Seoul Food Guide: Markets, Street Food Alleys and What to Order

Gwangjang Market in Jongno (Jongno 5-ga, Line 1, or Euljiro 4-ga, Lines 2 and 5) is Seoul’s oldest covered market, and its central crossroads of food stalls is the single best place to eat in the city. Stalls open from mid-morning and the food alley stays busy until about 10 or 11pm; some textile and fabric sections close on Sundays, but most food stalls trade.

Order three things. Bindaetteok is a thick mung-bean pancake with pork and kimchi, fried in a pool of oil on giant griddles; Soonhee-ne (Sunhui’s) is the stall with the stone grinder out front, and a pancake costs about 6,000 to 8,000 won, best with a bottle of makgeolli. Yukhoe is raw beef cut in strips with sesame oil, pear and an egg yolk; the yukhoe alley on the market’s east side has several specialists, including Buchon Yukhoe, which has appeared in the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list, and a plate runs about 20,000 to 30,000 won. Mayak gimbap (“addictive” mini rolls dipped in mustard sauce) costs about 4,000 to 5,000 won a plate. Knife-cut kalguksu noodles, sundae blood sausage and stuffed fried peppers fill the gaps.

In 2023 viral videos of overpriced, undersized plates hurt the market’s name, and most stalls now post prices. Check the board, agree what you are ordering, and sit at a stall that is busy with Korean customers.

Myeongdong’s street-food strip sets up along the main pedestrian lanes (Myeongdong station, Line 4, exits 6 to 8) from about 4 or 5pm and packs up around 10 to 11pm. It is aimed squarely at visitors, so prices are higher than at markets, but the range is the widest in the city in one walk: gyeranppang (egg bread, about 3,000 won), hotteok with brown sugar (2,000 to 3,000), tornado potato on a stick (4,000 to 5,000), grilled cheese and mochi skewers, tteokbokki, odeng fish-cake skewers in broth, strawberry tanghulu, and the showpieces of grilled lobster tail and torched beef cubes at 10,000 to 20,000 won. Since 2024 the district has required stalls to display prices, so compare a few before buying.

For a sit-down meal in the same streets, Myeongdong Kyoja serves knife-cut kalguksu in rich chicken broth with garlic-heavy kimchi for around 11,000 won; it has been on the Michelin Bib Gourmand list and moves its queue fast. Namdaemun Market by Namdaemun gate, a 10-minute walk west, has a cheaper alley of kalguksu and galchi jorim (braised hairtail) restaurants, and hotteok stalls with queues at its main gate.

Tongin Market in Seochon, five minutes from Gyeongbokgung station (Line 3, exit 2), runs a lunch scheme that turns the market into a buffet. At the dosirak cafe in the middle of the market you buy a plastic tray and a string of brass coins (yeopjeon), for roughly 5,000 to 6,000 won for ten, then walk the participating stalls and trade one or two coins per spoonful of japchae, braised beef, pancakes, kimchi or fried chicken. Rice and soup are bought back at the cafe with coins or cash. It is a lunchtime operation, roughly 11am to 4pm, and closes on some days of the week, so go between Tuesday and Saturday and check before you set out.

Before you leave, try gireum tteokbokki, rice cakes stir-fried in oil and chilli flakes on a flat pan, a Tongin speciality that is crisp and dry rather than saucy. The market is a natural lunch stop on a palace day.

• Sindang-dong Tteokbokki Town: a street of tteokbokki restaurants a few minutes from Sindang station (Lines 2 and 6) serving jeukseok tteokbokki, a hot pot cooked at your table with rice cakes, fish cake, ramen noodles, boiled eggs and fried dumplings in sweet chilli sauce, finished with fried rice in the leftover sauce. Mabongnim Halmeoni, the restaurant that started it in the 1950s, is still there. Budget about 8,000 to 12,000 won a head.
• Mapo and Gongdeok: Mapo galbi is marinated pork ribs grilled over charcoal, served in the streets of Mapo around Mapo (Line 5) and Gongdeok (Lines 5 and 6, AREX) stations, where Choi Daepo is the long-running name; expect about 16,000 to 20,000 won a portion. Gongdeok Market next door has a jokbal (braised pig’s trotter) alley and a jeon alley of fried pancakes sold by weight.
• Euljiro Nogari Alley: by Euljiro 3-ga station (Lines 2 and 3), printing shops close at dusk and plastic tables spill into the lane for nogari, grilled dried young pollack dipped in chilli-mayonnaise, at a few thousand won a fish, with cheap draught beer. It is a drinking alley first; see our Seoul nightlife guide.
• Dakhanmari alley, Jongno 5-ga: a lane near Dongdaemun gate of restaurants boiling a whole chicken in broth at the table, eaten with a garlic-chilli dip and finished with noodles. Jinokhwa Halmae Wonjo Dakhanmari, a Bib Gourmand regular, is the best known; one chicken feeds two for about 30,000 to 35,000 won.

Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market (Noryangjin station, Lines 1 and 9), across the river from Yeouido, is a huge modern hall of live tanks: flounder, rockfish, king crab, abalone, sea squirt, octopus and seasonal yellowtail in winter. You choose at a stall, agree the weight and price before anything is killed, and the stall slices it as hoe (raw fish) or sends it upstairs, where restaurants charge a per-person table fee of a few thousand won plus a charge for cooking maeuntang, the spicy fish-bone stew, from the leftovers. A plate of raw fish for two typically costs 40,000 to 80,000 won, king crab far more. Live octopus (sannakji) is chopped while still moving; chew it well, because the suckers grip.

Go in the evening for dinner or very early to watch the auctions. If prices feel high, compare three stalls, since quoting a tourist price is common. For seafood without the theatre, Namdaemun’s hairtail alley and the grilled-fish restaurants of Jongno 5-ga’s side streets are cheaper.

Barbecue is everywhere, and the best guide is a full room of Korean diners. Samgyeopsal (pork belly) costs 16,000 to 20,000 won a portion, galbi more, and most places want two portions minimum. Good streets for it are around Gongdeok and Mapo, Sinchon, Hongdae’s side streets and Euljiro. A few long-running restaurants are worth a detour:

• Samgyetang: Tosokchon near Gyeongbokgung station serves ginseng chicken soup in a hanok for about 20,000 won; queues at lunch and on hot summer days.
• Pyongyang naengmyeon: Woo Lae Oak in Euljiro and Pildong Myeonok in Chungmuro serve the subtle cold buckwheat noodles in beef broth for 15,000 to 17,000 won a bowl.
• Hanu beef: Majang-dong meat market (Majang, Line 5) sells Korean beef by weight with restaurants that grill it for a table fee, much cheaper than Gangnam.
• Fine dining: Seoul’s starred restaurants include Mingles and Jungsik in Gangnam and La Yeon in the Shilla hotel, with tasting menus from about 250,000 won; book a month ahead.

Reservations and queues run through apps such as Catch Table and on-site waiting tablets, which may need a Korean phone number; walk-ins at opening time are the workaround.

Vegetarians do best at temple-food restaurants: Balwoo Gongyang, opposite Jogyesa, serves Buddhist set menus, and Osegyehyang and Sanchon in Insadong are cheaper. Itaewon has the most vegan cafes, including Plant. Halal restaurants cluster on the street below the Seoul Central Mosque in Itaewon. Assume that kimchi, stews and many “vegetable” dishes contain fish sauce, anchovy stock or meat. Cooking classes that cover kimchi, bulgogi and pajeon cost about 60,000 to 100,000 won and often start with a market visit; Museum Kimchikan in Insadong runs kimchi-making sessions.

Ordering in Seoul is increasingly by kiosk or table tablet, most with an English button. Otherwise call “jeogiyo” and point at the wall menu; Naver Map shows menus with photos and prices. Pay at the counter on the way out; there is no tipping. Foreign cards work almost everywhere, but carry some cash for market stalls and street carts. Solo diners should look for noodle shops, gimbap chains and “honbap” counters, as barbecue places may refuse one person.

Seoul does not stop eating at midnight. The pojangmacha tents along Jongno 3-ga, between Tapgol Park and Jongmyo, serve odeng soup, spicy chicken feet and pancakes with soju until 2 or 3am; Gwangjang’s outer stalls run late; and the Dongdaemun fashion towers have food courts for the overnight shoppers. Gamjatang (pork-bone and potato stew) and haejangguk (hangover soup) restaurants are open 24 hours in Hongdae, Sinchon, Jongno and Gangnam, often with a dedicated 4am crowd. Every convenience store has instant ramen with a hot-water machine and a counter to eat at. From spring to autumn, the Bamdokkaebi night markets set up food trucks at Yeouido and other Han River parks on Friday and Saturday evenings.

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