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Soybean Sprout Soup (Kongnamulguk) – Gyeongju, South Korea
After a long day of walking around Gyeongju taking in the sights, I was definitely tired and in need of some comfort food. It was later in the afternoon in between lunch and dinner so a lot of restaurants were not open.
Fortunately, I was able to come across this small restaurant called Market Soup (not sure if that’s translated correctly).
Definitely a small place off the main road, down a random alley, which had a handful of tables. The menu was short and sweet with just a few items. I always believe places with a small menu will have delicious food because they can specialize in just a few recipes and perfect them.
I ordered the bean sprout soup with beef and was quite content with the choice.
Bean sprout soup is a very common, beloved soup in South Korea, and is also known as a hangover cure. I hadn’t tried it yet so I was eager to give it a try.
This was a good sized bowl and it came out piping hot. The broth was outstanding. Savory with mild spice to it with sesame seed. The bean sprouts were nice and crunchy and the meat was extremely tender.
Taking some of the cubed radish kimchi and putting it in the soup added even more crunch and an extra layer of flavor to the soup base.
Served with a side of rice, this was definitely a comforting meal that really hit the spot after a long day of exploring!
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Jungang Night Market, Gyeongju, South Korea
I stopped by this small food market and grabbed a quick bite at a couple of the stalls. This was just opening up so not all the stalls were up and running and there were minimal people there, which was nice!
The first stall I had was BBQ pork. Right off the grill, the pork pieces had that lovely char taste and the sauce was slighlty sweet with mild spice. The pieces were juicy and tender and very tasty. Servied on a bed of shredded cabbage, this was a delicious snack.
The second stall I had served gimbap. It’s hard to walk by a good looking gimbap so I had to give this one a try!
This particular gimbap had some lettuce and grilled pork with some chili sauce in the middle with some ground sesame sprinkled over the top.
Pretty simple ingredients within this gimbap but it was well made and solid tasting!
There were a few other stalls that were open but a lot were still setting up or not fully open yet so I didn’t get the full experience of this night market but was happy with the two stalls I stopped by!
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Sweet and Savory Coin Bread with Gooey Mozzarella Cheese In Gyeongju, South Korea
A popular snack in Gyeongju is coin bread which is a sweet and savory baked snack on a stick. There’s a fair amount of stalls that I came across selling this tasty treat.
Coin Bread stall in Gyeongju Flavor wise and consistency wise, I’d say it’s a cross between a pancake and waffle but with the huge difference it has gooey, melted mozzarella cheese in the middle and is given to you on a stick. You can never really go wrong with food on a stick right?
Coin bread! You wouldn’t necessarily think that this combination pancake / waffle with mozzarella in the middle would be the most appetizing food but the sweet and savory combo really works with this.
The pancake / waffle is soft on the inside, yet has a light, crisp, outer crunch and a solid sweetness. When you take a bite and get some of that savory, melted, stringy, mozzarella, it’s a perfect blend of flavors. I definitely could have eaten a few of these in one sitting, they’re that good!
This is definitely a unique, tasty treat in Gyeongju which I highly recommend giving a try!
