haven’t gotten around to gimbap yet — which is funny, because it’s such a quintessential Korean dish. So we go looking, and near Seongsan Ilchulbong, we find a tiny gimbap place where one woman takes orders and cooks everything herself. You can watch her working in the kitchen while you wait.

We order black pork gimbap and vegetable gimbap. It’s simple but really good. Perfect for a quick lunch before or after climbing the volcanic crater.

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Mandarins everywhere

I can’t write an article about Jeju food without mentioning the mandarins. They’re literally everywhere. In October, you drive past mandarin trees with ripe fruit all along the roads. At the supermarket, they come in whole boxes. Cafés serve mandarin lattes. And at some spots, you can even pick them yourself — though we skip that, because where on earth would we fit kilos of mandarins in our luggage?

The mandarin obsession isn’t limited to October either — year-round, the mandarin is THE fruit of Jeju. The Hallabong (a cross between a mandarin and a pomelo) is the most famous variety. It’s bigger than a regular mandarin, has a little bump on top, and is sweeter and juicier.

So make sure to order something with mandarins at a café or restaurant — like a mandarin tart, a mandarin-ade, or a mandarin latte.

Seafood: fresh from the haenyeo

I’ll be honest: I don’t eat that much seafood on Jeju. But it’s absolutely everywhere. Near the waterfalls, you see stalls selling fresh seafood — just caught by the haenyeo (the female free divers).

You’ll find octopus, sea urchin, and all kinds of shellfish. It’s often eaten raw or in a broth. At the Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market, there are also stalls full of fresh fish and seafood. It’s fascinating to look at, and maybe you’ll want to try something too?

Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market

At the Seogwipo market, just follow your eyes and your nose. And okay, maybe the crowds too. Share dishes with whoever you’re traveling with so you can try as many things as possible. Definitely get a fresh mandarin juice, and I can also recommend the stuffed buns. We also let ourselves be lured in by a meat skewer stall where they crank up the music and make a whole show of the cooking with gas burners. In our opinion, the show is better than the actual skewer — but hey, still worth seeing.

Google Maps location

Frequently asked questions about food on Jeju