Seoul food

By Namini Wijedasa in Seoul

An encounter with interesting street eats in South Korea

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The range of cuisines in Korea is mindboggling. From traditional street food to fusion fare; from delectable barbecue to sprawling meals with side dishes that keep coming to the table; from pristine temple food to royal court food. This fast-developing East Asian nation is brimming with variety.

Gwangjang traditional market

The Gwangjang market, established in 1905, is one of the oldest in Seoul. It is heavily patronised by the locals, mostly for its stalls selling time-honoured dishes like Korean style friend mung pancakes (bindaetteok); rice, carrot and pickled daikon radish wrapped in seaweed (gimbap); stuffed dumplings (mandu); and tteokbokki (spicy rice cake).

Bibimbap or mixed rice is a favourite. Customers choose their vegetables from bowls, then blend them together with rice in their metal bowls and spice it all up with Korean red pepper sauce. Meat is a staple in the Korean diet and there is much of it on offer here: blood sausauge (soondae), chicken feet (dakbal), intestines and pig trotters (jokbal).

Some stalls have fish tanks with live squid and octopus which they cut up for customers, to be eaten with sauces while still squirming on the plate. There is fish cake soup (eomukguk) and Korean steak tartare or yukhoe, which is lean, julienned raw beef seasoned with spices and sauces.

Gwangjang is best visited at night, say the connoisseurs. It divides into alleys and people sit around on benches, wolfing down the reasonably priced grub.

Myeongdong, a popular shopping street in Seoul, is also famous for its street food but with a distinctly modern twist. They are sold out of carts. Some of the fare on sale here are not recognisable to the older generations but the area is teeming with young Koreans and tourists, mostly fellow East Asians. Among the dumplings, traditional nut stalls and rice cakes, you get grilled cheese lobster, egg bread and ‘tornado potato’ or hweori gamja which is spiral cut potato with seasonings like cheese, onion powder and barbecue.

There are stalls selling dried seafood, especially squid which is sweet and chewy. The seaweed wrapped rice here has more exotic fillings and there are batter-fried baby crabs to be bought along with various barbecued meats on sticks. There are seafood pancakes, kimchi pancakes and more conventional crepes with chocolate and banana fillings. There is squid, octopus and escargot. Many stalls offer churros. One of the fastest selling items is egg bread (gyeran bbang) which is egg baked in bread. There is fishcake on skewers served with broth and Korean fried chicken.

Live octupus, a delicacy, at Gwangjang market.

There’s even baked cheese! There are scallops, Korean style yaki noodles; sausages wrapped in bacon and also in pastry. And rice cake gets a twist in Myeongdong with red bean mocha–fresh strawberries wrapped in mashed red bean and glutinous rice flour. It is chewy on the outside and delectable on the inside, when you get to the fruit.

The prices are usually so reasonable that many tourists end up snapping up fare on the streets in Seoul. Over the years, more items have been added to the list of modern dishes. Combined with the atmosphere in the many lanes and alleys that sell these fare, the Korean street food experience is a must-have for any visitor.

(The writers visit was sponsored by the Korean Culture and Information Service to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Sri Lanka)
Pix by Hyoseon Kim