Regional food guide

What to eat in Ulsan

Written by hand, not generated. Dishes, markets, timing and prices for Ulsan.

5 dishes 6 food areas See Ulsan restaurant picks Open the food map

Ulsan is an industrial city that also has the East Sea on one side and the Taehwa River running through it. Its food splits between the inland bulgogi belt around Eonyang and Bonggye, and the seafood coast at Bangeojin and Jeongja — about 30 to 40 minutes apart by car.

What people eat here

Start with the local defaults

Eonyang

Eonyang bulgogi

Finely chopped beef grilled on a wire rack and wrapped in lettuce. The marinade is light, so the beef itself carries the dish.

Bonggye

Bonggye salt-grilled beef

Grilled with salt alone and no marinade — a different proposition from the Eonyang style.

Bangeojin and Jeongja

Mulhoe (raw fish in cold broth)

Sliced raw fish served in chilled broth. The default summer order along this coast.

Dong-gu coast

Limpet kalguksu

Knife-cut noodles cooked with limpets prised off the coastal rocks, served on the eastern shore.

Jangsaengpo

Whale meat

Served boiled around Jangsaengpo. Commercial whaling is banned and only bycatch reaches the market, so few places handle it and prices are high.

Where the food is

Markets, streets and harbours

View all (6)

Eonyang and Bonggye bulgogi districts

Two clusters of grill restaurants that cook the same cut in different ways.

Restaurants nearby

Jangsaengpo Whale Culture District

Exhibition halls on the whaling past, with restaurants alongside.

Restaurants nearby

Bangeojin and Ilsan Beach

A dense run of raw fish restaurants between a working harbour and a beach.

Restaurants nearby

Jeongja coastal road

A drive lined with sea-facing raw fish houses and cafes.

Restaurants nearby

Seongnam-dong: Jungang Market and Youth Street

In the old downtown, Jungang Market sits next to Youth Street. The market side is soups and pancakes; the street side is snack stalls, hotteok and cafes. It is the oldest eating quarter in Ulsan.

Restaurants nearby

Samsan-dong Food Alley

Behind the department stores in Samsan-dong, the busiest district in Ulsan, barbecue, raw fish and drinking places pack the blocks. It is at its fullest after work hours.

Restaurants nearby

When to go

Cold raw fish soup is a summer dish, June to August.
From November to February, snow crab and half-dried Pacific saury arrive from the nearby east coast.
The Jeongja and Jujeon coastal roads back up on weekend afternoons.

Worth knowing

1Eonyang bulgogi portions are small, so two portions or more is the normal order.
2Eonyang (marinated) and Bonggye (salted) taste quite different despite being the same dish. Pick by preference.
3Coastal raw fish restaurants often add a separate table charge.
4Downtown, the coast and Eonyang are far enough apart that covering all three in a day is a stretch.

What it costs · Per person, roughly

Eonyang bulgogi runs KRW 18,000-25,000 per person and cold raw fish soup around KRW 15,000.