I’ve been threatening to start posting reports of our meals in Seoul for more than a week now. Here, finally, is the first one. I will remind you that after our week in Tokyo (meal reports from which were posted chronologically), we went to Kyoto for a few days and from there to Seoul (and from there to Delhi). I’m jumping past the Kyoto meal reports just to mix things up a bit. I’m going to post a few Seoul reports mixed in with a Delhi report or two and then I’ll go back and do the Kyoto reports. And these Seoul reports are not going to be in chronological order either. This first report, for instance, is of lunch eaten on our third day in Seoul. We had an appointment in the afternoon in Sindang-dong and got off the subway a few stops earlier to eat at one of my favourite places in Seoul: Gwangjang Market. I’ve reported at great length on meals at the market before (see here, here, here and here) and will almost certainly do so again. Yes, it’s a bit of a Seoul cliche at this point but I do love the energy of the place, and across my visits had not had a single bad meal there. I am happy to report that that streak was not broken on this visit either. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Seoul Markets
In and Around Mangwon Market (Seoul, March 2024)
I’ve fallen a little behind on my goal of getting all my Seoul reports done by the middle of May. Okay, quite a bit behind. I’m going to try to catch up in a hurry though. Here first is a very image-heavy look at one of our favourite market outings in the city in early March, to Mangwon Market. Like Cheongnyangni Market, Mangwon Market is a traditional farmers’ market, which is to say it is a market where locals go to shop—though it’s quite a bit smaller than Cheongnyangni Market. Located in Mapo-gu, it’s more off the tourist map than Gwangjang Market, Namdaemun Market and Tongin Market—or Noryangjin Fish Market, for that matter. It’s a covered market and once you’re in it, the alleys are lined with cooked food vendors of various kinds. We visited on a Saturday morning and had a very nice time walking slowly through the crowded market, stopping to eat snacks along the way. We also bought some prepared foods to take away with us for dinner and some fresh seafood to cook in the upcoming week. And then as we were leaving the market we couldn’t resist stopping at a small restaurant for some noodle soup and mandu. Here is a look at it all. Continue reading
At Noryangjin Fish Market (Seoul, February 2024)
I’ll stay in Seoul to close out the week but instead of a restaurant report I have for you a look at the city’s premier fish market: the massive Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market. I made two visits to the market. The first was on a weekend early on our trip, with the family and a large group of students; and then towards the end I took a smaller group of students there as well for a birthday-related outing on a weeknight. As it happens, both visits involved eating as well—a major feature of the market is the large number of seafood restaurants where you can have things you buy fresh at the market cooked up for you. However to keep things manageable, I am focussing in this first report only on the market as market. I’ll post my report on the two meals—one a lunch, the other a dinner—next weekend. Continue reading
Eating at Tongin Market (Seoul, February 2024)
Of all the markets we visited in Seoul in February and March, Tongin Market was the closest to where we were living. It also turned out to be the one least like the others. Gwangjang Market, Namdaemun Market, Cheongnyangni Market, Mangwon Market and the Noryangjin Fish Market are all markets first. Cheongnyangni and Mangwon markets are neighbourhood markets that include some food vendors. Namdaemun Market has famous food alleys but they’re really secondary to the real business of the market which is retail sales. Even Gwangjang Market with its prominent food alley is dominated by shopping during the day. And Norynangjin is a massive wholesale and retail seafood market with restaurants attached. Tongin Market, however, is different: it’s almost entirely about food vendors. It ended up therefore being a very different experience than all the other markets, feeling more like walking through an extended food court. We visited towards the end of February with a large group of students. This is what we found. Continue reading
Eating and Shopping at Cheongnyangni Market (Seoul, February 2024)
