travel IN seoul, Korea
| Lilac Suitcase
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Korean rice Cake (teokbokki) Mung bean pancake Fried Kimchi-stuffed Donut
Fish cake Korean cold noodles Sweet rice cake
2) Myeongdong Street Food
This place had food stores that serves traditional Korean food but with a modern twist to it. It is a popular tourist attraction so the food is more expensive as compared to the Gwanjang market. The photos show the food that we have tried there. Our favorites were the egg bread and black bean noodles. The egg bread consisted of a layer of fluffy cake and a sorta fried egg on top, with some sunflower seeds on top. it is something that we have not seen before and it tasted pretty good. The noodles in the Black bean noodles were so thick and chewy (that we love!) and the black bean sauce was very well seasoned. 😬
rice cake and cheese fish cake egg bread Oreo Churros
Korean black bean noodles All sorted of fried food
5) Sobok
IIt wasn't easy to get here. We used the public transportation from our accommodation to get to Hongdae station , and walked for a about 20 mins to get to this place. There was a bit of walking but we were glad that we went there because the taste of their ice cream was so good! Their Sobok ice cream tasted nothing like the usual ice cream flavor, it's white so we thought it was vanila but no! it's brown rice and grains flavor! how special! Each ice cream came with many other toppings like roasted seeds, dried persimmon, syrup, jellies, pumpkins and injeolmi (soybean) ice balls. We were surprised when we bit into the ice ball, because it had chewy rice cake inside! What a tasty invention! We also tried the strawberry flavored ice cream but original ice-cream is the best in our opinion.
3) Kim Seon Sheng Mandu
They serve the best mandu(dumplings) that I have tried in Korea! The skin of the dumpling was thin but very chewy (unlike usual dumplings that we get from Chinese/Japanese), it was also very juicy inside. The kimbap (Seaweed rice roll had generous fillings and it was pretty good but the star from this restaurant is the dumpling which you must order if you are there!
Kimbap with (Pork Cutlet) DonKatsu Galbi Mandu
4) James Cheese & Back Ribs
We love how easy it was to separate the meat from the ribs. The meat was so tender that it literally melted in our mouth! The ribs were very well seasoned with spices and it had so much flavor already just on its own but you can also enjoy it with the melted cheese, sweetcorn and jalapeño peppers which served along with the ribs. If you are still not satisfied with the flavors, no worries, you can enjoy the ribs with the free side dishes!
Here come the best part if you like to eat rice like us: you can ask the staffs to make fried rice using the remaining sauce, they do it infront of you! They added steamed rice, sweet corn, fish roe, roasted seaweed, an egg to the remaining sauce to make the fried rice. They used simple ingredients but it tasted so good! We were wondering if they have added some secret ingredients that we don't know because it was super tasty. it was really nice that they make the fried rice for you. it was like watching a live cooking show. The waiter/waitress flatten the rice nicely in the sizzling pan and i think they did it deliberately so that the rice at the bottom of the pan was slightly brunt and gave an extra texture and flavour to the fried rice (in a good way)
Sobok Ice-cream, Strawberry ice-cream and Injeolmi ice-balls
7) Osulloc Tea House -
Osulloc Tea House is originated from Jeju. They are known for their green tea powder which not only has good quality but also good taste. Many people came to buy their green tea powder but we were more interested in their desserts and drinks. In the shop, they serve a variety of green tea flavored desserts, beverages and spreads. We love their green tea latte which was topped with green tea soft serve. The green tea flavor was quite strong but that's how we like our green tea latte. They also have Green Tea Milk spread and Roasted Tea Milk spread which comes in jars that you can buy and eat it with toasts. We bought their Green Tea Milk spread but we were not a fan of it because it was slightly too sweet to our taste.
6) Isaac Toast -
This is a popular breakfast Chain among the locals and the tourists so be prepared to queue when you get there. We ordered the spicy cutlet toast and yes it's quite spicy and suited our liking. We also ordered the Bulgogi mvp toast. Both were yummy and we highly recommend them! Their toasts were buttery but not too greasy and it was sandwiched with a patty (for spicy cutlet), grilled meat (for Bulgogi mvp), chopped cabbage and lots of their sauces. We think the ingredients that they used were basic but what made their sandwiches so tasty was their sauces! The sauces tied all the ingredients together and elevated the flavor of the sandwich.
1) Gwanjang Market
It is recommended to come to this market in the morning to avoid the crowd. There is a variety of traditional Korean food that you can choose from in Gwanjang Market! Not only that, you will see lots of shops that sells Korean cookware! We do not recommend you to buy the cookware there because it can be heavy to carry with you! We bought a Korean stone pot (for bibimbap) and sets of Korean metal chopsticks and regretted because it meant that we had to carry the heavy cookware with us throughout the day until we return to the hotel. 😭
The stores sell similar food but the foods from each store can taste quite different. Let say the teokbokki (rice cake) that we have tasted there, one was spicier and another one was sweeter. We recommend you buy the foods in smaller portions so that you can try more and different food! The food that we love were the Mung bean pancake (slightly oily but you only eat it once in a while so it's ok), kimchi-stuffed donut, teokbokki, Korean cold noodles and sweet rice cake.
In the market, you will find sweet rice cake that comes in many colors, shapes and flavors. Out of many that we have tried, Youngyang Chaltteok( rice cake with beans, nuts and dried fruits), Songpyeon (rice cake stuffed with sugar syrup) and Injeolmi(Soybean rice cake) were our favorites.
Line Friends' Ice Cream Shoocky (Chocochoco Smoothie) BT21 Summer Beverage
8) Line friends' Store and Cafe
If you like cartoon themed cafes, you will love this place. This cafe is so Instagram worthy that everything you can find here is associated with line friend characters! Even their serviettes were printed with the Line characters! 😍😍
We ordered the ice-cream in cone, the ice cream was creamy and the cookie on top was so cute!
If you are an Army (BTS Fans ) like us, you will need to check out this place for BT21!
We have tried both the Shooky (Chocochoco Smoothie) and RJ (Fluffy Sundae), personally love Shooky Chocochoco Smoothie better due to the strong chocolate taste!
Line Friends' Macarons RJ (Fluffy Sundae) LIne Friends' Store
9) Korean fried Chicken
There are many famous fast food stores in Korean that serve good fried Chicken. We have tried the BHC chicken (original and with sauce). The original flavor fried chicken was very crunchy and the meat was tender and juicy. On the other hand, the fried chicken with sauce didn't taste that great, probably because we ordered take away and it was too soggy but the taste was great. We recommend you to dine in for better taste and experience.
10) Sulbing Bingsu
It was packed with people during summer and there are many different flavors to choose from. I believe one bingsu (shaved ice) could serve 2-3 people. I ordered the melon bingsu (shaved ice) which served with half melon, shaved ice mix with strawberry and strawberry cheesecake, yoghurt ice-cream and for extra sweetness served at the side- condensed milk. I love the strawberry cheesecake they place inside the shaved ice but a bingsu only served with a few pieces of strawberry cheesecake. I wish there is more strawberry cheesecake inside..
