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It’s good to eat one thing or another, but sometimes you can get picky and want a single menu, tempted by the thought of food alleys. There's a good reason why restaurants are clustered together. Following the success of a restaurant, other nearby restaurants change menus, or old restaurants that had been scattered about, gather in one place. When a stereotyped traditional market draws new spotlight with a single food item, it attracts unprecedented numbers of visitors; thus making history.
Food masters having stuck to the same secrets for 30-40 years are greeting guests in every alley. Aside from the guaranteed taste of food, the common secret behind their long-term survival is generosity. Complementary foods offered in addition to the main menu are types of affection that simply can’t be found in large-scale franchise restaurants. Spring is finally here, so why don’t you indulge your senses and head out to the hidden food alleys nested within the city.
The provenance of the saying, “Gongdeok=Jokbal,” dates back about 30 years. As a small restaurant that used to sell sundaeguk (Korean blood sausage soup) and jokbal (pig's feet) at one corner of the market thrived, neighboring restaurants began to sell sundae and jokbal, leading to the creation of the present-day Gongdeok Jokbal Alley. If you come out of exit 5 of Gongdeok Station, you can see an old traditional market that stands out from the modern high-rise building across the street. From the entrance of the market, jokbalrestaurants with varied signboards, ranging from jokbal to hanbang (medicinal) jokbal, gungjung (royal) jokbal and ohyang (five spice) jokbal, stand rooftop to rooftop.
Gongdeok Market, which opened in 1967, once thrived, counted among the top five markets in Seoul, but has since lost its luster over time, and even underwent a crisis owing to a fire in 2007. Then, as broadcasters and news media shed new light on the jokbal alley, nearby office workers and young visitors have frequented the market gradually. In addition to a folksy atmosphere, jokbal boasts a long history, as well as sundae, while the all you-can-eat sundaeguk is sure to draw customers back for more.
Right next to Gongdeok Market is a marketplace for jeon (Korean-style pancakes). You can pick and choose what you want from among all the various kinds of jeon, meats, fish fillets, Korean-style meatballs, and leeks, and put them in the basket in line with the buffet-style service. Your selected jeon is served after being warmed with a table setting.
It actually may sound grandiose to call it a naengmyeon "street." In Hamheung Naengmyeon Street, directly across from the Jungbu Dried Fisheries Market are only two naengmyeon places: Heungnamjip and Ojangdong Hamheung Naengmyeon. Yet, in the sense that they have kept to their traditional recipes after all these years, Ojang-dong can be seen as the root of Hamheung naengmyeon. Displaced refugees who had fled to South Korea after the Korean War nestled in and around Ojang-dong, and they began cooking Hamheung naengmyeon, their hometown dish, which was the beginning of the Hamheung Naengmyeon Street.
The first naengmyeon house that opened in the Ojang-dong Hamheung Naengmyeon Street was Ojang-dong Heungnamjip. The restaurant, which was opened by Yong-won Noh, hailing from Heungnam, Hamgyeong-do Province, in 1953, was called Heungnamok, but as regular customers began to call it “Heungnam Naengmyeon,” it became “Ojang-dong Heungnamjip.” Shortly after, the late Hye-seon Han opened Ojang-dong Hamheung Naengmyeon, and a head cook of the restaurant independently opened Sinchangmyeonok in 1980. Unfortunately, Sinchangmyeonok closed in 2017, but Ojang-dong Heungnamjip and Ojang-dong Hamheung Naengmyeon are still thriving on a three-generation family business passing through their son and grandson. The main menu of Ojang-dong Naengmyeon Street is bibim naengmyeon (spicy buckwheat noodles), as well as hoe naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles with raw fish), among others. Naengmyeon, which is cooked by placing sour seasoned skate, radish shreds, and cucumber on noodles made of sweet potato starch, is simple enough for anyone to enjoy. The meat broth, long simmered with beef and leg bones, is extraordinarily tasting too.
Entering a building, you can see scenery like an indoor traditional market. What divides kitchens that are open without walls between restaurants and tables are shop names hanging from the ceiling, like “Uncle’s” and “Jeollado Yeosu.” Most of them boast more than 30 years of history. Sundae restaurants in the traditional market operating in and around Sillim-dong in the late 1960s and street vendors of sundae got together in one place in 1992 when the Minsok Sundae Town building appeared. Currently, two buildings (Wonjo MinsokSundae Town & Yangji Sundae Town) are in place in the Sundae Town standing tall like two great pillars.
