Eating Your Way Through Gwangjang Market Is A MUST For Any Visit to Seoul, South Korea!
There are many market places throughout Seoul and South Korea in general, to check out. Gwangjang Market is one of the most famous and popular amongst them all with some truly mouth watering food experiences to be found under one roof.
The market place is massive with various shops and food stall options throughout. There are so many delicious smells and interesting food in this market it’s difficult to decide where to start!
One thing that’s noticeable while walking around is that the food stalls clumped together seem to focus on specific types of food and sell similar dishes.
One of the most popular dishes found in the market is the savory mung bean pancake (Bindaetteok)
Made from ground mung bean and fried in light oil, the pancake is filled with mung bean and chives. The outer pancake has a nice crunch and the middle is soft, similar to mashed potatoes but still has some crunch from the mung beans. The soy sauce / vinegar dipping sauce and salty little peppers go really well with the pancake and are certainly a must to fully enjoy this particular pancake.
Another main dish found in Gwangjang Market is nice bowl of fresh noodles (Kalguksu). There are many vendors selling freshly made noodles so pull up a stool and enjoy!
I can’t really say if one place is any better than another. They all look to be pretty similar but I’m sure there’s subtle differences that true noodle aficionados would notice.
At all of these sit downs stations the noodles are literally being handmade, freshly cut, right in front of you.
The bowl I got are some of the best noodles I’ve had. The noodles were truly al dente. Nice and chewy, yet firm. Freshly made noodles truly make a massive difference.
The broth had a rich, flavorful taste to it. There’s some veggies in the soup and it’s topped by nori. I really enjoyed dropping some kimchi into it to add a different texture and flavor to the soup too.
To top off my experience at Gwangjang Market I noticed a donut stand that had a long line of people and figured it must be the place to go!
The line wrapped outside of the market, spilling out onto the street but only took about 20 mins. It was well worth the wait. The donuts are freshly made right in front of you and are absolutely delicious.
Freshly deep fried then immeditely rolled in sugar, the donut twist (Kkwabaegi) is exceptionally light, has a fried crunch on the outside and the inside is pillowery soft and chewy. I could have easily eaten 10 of these but refrained and only got two!
The only downside of this market is that there’s so much food waiting to be tried and enjoyed but only so much space in one’s stomach, lol. Choose wisely and enjoy all the fantastic food options Gwangjang Market has to offer!
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