카모메, Kamome (Onigiri)

Kamome was my go-to lunch place over summer. It’s tasty, the kimbap/onigiri things are amazing, cheap and comically big. There are branches of Kamome all over the shop. This one is located in Bangi-dong.

Their menu can be a little bit confusing if you don’t read Korean too well, but if you grab a take-out menu (usually located next to the till) there are pictures.

I opted for the Kamome (카모메 세트) Set for 6000 won. This comes with your basic udong (카모메 우동) and your choice of aaannnnnnyyyy onigiri. I went for a mixed, this is just two of the fillings in one onigiri. There is a little part on the menu that shows you which combinations you can get (see red circle). I went for #6, tuna mayo and buldalk (spicy chicken). It was lush.
Phill went for Single Set (싱글 세트) for 8000 won. This comes with your choice of any udong and any onigiri. He chose fish cake udong (오뎅 우동) and tuna mayo. However, these actually work out cheaper if you get them seperately. Well done Kamome... you win.

odeng (fishcake) udong

mixed onigiri before munching

mixed onigiri mid munching

I’ve had Kamome several times from 2 different branches and never been disappointed, but I usually just get 2 onigiri, which is enough of a meal for me.
Also, there is a soup station and there are little plastic pots you can use for take out, awesome!!
TIP: When the menu says spicy (two chillies) they mean it!

광장시장, Gwangjang Market (Kimbap, Jeon)

This market had been on our 'must visit' list for a ridiculous amount of time, we finally made it out there and got to try the fabled mayak kimbap (마약김밥). Mayak being 'drug'. As in, the kimbap is meant to be so freakin good that you can't stop eating it.

We arrived at around 6pm on a weekday and unfortunately, although it's meant to be open until around 11pm, most shops were shut down or in the process of closing up. So we missed out on the silk etc. that this market is also famous for. Despite that, the food section of the market was still bustling and very much open. We both thought Gwangjang was awesome, it was loud, busy and reminded us of markets we've been to in South East Asia.

We figured that we should get kimbap from 'Kimbap Alley', but when we found it, there were only a few stalls that were shut down and it was confusingly detached from the other food section. So we found a little stall in the main food area that seemed dedicated to these tiny simple rolls of kimbap and ordered a portion (8 rolls for 2000 won).

They were ok, just very basic bite size kimbaps. What IS awesome though, is the wasabi liquid joy that you dip them in. And the adorable old lady making them.

Hazzar! On to the next stall! We sat down at a busy jeon (천 - korean pancake) joint and ordered bindaeddeok (빈대떡) for 4000 won. Bindaeddeok is mung bean pancake and what I really like is that they had a machine working and grinding the beans up at the stall.

We also ordered a bottle of makgeolli (4000 won). The bindaeddeok was AWESOME. The combination of makgeolli and bindaeddeok, even more awesome.

All together this came to 5000 won each. It wasn't a meal at all, just like... semi filling snacks. However, we did also see some fine looking kimchi mandu and some stalls actually cutting up the noodles to make kalguksu! I'd never seen this before, NOVELTY! Worry not, we will be going back to try these out!

Address: 88 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul

View Larger Map