Jagalchi Date Night in Busan, Sashimi for Two and a Night View Walk in the Right Order

Sit down at 4:30 PM and the lunch crowd has gone while the dinner crowd has not yet arrived, so the hall is at its quietest, and the sun sets outside the window while you eat. Walking side by side the 220m from Jagalchi Station Exit 2 toward Jagalchi Haean-ro takes 3 minutes, and at this hour there is time to stand at the fish tanks and choose the species slowly. The moment one of you picks up the first piece with chopsticks and passes it across is how the evening for two begins, and white-flesh sashimi keeps its sweetness when dipped lightly in soy sauce rather than chili paste. After watching couples for years, the Jagalchi veteran with over a decade on the job has seen that eight out of ten come in around 4 PM, get up before 6, and head off to see the night views afterwards. Come at 7 PM and on a weekend there is a wait of about 15 minutes, with groups at the next table and voices mixing, but at 4:30 none of that happens. Side dishes change daily, built mostly around what is fresh, and the table at this hour comes with raw seaweed and jeotgal, good for rinsing your palate between pieces of sashimi. Even on a day when you meet late, getting in before 6 PM is the line that makes the time yours alone.

If you want to share one plate, the small assorted sashimi platter at KRW 60,000 (about USD 43) is right, and if you each want your own tray with rice and soup, two sashimi set meals at KRW 20,000 (about USD 14) each are right. The small platter comes as one big plate holding several species, good for picking out pieces for each other, and spicy sashimi salad, steamed shrimp, abalone and fried bites come alongside so the table fills out. The set meal brings sashimi, rice, soup and side dishes separately for each person, so the table splits in two and you can each eat at your own pace, and at KRW 40,000 (about USD 29) for the two of you, it is the lighter option on cost. For an evening with drinks the small platter lasts two hours, and if you plan to walk right after eating, the set meal sits easier. Six out of ten couples round out the table by adding one mulhoe or one plate of crab to the small platter, and that combination falls between KRW 78,000 and 90,000 (about USD 57 to 65). Premium wild-caught sashimi starts from KRW 80,000 (about USD 58), priced by the day of species selection, with fish such as stone flounder or striped flounder, and some guests choose it for an anniversary. Wrap a piece of sashimi in a perilla leaf with garlic and pass it across and the table goes quiet, and that moment is the reason for this seat.

Because two people who have walked over on a hot day need the slushy icy broth first. Mulhoe at KRW 18,000 (about USD 13) comes as shredded sashimi with cucumber, Korean pear and onion in a broth with ice crystals, and with the first spoonful the sweat settles and the sashimi plate that follows tastes much better. Premium mulhoe at KRW 25,000 (about USD 18) has more fish and more species, fitting a day when one mulhoe is dinner, and sharing one bowl between two with the small assorted platter after it is the most common approach among summer couples. Take two or three spoonfuls of broth first, fish out and eat the sashimi and vegetables, then at the end stir in rice or thin noodles to share, and one bowl keeps two people having fun right to the end. In winter, rather than mulhoe, closing warm with a small rockfish spicy stew at KRW 50,000 (about USD 36) or a single cod soup at KRW 15,000 (about USD 11) after the sashimi works better. Mulhoe has to be eaten as soon as it arrives while the ice is still alive, so order it to come before the sashimi plate, and if one of you cannot handle spice, ask for the broth less spicy. Sitting at the window with the icy bowl between you while the sun goes down is the picture of a summer evening at Jagalchi.

Call, say it is for two, and ask for the second floor by the window. Call +82-10-8998-4803 30 minutes ahead and the seat will be kept free, and if you come in at 4:30 PM, the second floor window seats are mostly empty even without a booking. The second floor hall has large tables spaced well apart, so there is distance from the next guests, and the window tables open toward the coastal road so the sunset light falls across the table. The first floor is close to the fish tanks and kitchen so food comes out a little faster, but the tables on both sides of the aisle sit close together, so for two people sitting long, the second floor is better. With 190 seats across the first and second floors, before 7 PM there is plenty of room to pick the seat you want, while after 7 PM on weekends the second floor fills with groups first, so if you plan to come at that hour, a booking is needed. Seven out of ten couples ask for the second floor window and stay an average of an hour and a half, and the tables are wide enough that a sashimi plate, a mulhoe bowl and a crab plate all fit at once with room to spare. If you are bringing older family members, an inner first floor seat with no stairs is more comfortable, and for an evening just for two, it is the second floor.

Take one side of legs each and share the shell mixed with rice, and one KRW 30,000 (about USD 22) plate is plenty for two. Push the leg meat out with chopsticks and it slides out long in one go, and placing that meat on the rice in front of your partner is a common scene between couples. The shell holds pooled sauce, so put in a bowl of rice and mix it as is, without seaweed flakes, to keep the real flavor of the crab, and taking turns with two spoons means no arguing to the very end. Eat the sashimi first and leave the crab for after so its saltiness does not cover the taste of the sashimi, and the small assorted platter at KRW 60,000 plus a plate of crab, KRW 90,000 (about USD 65) in all, is a generous dinner for two. To keep the cost light, many guests take two set meals at KRW 40,000 plus the crab to make it KRW 70,000 (about USD 51). Your hands will get sauce on them, so ask for two wet towels ahead, and when eating the legs, gather the shells on a side plate to keep the table tidy. If you want warm broth after the crab, share one cod soup at KRW 15,000 between the two of you, and eating in this order keeps your stomach from feeling heavy before the walk.

Go to Yeongdo Bridge first and Yongdusan Park later, and the uphill is a single climb at the very end. From the restaurant to Yeongdo Bridge is a 7-minute walk, and after about 15 minutes on the bridge watching the harbor lights and the boats, the sun has fully set around 6:30 PM, the hour photos come out best. Turn back toward Gwangbok-ro from there and a 6-minute walk brings you to the cafe street, and with a coffee in hand, a 12-minute walk up the slope of Yongdusan Park puts all the lights of Nampo-dong below you from the viewpoint under Busan Tower. Climb the park first instead and you have to come back down and walk to the bridge again, which doubles the walking, and the sun sets in the meantime so you miss the hour for bridge photos. If you come on a Saturday, switch the order to watch the Yeongdo Bridge lift at 2 PM first and eat at 4:30, and you see the bridge both by day and by night. Once the night views are done it is around 8:30 PM, and the way back to Jagalchi Station is a 6-minute walk from Gwangbok-ro, so there is no worry about the last Line 1 train. If you are staying in Seomyeon it is 20 minutes and KRW 12,000 to 15,000 (about USD 9 to 11) by taxi, and Busan Station is three stops. Put the day for two into numbers and it is dinner at 4:30, Yeongdo Bridge at 6, a Gwangbok-ro cafe at 7, Yongdusan Park at 7:30, and home at 8:30.