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

신선설농탕 Sinseon Seolnongtang

Sinseon Seolnongtang (신선설농탕) is a really big seolleongtang (설롱탕) chain restaurant. We had never tried this dish before, so it seemed like a good place to start!

Seolleongtang is a soup made from cooking ox bones for a really long time and, from what I can tell, usually adding brisket. Seeing as we were giving this soup a go for the first time we just got the original to see what it was all about. However, this place has a ton of other kinds. As you can see on their menu.

We got a small each (7000 KRW) and this came with rice. We also got a side of mandu (6000 KRW) which were about the size of my face and pretty tasty. The mandu casing was thin so there was a really good amount of filling.

The soup is kind of bland for my tastes, but we both loved it with a bit of pepper. You can also put cut up kimchi in there to spice things up, which leads me to possibly my favourite thing about this place…

THREE KINDS OF KIMCHI. ON YOUR TABLE. No yogiyo-ing for this girl. Not to mention that they were all really really good kimchis. Another great thing about this place is that they serve makgeolli, which comes in the most awesome traditional bowls. 

All together this came to 12,000 KRW each which was awesome seeing as we got a side and makgeolli!

Here is a link to all their branches!