There are very few things I like doing more while traveling than visiting food markets. I have a particular soft spot for fish markets but any large market will do. There’s no better way, I think, than this to get the feel of a place’s energy or to begin to understand its dynamics. What do people eat? Where do they buy it? How much does it cost? What is the culture of buying and selling? What do they not eat? These are important questions if you want to begin to understand a place, and you cannot answer them simply by eating in restaurants. And, of course, if you’re staying in a place for more than a few days and have access to a kitchen, then there’s no better way of feeding yourself. The bonus in Seoul is that pretty much every large market has a plethora of food options and usually at least one kind of food that they’re particularly known for. Such is the case with Cheongnyangni Market. It’s both a sprawling market where you can buy fruits, vegetables, grains, seafood and meat of a dizzying variety and it is home to a well-regarded food “alley”: Tongdak Alley. We visited the market with a group of students a couple of weeks ago, ate lunch there and did a bit of shopping as well. Continue reading
At Gwangjang Market (Seoul, March 2023)
I said of Namdaemun Market that it was my second favourite place to visit during my week in Seoul in March. All my visits there were during the day: I went there for lunch three days in a row. My absolute favourite place to visit, I visited only at night: I ate dinner there four nights in a row. I am referring to Gwangjang Market. Another of Seoul’s oldest markets, Gwangjang Market has a bit of a split personality. During the day the action is mostly centered on shopping. As evening approaches, however, the stores shut down and the food vendors who fill the central alleys between the stores begin to take over. My understanding is that some of these vendors sell their wares during the late mornings and afternoons as well; but it is in the evening you must go to get the full food experience. Continue reading
At Namdaemun Market, Pt. 2: Eating (Seoul, March 2023)
Here is my third report from the place that was my second favourite to visit in Seoul on my trip in March: Namdaemun Market. I went there three days in a row and ate lunch there on all three days. My first report was of my lunch there on the second visit, eaten at their famous Kalguksu Alley. My second report was a broader look at the market, focussing on the dry and wet market sections and their other famous food alley: Hairtail Alley (I did not eat there on this trip). This report gives you a look at the other food vendors of the market—the ones who are set up, formally or informally on the market’s main drags. A few are restaurants; some have restaurant’ish spaces attached; some are counters—you eat standing there; some are street vendors—you take your food and eat it somewhere else. Continue reading
At Namdaemun Market, Part 1
Back to Seoul, back to Namdaemun Market. My first report from the market was of an excellent lunch in the market’s famous Kalguksu Alley. I ate there on the day of my second visit to the market. I visited the market on three consecutive days and ate lunch there on three consecutive days. Why didn’t I eat at Kalguksu Alley on the first day? Well, I couldn’t find it. On that first visit I was also unable to find the market’s other famous food “alley”: Hairtail Alley; the specialty here is galchi jorim or braised/stewed hairtail fish. The main reason I was unable to find these alleys is that I didn’t know what I was looking for. I’d not really done any research on the market and had lazily assumed that everything would be very visible. Well, the market itself is quite obviously visible but there’s no signage for the food alleys—you kind of have to know where you’re going and what you’re looking for. In my post on that Kalguksu Alley lunch, I told you how to find it; in this post I offer a broader look at the market and finally a look at Hairtail Alley, which I more or less accidentally found myself in while wandering around after lunch in Kalguksu Alley. Continue reading
Lunch at the Kalguksu Alley in Namdaemun Market (Seoul, March 2023)
I will be taking a bunch of students to Seoul for five weeks next February/March (we’ll get there after five weeks in Bombay). In preparation for this trip, I recently spent a week in Seoul, visiting sites, checking out possible accommodations and group activities; and, of course, also eating.
Though the missus was born in Seoul and lived there till the age of nine (at which point she moved to Los Angeles with her family), we have not been to Seoul as a family and nor had I ever been there before myself. I was a little intimidated by the thought of navigating the city by myself for a week but quite predictably ended up having a blast in the periods of time before, between and after my appointments. I walked an average of 7 miles a day—a lot of it to markets where I ate. One of these markets was Namdaemun Market—I ate lunch there on three consecutive days. Here is a look at my second lunch, eaten on a Friday in the market’s famous “Kalguksu Alley”. Continue reading