One of my favourite things to do when I was in Seoul was trying the different local foods. Now, South Korea is known for its bbq´s, but that didn´t sound too vegetarian friendly to me. However, visiting the different food markets was a whole new and awesome experience and luckily the owner of the Time Travellers Relax hostel where I was staying had given me a bunch of, vegetarian-friendly, options.
Tongin Traditional Market
The first one I checked out if the Tongin Traditional Market (put it in Google Maps to find it). It is very close to the Gyeongbukgung Palace and it is made up out of different stalls with different kinds of traditional food.
First you have to go upstairs, to the so-called Customer Service Desk, which is basically an old man with a bucket of coins and a staple of dish trays behind a desk. Here you can buy 10 coins for 5000 won (about 5 dollars). You get a tray and a plate, and with these 10 coins you can go ´food shopping´ in the different stalls downstairs. One of the most popular things that they sell on this market are the tteokbokki, the rice cakes in a spicy sauce. You can decide whether you want them just fried in oil, or with the spicy sauce added. Because I love a little spicy, I definitely opted for the second choice. I also had some nice fish soup and vegetable cakes.
Because there really are around 40 different stalls, I would suggest to first have a look to see what all is on offer, and than going back to the places that looked good, because once that coin is spent… After you have spent your 10 coins and your tray is filled you can go upstairs to the Customer Service Center again, where there are tables, water and chopsticks for you to enjoy your lunch.
I absolutely loved this place, and maybe it was due to the low beginning of December season, but together with the two other travellers I went with, we were the only three foreigners there. A cheap place with some good food to try out the typical Korean dishes. However, it´s only open between 11am and 4pm, so get there on time!
Gwangjang foodmarket
Ready with my camera, I knew the Gwangjang market would both be a tasty as well as a delicious experience. It´s easy to reach from Hongdae by subway line number 2, and get off at Euljiro 4-ga, Exit 4. The action is in the centre, around Jeon Alley, where lines and lines of food stalls are set up. With the -8 degree cold it made it even more magical for it looked rather smokey and foggy.
After having taken a bunch of pictures trying to capture the atmosphere it was now time to actually eat a bit. I had a hard time picking a stall because honestly, they all look kind of the same. So I choose one that had many people, yet still a comfortable place for me to sit.
Things to try while at the market are definitely the Bindaetteok (mung bean pancakes), Jeon (fried pancakes), Bibimbap (mixed rice), Hotteok (pancakes with brown sugar filling), Tteokbokki (stir fried rice cakes) and for the non-vegetarians the Yukhoe (raw steak tartare) and Sashimi. I accompanied it with some tea, but the locals where definitely downing some Makgeolli (rice liquor) with their food.
With trying about 3 to 4 different dished and a tea I spent around 10.000 won (around 10 dollars) and had some nice little ´half chats´ with the 20 words of English my neighbours knew. Though, the emptier their bottle of Makgeolli, the better they thought they knew English.
Noryangjin Fish Market
This is the kind of market where you get to pick your own food. So, I do actually eat fish and seafood, and accompanied a guy from the hostel to this market. I had not heard of it myself, but why not, right? So basically this is about seven floors of different fish and seafood. All alive and well. You tell the owner what you want and how much you want of it. Be warned, it´s not necessarily very cheap to go eat here.
Then you take this up to one of the little restaurants and they prepare it for you (or if you are very brave you can also eat it raw). It then comes with rice, tea (or the local soyu alcohol) and salad. It cannot possibly fresher. However, like I said. This is not the cheapest option for you to eat, as usually fish tends to be quite expensive. We spent around 40 dollars each here but had a lovely meal with octopus and clams.
