Siheung : Clams in Oido 오이도

8th September 2012. Written by Xin Li.
Oido, Siheung, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

After a long bus ride, we finally arrived at the town of Oido, a waterside town known for its numerous seafood restaurants and clams among the locals. It was a Saturday. True enough, the place was filled with families, couples, kids….locals taking the time off on a weekend.

The seaside town reminded me of Shek O in Hong Kong except a fair bit more developed. The Saturday crowd and sunny weather gave Oido a kind of carnival-like atmosphere when we visited.

The muddy beach however, triggered images of Tekong during low tide for me.

It is on this muddy coast where locals would go out and sink their hands into those brown mud to find clams for their meal, or as snacks.

Or, for the kids, it is a huge playground to roam around.

After some sightseeing, we guided by our Korean friends into a restaurant named 갯마을 (Gaesmael) located near the junction leading to the pier and lighthouse.

Like the many restaurants we have walked past, the frontage was stacked with tanks full of various kinds of clams, cockles and mussels. Some of them even have an automated greeter. And not to forget, those bombastic and colourful signage that scream into your eyes.

Inside, it was a rather down to earth place, with a traditional Korean dining corner and some tables and chairs, some photos of their food on their walls and a huge menu on one side of the restaurant.

Attention here is on the food, a spectacle itself when the first few baskets of clams arrived. We could spot some razor clams, huge cockles, scallops, sea snails, petite white clams and one huge mussel.

And the best part was that most of these are refillable except for the huge mussel which was taken to prepare a soup with enoki mushrooms, spring onions and chilli and later place on the charcoal stove to be cooked.

To enjoy these clams, you simply place them on the charcoal grill and wait for them to cook and collect its juices. You then take this juice and deposit them into the pot of soup. The juices would give the soup and richer flavour (of clams) but at the same time give it a more briny taste.

It was gross and disturbing to watch those clams cook as these molluscs are still alive and you could see those “tongues” sticking out of their shells while they get cooked.

On the other hand, you could be rest assured that these are probably fresh compared to those that remained shut and immobile after hours of cooking, ex-clams that have not yet seen the dinner table.

There is plenty of variety but I can’t help feeling hampered by the sandy texture while savouring these clams. Nonetheless, my favourite molluscs is the scallop, which are plump and succulent that went very well with their savoury gochujang with vinegar dipping sauce.

If grilling live clams is not your cup of tea, then go for their thick noodles cooked in clam broth.

It was pretty delicious like Asian vongole pasta or noodles in a milder version of a Belgian mussel broth. The broth has a peppery and mildly sweet flavour. The addition of seaweed gives it an unami dimension.

If you want something even safer (but not necessarily tasty), there is always the bibimbap.

In the end we paid about 13000 KRW each for the meal.

갯마을
Gaesmael
2006-22 Jeongwang 3(sam)-dong (179 Oido-ro)
Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea