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Start
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Sogongwon
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Seorak Mountain
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Sinhungsa
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Heundeulbawi
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Ulsanbawi
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Sunrise Park
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Naksansa-1
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Naksansa-2
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Naksansa-3
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Baked Fish
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Jungang Market
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Tourist Hotel
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Gaetbae(ferry) Quay
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Abai Village
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Sindasin Restaurant
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Lighthouse Observatory
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ports
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Beach
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Cheongchoho Lake
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Finish
Sokcho Jungang Market (Jungang Sweet and Sour Chicken)
The highlight of the travel should be food…but we were depressed and upset because we only had one meal that day so we headed to Sokcho Market to eat dinner.
It looked like there was some kind of an event that it was decorated with pretty lights. It's cleaner than any other market that I've seen.
Sokcho Junangang market is always famous for special food. And one of the best is sweet and sour chicken. A few streets are full of sweet and sour chicken restaurants and they were still open even if it was quite late.
Even if it's famous for sweet and sour chicken, it wouldn't be fun if there's nothing else. Between chicken restaurants, there were others selling tofu, gimbap and crepes attracting passengers.
This one that looks quite stuffy and cute is the famous Ojingoe Sundae(squid sundae). It's a squid stuffed with different kinds of vegetables inside the body which costs 10,000 for three. And they also cut them in small pieces and sell them like pancakes.
We went all the way there anyway so we should buy some chicken right? There are a few famous restaurants in the alley but the most popular ones are Manseok Dakgangjeong(sweet and sour chicken)and Jungang Dakgangjeong. The difference would be the degree of sweetness, I guess?
I was told that chicken in Manseok Dakgangjeong is sweeter than the ones from the other two. So young people prefer Makseok Dakgangjeong and the elderly prefer Jungang Dakgangjenog. That day we were not in the mood for too sweet chicken so we went to Jungang Dakgangjeong restaurant.
The employee was cooling off the chickens and packing them in boxes. So we ordered one 16,000 won worth sweet and sour chicken with regular sauce. You could choose one among soft/regular/spicy sauce.
While they were packing, I peeked inside and it didn't look like a small restaurant in a regular market. I went around the corner and saw that it was big enough to have 3 or 4 restaurants.
Someone was arranging the chickens and frying them in one corner and the other one in front of other restaurant was cooling off chickens coming out of hot oil. They were working unbelievably fast but the chickens were sold out faster.
Chicken character standing alone looked so lonely. As I looked around the market, among other chicken restaurants only Manseok and Jungang chicken restaurants were selling like hot cakes and the rest was too quiet.
Assuming from the heat from chicken box I bought from Jungang Dakgangjeong in my hand while I was looking around the market, this chicken cools off so slow.
Now it's time to taste it. This is chicken fried and seasoned with sauce which is similar with deep-fried chicken in hot pepper sauce but it has strong sweet taste. As soon as I opened the box, I was surprised by the size. The chicken in the picture is just half of it. It's so big for two, I must say.
Peanuts, red and green peppers on chicken made it taste better and flavory. It's common sense that sweet and sour chicken is crispy and better when it gets cool but I couldn't wait until it gets cool. You gotta eat before you lose it.
We finished baked fish for dinner right before the chicken but after we took pictures, we couldn't stop eating this chicken.
You could also order them at home since they get orders by phone. If you can't, you could try it in the Sweet and Sour Chicken Street in Sinpo-dong, Dongincheon Station, which is another chicken street. There's no big difference between two streets but we should try local food while we travel, and that's the fun out of it. Plus, whenever you go in Sokcho, you'll easily see people with this sweet and sour chicken box in their hands so you might regret it if you don't try it. It's nothing special but if you're in Sokcho, I would like you to try.
Address : 471-4, Jungang-dong, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do
Telephone : 033-632-3511
Opening Hours : 09:00~21:00
Prices : Boneless Sweet and Sour Chicken17,000 won / Sweet and Sour Chicken 16,000 won / Fried Chicken 16,000 won
Website : click
