We found a restaurant that served the dish but there are two ways of eating it. One way is you consume a whole baby octopus that is wrapped around your chopsticks and then dipped in the sauce of your choice (sesame oil or Kochujang which is a red chili paste). The other way of eating it is a slightly larger octopus that is chopped up with a clever and then served to you immediately. All of the restaurants we found served it the second way so much to my chagrin we settled on eating it this way.
We sat down and placed two orders as well some fish soup for everyone. While waiting I went outside to grab a picture of our meal in the tank before we ate it.
When the plate was brought out nothing was moving and it just looked like a pile of octopus but then they put the plate down and everything started to move around. The tentacles were active and also responsive to there surrounding. If you poked them they moved and when you tried to pick them up they would suction to the plate and make it quite difficult to actually pick up.
After finally removing the tentacles suction cups from the plate and onto the chopsticks into the sauce and then into my mouth they went. They were a little chewy as expected and lacked taste outside of what I dipped them in. After a thorough chewing I swallowed the tentacle, my first one was a success. After learning the taste and consistence I realized this dish is one that is meant to be played with. I would put a tentacle in my mouth and let it move around sucking to my inner cheek, roof of my mouth, tongue, teeth and sometimes my outer cheek.
After playing with the tentacles in my mouth it was fun to just watch them move on the plate, respond to the poke of a chopstick, or drop it in the sauce and watch the magical dance occur before eating it.
Next time I hope to try the whole baby octopus...
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