Seafood Allergies at a Busan Sashimi Restaurant, What to Avoid and What You Can Still Order

Avoiding the soy marinated crab, the steamed shrimp, and the assorted seafood, steamed clams and fried plate that come with shrimp mixed in covers it. If your constitution reacts to shrimp and crab, the plates to keep away from at a sashimi restaurant are clearer than you might expect. The soy marinated crab is crab itself, the steamed shrimp frequently goes on the table as an accompaniment, and the assorted seafood and steamed clams come sized to your group with days when shrimp is included. Fried shrimp also gets mixed into the fried plate. On the other side, white-flesh sashimi like flounder and rockfish, the sashimi set meal at KRW 20,000 (about USD 14), the sashimi rice bowl at KRW 15,000 and the rockfish spicy stew are made from ingredients unrelated to shrimp and crab, which puts them broadly on the safer side. That said, some places use shrimp in the stew broth or garnish, so asking once when you order is the right move. At the Jagalchi Haean-ro restaurant, telling us in advance gets the shrimp accompaniment left out and swapped for a different side dish within what is available. This article is a summary of how to choose from a restaurant menu and is not medical advice. Getting a diagnosis from a doctor on whether and how strongly you react, and bringing any medication you have been prescribed, comes first.

Because it is uncooked crab steeped whole in soy sauce, which spreads not only the flesh but the innards and the liquid across the whole table. Soy marinated crab at KRW 30,000 (about USD 22) is eaten by stirring rice in the shell and sucking the leg meat, so the crab liquid gets onto the hands and chopsticks of everyone seated at the table and transfers easily onto the other side dishes. Even if you are not eating it yourself, when your party orders the crab, the trick is using a separate side plate and chopsticks and not sharing the rice that was stirred in the shell. At the Jagalchi Haean-ro restaurant three in ten tables of four add the soy marinated crab, and telling us in advance that someone reacts gets the crab placed at the far end of the table with plenty of extra side plates provided. As an alternative plate, the sashimi salad or the grilled fish set at KRW 15,000 (about USD 11) works well to eat with rice. Anyone whose reaction is severe should also discuss with a doctor the possibility of utensils used to prepare the crab touching other food, and should come knowing a restaurant cannot completely guarantee that part.

Check the assorted seafood, the steamed clams, the grilled abalone, the abalone porridge, and the plate of sea squirt, live octopus and sea cucumber that goes on a sashimi table as an accompaniment. Clams and molluscs are a different category of reaction from shrimp and crab, so there are people who are fine with shrimp but react to abalone or octopus, and the reverse as well. That is why you have to know precisely which one you react to before the restaurant can leave out precisely the right thing. At the Jagalchi Haean-ro restaurant there are plenty of days when ordering sashimi brings seafood like sea squirt, live octopus and sea cucumber as an accompaniment plate, and asking for that plate to be left out entirely gets it filled with a different side dish. Depending on the restaurant, mulhoe at KRW 18,000 (about USD 13) and the sashimi salad can also have sea cucumber or sea squirt as a garnish, so asking about the ingredients when you order is the right move. On the safer side are fish sashimi like flounder and rockfish, the rockfish spicy stew, cod soup at KRW 15,000 and the grilled fish set. Side dishes rotate daily based on what is fresh, so there are days when salted clams or seaweed appears, which makes a habit of scanning the side dish ingredients once the table is set genuinely useful. Confirming the exact trigger food through testing with a doctor comes first.

Asking for it to be changed to a white-flesh fish when you order handles it. The grilled fish set at KRW 15,000 gets grilled from whatever came in that day, so there are days mackerel appears and days flounder or rockfish does. Anyone who reacts to blue-backed fish like mackerel, Spanish mackerel or gizzard shad only needs one sentence when ordering the set, asking for it grilled from white flesh, and it gets matched toward flounder or rockfish. The assorted grilled fish also has several species on one plate, which calls for the same request. On the sashimi side, blue-backed species like yellowtail and horse mackerel go onto the assorted platter depending on the season, so if you come in winter, mentioning in advance that you want the yellowtail left out is the right move. White-flesh species like flounder, rockfish, sea bream and sea bass are not in the blue-backed family and are broadly fine. The display case in front of the Jagalchi Haean-ro restaurant has the grilled fish set out by species on plates, so you can see with your own eyes which fish was grilled that day before you go in. Which species produce a reaction and how strongly differs from person to person, so please settle with a doctor how far the avoidance needs to go.

In most cases yes. An assorted platter is centred on white-flesh fish like flounder, rockfish and sea bream, so even someone who reacts to shrimp and crab or to clams and molluscs can eat the sashimi itself, and the problem is the accompaniments that come alongside the plate. The assorted platter at the Jagalchi Haean-ro restaurant is fixed-size pricing at KRW 60,000 small (about USD 43), KRW 80,000 medium, KRW 100,000 large and KRW 120,000 extra large, and the larger the size, the more accompaniments like sea squirt, sea cucumber, abalone and steamed shrimp come with it. Saying it as a full sentence when you order, that you would like just the sashimi with the shrimp and shellfish left out of the accompaniments, is the most precise way. Changing species also works. Asking to have the blue-backed species left out and the plate filled with white flesh only gets matched within what is available. That is the reason the restaurant veteran with over a decade at Jagalchi asks first whether anyone in the party reacts to something. At a table of four where only one person reacts, it also gets solved by placing a separate sashimi plate in front of that person with the accompaniments on the other side. That said, because many ingredients get handled in the same kitchen, trace contact cannot be completely prevented, so anyone with a severe reaction needs to discuss that point with a doctor and judge accordingly.

Once on the reservation call and once again when ordering at the table, saying it twice is the baseline. When booking on +82-10-8998-4803, stating the ingredient and the headcount together, such as that one person in your party reacts to shrimp and crab, means the accompaniment build can be changed before the table is set. Confirming it again when you sit down and order means it does not get missed even if staff change. Letting the people you came with know that you react and where your medication is also makes the response faster in an urgent moment. Carry any prescribed medication as your doctor has directed, and if a sensation of the lips or throat swelling arrives during the meal, calling 119, the emergency number in Korea, without delay is the right action. The location is 220m from Jagalchi Station (Line 1) Exit 2 toward Jagalchi Haean-ro, about a 3-minute walk. It is two stops from Busan Station on Line 1, and a taxi runs about 10 minutes and KRW 6,000 to 8,000 from Busan Station, or 20 minutes and KRW 12,000 to 15,000 from Seomyeon. With 190 seats across the first and second floors it takes group reservations, and if someone in a group reacts, that person gets seated on the side further from the accompaniments. This article is guidance on using a restaurant; please consult a doctor for diagnosis and treatment.