Samcheok is famous for one thing: snow crab. Everyone thinks of Yeongdeok and Uljin for crab, but Samcheok is close to Uljin, so snow crab and red snow crab are caught in droves. The Mukho Port Snow Crab market is where you get them cheapest. Visit in March or April, crab season, and it is dirt cheap.
First we went to Samcheok Port. Rip-off prices: they asked 140,000 won for two big snow crabs, and king crab was 150,000 won each. We shook our heads and headed to Mukho Port.
Mukho Port felt different from Samcheok Port. Crab stalls and sashimi stalls are separate, and you can haggle everywhere, so you can buy cheap. Go early and you can get slightly imperfect ones, a leg missing, for next to nothing. We arrived late and missed those. Red snow crab was something like 15 for 50,000 won, and snow crab cost more. We haggled: three big snow crabs for 70,000 won, plus three small stew crabs thrown in. Six crabs for 70,000 won total. The small ones go into ramen, they said. We asked them to steam the crabs, and they sent us to a dedicated steaming shop. It takes 10 to 20 minutes.
Steaming costs 5,000 won per crab. We took a number ticket and went to buy sashimi next door.
Sashimi was cheap too. My husband bought 30,000 won worth of sashimi and a squid. Squid was pricey then, 10,000 won each, for 40,000 won of sashimi total. If you buy fish, there is a separate place that slices it into sashimi. Grandmothers sit there slicing. Pick one, ask, and they slice for about 3,000 won: 1,000 won per 10,000 won of fish. Ours was 30,000 won of sashimi plus 10,000 won of squid, so 4,000 won total. A fun new experience.
Watching them work was amazing. Total masters, lightning fast. They gave us the leftovers for maeuntang, plus a rockfish a previous customer had left behind, prepped for our soup. Back at Sol Beach Samcheok, my mother-in-law already had food ready. Meat party.
So good, and even better eaten outside.
And here are the snow crabs we bought. Huge. Three crabs turned out to be way more than expected.
Beautiful color.
The 40,000 won of sashimi was plenty: my husband stuffed himself with sashimi, meat, and crab. In Samcheok, go to Mukho Port for Mukho Port Snow Crab at local prices. The crab and sashimi are so cheap. If you want fresh Mukho Port Snow Crab without the tourist markup, Mukho Port is the place. Highly recommended.
Prices, hours and details in this post are from our visit in July 2017 and may have changed, so check the latest information before you go.