Jeju's food reputation is black pork and fresh seafood — both excellent, both priced for tourists in the obvious places. Eating well on a budget takes local knowledge. Here it is.
The Markets Are the Answer
Dongmun Market in Jeju City is the island's kitchen: the day stalls sell gimbap, omegi-tteok (Jeju's mugwort rice cakes), and hallabong juice for a few thousand won, and after 18:00 the night-market section fires up with grilled lobster, black pork skewers, and fried everything at 5,000–10,000 KRW a plate. In Seogwipo, the Maeil Olle Market does the same job — the gogi-guksu (pork noodle soup) stalls inside are the local breakfast at 7,000–8,000 KRW. Five-day traditional markets rotate around the island's towns (the Seogwipo one runs on dates ending in 4 and 9) and are cheaper still.
The Local Dishes That Are Actually Cheap
Gogi-guksu — Jeju's pork noodle soup — is the island's soul food and costs 7,000–9,000 KRW everywhere; the famous Samdae Guksu in Jeju City has a line but the neighborhood shops are just as good. Abalone porridge runs 10,000–15,000 KRW and counts as a full meal. Mom-guk (gulfweed pork soup) is the other local staple at similar prices. And the haenyeo house restaurants on the coasts serve the day's catch at prices the tourist seafood halls cannot touch — look for the small buildings with tanks and Korean-only signs near the diving coves.
The Black Pork Question
Heuk-dwaeji (black pork) is genuinely better — fattier, more flavorful — and genuinely expensive: 15,000–20,000 KRW per portion at the famous Jeju City black pork street, and you order minimum two portions. Worth it once. The budget move: the same pork shows up in gogi-guksu and market skewers for a fraction of the price.
Convenience Stores and the Last Resort
Jeju's CU and GS25 stores stock island exclusives — hallabong drinks, peanut snacks — and the standard triangle gimbap and lunchbox run 4,000–8,000 KRW. On a hiking day, the trailhead convenience store kimbap is the correct breakfast. Nobody eats fancy on Hallasan.