The first time I watched someone eat mulhoe, I thought they were making a mistake. Raw fish, ice, vegetables, and a spicy-sour red broth, all in one bowl, eaten with a spoon like soup? At Coupang's Bucheon 2 Fresh Center, where I spent over two years moving refrigerated seafood, I saw squid and flounder orders spike every July, headed for mulhoe kitchens across the country. I didn't get the appeal until I tried a proper bowl myself, and now I get genuinely annoyed at restaurants abroad that slap the "mulhoe" label on any cold fish dish.
What Is Mulhoe, Exactly?
Mulhoe (물회) is raw sliced fish or seafood served in an ice-cold, sweet-and-spicy broth built on gochujang, vinegar, and sometimes a splash of cold noodle broth. Unlike hoe (Korean sashimi), eaten dry with soy sauce or ssamjang, mulhoe is eaten as a soup, usually finished by dropping rice or cold noodles into the leftover broth. It's less a delicacy course and more a full, cooling meal built for brutal summer heat.
Where Mulhoe Actually Comes From
Insider's Insight: People assume mulhoe is an old royal court dish, since so much Korean food history gets romanticized that way. It isn't. It's a working-class invention, and a fairly recent one.
The dish traces back to Pohang in the 1960s and 1970s, where fishermen sliced up whatever fish they'd just hauled in, tossed it with gochujang and vinegar right on the dock, and ate it fast before heading back out. There was no time for plating. It was fuel. Water and ice got added later to stretch the meal and cut the heat, and the dish spread from the docks to local markets, then to restaurants.
That blue-collar origin is exactly why mulhoe still splits into two competing regional camps today, and neither side is shy about saying the other one is doing it wrong.
Pohang-Style vs. Sokcho-Style: The Real Difference
Traditional Pohang mulhoe starts dry. Fish and vegetables get mixed hard with gochujang and vinegar first, almost like a spicy raw-fish salad, and only then does the cook ladle in cold water. The fish is often thick-cut whitefish, chewier than what you'd expect from delicate sashimi.
Gangwon-style mulhoe, the version most visitors to Sokcho and Gangneung know, comes already swimming in a pre-mixed icy red broth, closer in spirit to naengmyeon. Unlike the Pohang version, built one bowl at a time, this batch method gives a more consistent, milder sweetness that first-timers tend to find easier to love.
There's a third, lesser-known version in Jeju, made with jaridom (a small local reef fish) in a doenjang-based broth instead of gochujang. It's sourer, funkier, and not where most beginners should start.
How to Make Mulhoe at Home
Field Note: You don't need to live near the ocean for this. Frozen sashimi-grade flounder or halibut from a Korean grocery store works fine, and freezing handles the parasite-safety step for you.
Serves 2
Ingredients: 300g sashimi-grade flounder or squid (sliced thin), 3 tbsp gochujang, 2 tbsp gochugaru, 3 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp minced garlic, 1 tsp minced ginger, 1 tsp sesame oil, 2 cups ice water (or half naengmyeon broth for a Sokcho-style bowl), 1/2 cucumber and 1/4 Korean pear (julienned), 2 tbsp scallion, a handful of lettuce or perilla, sesame seeds, and optional somyeon noodles or cold rice.
Steps:
- Whisk gochujang, gochugaru, vinegar, sugar, garlic, ginger, and sesame oil into a smooth paste. Chill at least 20 minutes.
- Pohang-style: toss raw fish directly in the paste, let sit 5 minutes, then add water. Gangwon-style: dilute the paste with ice water first to form the broth, then add the fish.
- Layer in cucumber, pear, and lettuce. Top with scallion and sesame seeds.
- Add ice cubes right before serving so the broth stays properly cold, not just cool.
- Once the fish and vegetables are gone, drop noodles or rice into the remaining broth. This last step is non-negotiable for anyone who grew up eating it this way.
Personal Take: The pear is the ingredient people skip and shouldn't. It adds a clean sweetness that balances the vinegar without turning the broth into a sauce dump.
Where to Eat the Best Mulhoe in Korea
Honest Talk: I haven't personally eaten at every spot below. This is compiled from current 2026 local dining coverage and traveler reports, not a first-hand review.
Pohang, Jukdo Market district — Ground zero for mulhoe. Generations-old spots like Samhyeongje Hoetjip and Suhyang Hoesikdang line the market's seafood street, known for bibim-style mulhoe mixed dry first, then loosened with broth at the table. A mulhoe-forward set runs 15,000 to 25,000 won per person; crab combos run higher.
Sokcho, Cheongchosu Mulhoe — Marketed as Korea's original dedicated mulhoe restaurant, this multi-floor spot on Cheongcho Lake reportedly draws over 1 million visitors a year. Its "haejeon mulhoe" piles abalone, sea cucumber, and squid over slushy ice for around 42,000 won, well above Jukdo Market prices.
Behind the Scenes: What surprised me most researching this wasn't the recipe, it was how much regional identity gets packed into a bowl outsiders assume is interchangeable. Ask someone from Pohang if their mulhoe is the same as Sokcho's, and you'll get an answer with real heat behind it. Unlike naengmyeon, with its centuries of competing origin myths, mulhoe's history is barely 60 years old, and everyone involved knows exactly where it started.
FAQ: Mulhoe Basics
Is mulhoe safe to eat if I'm not near the coast? Yes, as long as the fish is sashimi-grade or was frozen at -20°C (-4°F) or below for at least 7 days, which kills parasites, standard practice for sashimi-grade fish in the US, EU, and Korea.
What's the difference between mulhoe and hoe? Hoe is raw fish eaten dry with sauce. Mulhoe is raw fish already submerged in cold, seasoned broth, eaten with a spoon like soup.
Can I make mulhoe with cooked seafood? Yes. Boiled shrimp, octopus, or imitation crab work as a beginner version, though purists say it stops being "real" mulhoe there.
What fish is traditionally used? Flounder, halibut, and squid are most common. Pohang sometimes uses mackerel or gizzard shad; Jeju uses jaridom, a reef fish specific to the island.
How many calories are in a bowl? Roughly 300 to 450 calories before rice or noodles, noticeably lighter than most Korean stews of similar portion size.
Explore More
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