The Seoul food content train rolls on, barreling from one food alley to another. On Thursday I posted a look at our lunch in Namdaemun Market‘s famous Hairtail Alley; today I have for you a look at another very well-established alley, albeit one not located in a market that is famous in its own right and not one that’s prominent on the tourist trail: Bossam Alley in Jongno-gu. Located not too far from a major street (Jong-ro) lined with massive office buildings, the alley nonetheless feels like it’s far away from the rush of Seoul. It takes up about 150 feet of Supyo-ro 20-gil and if you don’t know it’s there you could pass by none the wiser. You have to go a hundred feet or so into Supyo-ro 20-gil before it even begins. You’ll know you’re there when the alley suddenly narrows dramatically and there’s pig parts everywhere being cooked outside the restaurants that open from one side of the alley. We walked through the alley slowly and then picked a restaurant more or less at random: Obok. And I am happy to say that we had a very good meal there.

We visited for an early lunch on a Sunday. This is probably not the best time to visit if a crowded scene is what you’re after. The alley is apparently at its busiest on weekend evenings as people from the many offices nearby stop by after work; and also as a post-cinema stop as it’s located close to a popular movie theater. Well, it was far from crowded on that Sunday at 12.30 but the food was very good indeed.

I’ve noted before that many of Seoul’s restaurants are hyper-specialists. You won’t be surprised to hear that this is also true of restaurants in Bossam Alley. Obok’s menu only had four things on it: Gul Bossam (steamed and sliced pork shoulder with oysters); Garlic Bossam (no oysters but a thick smear of garlic over the pork); Pork Jokbal (sliced, slow-cooked pigs’ feet); and a combo of Gul Bossam and Jokbal. They know what they do well and they just do that. This doesn’t mean, however, that you won’t get anything else. No matter which of these options you order, you’ll get, in addition to the banchan (not extensive), a small haemul pajeong/squid pancake and you’ll have a small stone pot of a spicy tofu and kimchi jjigae set down on the burner that will be placed on your table. Other restaurants in the alley doubtless offer different accompanying dishes, and it’s not unlikely that at Obok as well larger bossam orders for larger groups come with more things.

There’s not much thinking to do once the food arrives. Load some pork and some oysters (if you got the gul bossam) onto lettuce (they serve lettuce here, not cabbage) you’ve smeared with ssamjang; maybe add some kimchi in there too. Roll it up and pop it in your mouth and be happy. That is what we did? What did we order? One small Gul Bossam and one small Garlic Bossam. We were three adults and two children and that was enough food for us. And man, it was good. As was the squid pancake and the jjigae (which we ate with rice). As it was lunch and we had things to do after, we didn’t order any beer or soju and that was the one major thing missing from this meal: this is very much drinking food or anju. But I can tell you it’s just as good without booze.

For a look at the alley, the restaurant and what we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.

Service was the usual Korean “detached but there when needed”. The price was very reasonable: Just about 60,000 won or $45. The boys can put this kind of food away like they’re adults so really this was about $9/head. Very good value indeed. We’ll be back when we’re back in Seoul (hopefully in a couple of years). And if you’re going I’d recommend you seek Bossam Alley out—though, alas, this is not the kind of place you can go and eat at alone.

Alright, I will try to get one more food report out this weekend. It might be my last Bombay report. Let’s see if I manage to get it done.