Noryangjin Fish Market 2026: How to Order Seafood, Cooking Fees, and Subway Access

Bottom line: Noryangjin Fish Market works in two steps — you buy seafood on the ground floor, then carry it up to a restaurant on the 2nd floor and pay a cooking fee to have it prepared and served. Before you pick a fish, stop by a 2nd-floor restaurant first and ask how much the per-person cooking fee is, then decide how much seafood to buy downstairs.

If you didn't know: the market's official website publishes no fixed price list for the cooking fee — it varies by restaurant and by dish. If you buy fish first without asking, you won't know what you'll be charged until you're already upstairs. The auction hall is closed every Sunday and on New Year's Day, Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays (confirmed by the operator) — if you show up expecting to watch the pre-dawn auction on one of those days, you lose the cost of a round-trip subway ride (1,550 won each way, 3,100 won round trip) and the early-morning time for nothing. The retail floor itself, though, is open 365 days a year, so buying fish and eating it upstairs still works on those closed-auction days.

Walk onto the ground floor and the light from the tanks hits you first, along with the smell of fish and sea salt. Stalls sell everything from common live fish like flounder and rockfish to tuna, sea squirt and spoon worm, each weighed on a scale as the vendor calls out a price. There's no fixed pricing — you negotiate weight and quantity directly with the vendor, and even one with little English will show you the number on a calculator. You take your fish home in a plastic bag, double-check the price written on the receipt or wrapping, then ride the escalator up to the 2nd floor, which is lined with sashimi restaurants. Hand your bag to the restaurant you choose and the staff will slice it into sashimi or cook it into spicy fish stew on the spot — the money you pay at that point is the cooking fee. Side dishes, stew broth, chili paste and wasabi are usually included in that fee, but since it varies by restaurant, it's safer to confirm the amount before you sit down. Solo diners can go in, but the cooking fee makes up a bigger share of the bill per person when you're alone, so going with at least one other person lowers the per-person cost.

American and Japanese visitors used to paying by card everywhere should carry some cash (a few 10,000-won notes) separately — card terminals exist at some stalls but not others, and the market has no official confirmation of card acceptance market-wide.

Journey stage: During the trip · Verified 2026-10-25 · Source Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market