Ever since I saw these fish in a bowl on our first holiday in Korea when we went to seaside town of Yeosu, I knew I had to try them. After some obsessive googling, I’d found out what they were called, how they were generally eaten and the general price. They were called Gaebul (penis worm to me). In other countries, their name can span from Urechis unicinctus to ‘dog penis’ to ‘the fat innkeeper worm’. I’m really not sure which name sounds more appetising. They’re generally eaten raw or grilled with sesame oil. They’re pretty expensive but I thought it was definitely worth a try.
One night I was walking through our local area of Chonnam University Backgate and I saw a gaggle of penis worms in a tank next to a restaurant. They had not been there the whole year, I would have noticed, they literally had just appeared overnight. I was thrilled, odd I know. I rushed in and stared at the Korean menu trying to find the 4 characters that spelt out gaebul but I was too slow, the restaurant owner was already upon me. I asked for gaebul and though he looked surprised, he pointed to it on the menu directly. It would cost 30,000 won but I already knew I had a group of friends who wanted to try this with me so between 6 of us, it wouldn’t be too bad.
A few nights later, we returned to the restaurant mentally prepared, or so we thought, to try the penis. We ordered 1 portion between 6 and it was more than enough (though we went to get some more food afterwards from somewhere that served western food as a treat to fully sate ourselves). The sides came out first and in true Korean fashion were a surprise; you never know what you’ll get! We were given a small stove and a shop-bought packet of ramyeon, a bony but tasty grilled fish, a seafood jeon (pancake) and some tempura battered squid. These sides made up for the expensive price of the Gaebul so we were happy, if not anxious regarding the main.
Finally, it arrived, a plate with cut up pink, rubbery tubes on it. They were served on a bed of plastic glass noodles; my colleagues had warned me of this when I’d tried to eat the decoration at a work dinner previously. The fat penis shaped things we’d seen outside we guessed had been gutted so that they were hollow and then chopped diagonally to make a kind of fishy ring/tube shape. I know this isn’t the most attractive description but I can tell you it wasn’t the most attractive dish, no matter how they attempted to jazz up the plate. Cameras came out and we raised our chopsticks ready. Then we saw the movement. The chopsticks came down abruptly. The slimy, pink mess of cut up penis lay there writhing on the bed of glass noodles before our eyes.
‘They’re still moving’ one of my friends gasped. How this was even possible after being gutted and chopped up, I don’t know but there was no mistaking it, the chopped up bits of the fish were still wriggling. If you put your chopstick near a bit, it would latch onto it. The live octopus eaten in Korea also moves like this but even more I’ve heard. We continued to try to loop the fish through our chopstick and pause ready for the group tasting. 3, 2, 1…we ate it.
A lot of chewing commenced, many groans escaped and I believe all of our eyes closed in a grimace at times to process what we’d just put into our mouths. I believe the photos speak for themselves to be honest. It tasted like a rubbery blob of sea, there was little taste other than slime and sea. Thank goodness for the soy sauce and wasabi that had appeared with the sides. We were dipping the fish in any sauce we could find, wrapping it in seaweed, piling it onto rice…nothing could remove the chewy slime that moved down our throats as we tried piece after piece hoping it would improve. It didn’t. We got about three thirds through the portion given to us before we all admitted defeat. It was time to go to the burger restaurant next door.
This dish, although different and a fun experience, scored the lowest among my group of friends out of all the Korean dishes we’d tried so far. A lot of fun and definitely worth trying but I’d recommend planning another meal straight afterwards where you can actually eat something tasty, cheap and filling.