Sillim-dong-style stir-fried sundae is quite different from ordinary stir-fried sundae. The signature menu is baek sundae, which is white Korean blood sausage made palatable by adding perilla seed powder and sesame oil to sundae, pork tripe, and vegetables without red pepper paste seasoning. The folksy recipe, once a loved specialty in Sillim-dong from the 1960s and 1970s, has been handed down through the generations intact. Packaging is possible to ensure that anyone can cook and eat right away at home, while home delivery service is in operation across the country.
In and around Jongno, where such food alleys as Grilled Fish Alley and Chicken Alley are located, Bossam Alley lies somewhat hidden in the back alley. Only those that know where to look can find it as it’s located in an area toward Jongno 2-ga from exit 15 of Jongno3-gaStation. Once there, visitors can enjoy the option of some seasoned bossam restaurants.
The reason why people seek this alley out is simply due to the use of fresh ingredients, despite the occasional long wait. The main menu item of the bossam restaurants with a history of 20-30 years is oyster bossam. Soft and delicate pork, simmered fully everyday, is served along with plump raw oyster airlifted from Tongyeong, alongside a serving of sour radish kimchi. Cordial generosity is also the charm of Bossam Alley. Once bossam is ordered, complimentary dishes like gamjatang, braised spicy chicken, pollack pancake, and tofu pancake, which vary a little from place to place, are served plentifully. Bossam Alley, boasting a variety of munchies, including cuttlefish bossam, hongeo samhap, gamjatang and braised spicy chicken, in addition to oyster bossam, is beloved as a humble getaway for nearby office workers on their way back home.
Daegu-tang restaurants with evidence of age are thriving in the rear of the Woori Bank building from exit 1 of Samgakji Station. It was in 1979 that daegu-tang restaurants began to nestle in the alley, maintaining its 40-year tradition thus far. The diversity of visitors range from senior citizens to young people, including those from nearby office workers, but the restaurants’ main clientèle was initially soldiers. As soldiers of the ROK Army Headquarters that used to be in the present site of the War Memorial of Korea, enamored by the taste of daegu-tang, began spreading word, resulting in Samgakji’s Daegu-tang Alley beginning grow in popularity elsewhere. Daegu-tang was so popular among soldiers then that there was a saying that went something like, “they were sure to eat a bowl of daegu-tang on their way back to the barracks after a night out.”
Apart from the viral marketing by frequenters, the reason why the restaurants could remain in existence for tens of years is the invariant taste of daegu-tang. There are two kinds of daegutang: one brewed in clear soup and the other boiled with red pepper powder; both are neither pungent nor spicy. Side dishes remain fairly simple with grilled salted fish, pickled radish and kimchi. Dining is then finished off with fried rice after some bean sprout soup, water celery, and eggs for a unique meal experience.
Seongdong-gu Office is located about ten minutes on foot from Wangsimni Station, while across the street, the wafting fragrance of meat fills the air. That fragrance comes from the grilling of tripe on Wangsimni Gopchang Street.
There used to be a number of gopchang places from the Hwanghakdong Sageori in Seongdong-gu, to Majang-ro around Wangsimni. Back then, Wangsimini was home to small ironworks, where the alley started as restaurants selling unsold pork and beef tripe, entrails, and other innards from the nearby Majangdong Livestock Market after roasting them on briquettes to poor laborers. Currently, the previous Wangsimni Gopchang Street disappeared because of a new town development project in 2008, and gopchang restaurants relocated to the area opposite Seongdong-gu Office andare thriving. Located just a kilometer away from Majangdong Livestock Market, supply and demand of ingredients has become easier, while the street boasts a far more pleasant environment.
In the past, thick smoke was the problem since briquette fire was used to grill tripe, entrails, and innards; whereas now, gopchang is handed out after going through biscuit firing at a separate cooking space furnished with ventilators. This means that you can eat gopchang without the need for grilling if you just wait in front of the grill. The most popular menu item is a plate of assorted beef gopchang and pork vegetable gopchang. The plate of assorted beef gopchang includes gopchang, tripe, heart, and innards, with liver and omasum served on the house. Pork vegetable gopchang is a previous recipe designed to remove a gamey smell unique to pork gopchang. Generally, it is eaten by wrapping grilled gopchang, well-baked cabbages, and glass noodles in a perilla leaf onwhich raw garlic is added.
Jukkumi is in season in the spring. That’s because it is stuffed with eggs around March and April before the breeding season in May and June. It is in Seongnaedong Jukkumi Alley that you can most readily taste jukkumi in Seoul. The alley began to go viral when jukkumi restaurants set foot in the alley one after another from the 1970s. At present, about 12 jukkumi restaurants are in operation. The street is intriguing as big jukkumi murals are painted along the way. The main menu is stir-fried small octopus or jukkumibokkeum, which is cooked with gochujang seasoning, which includes a combination of shrimp and gopchang, but the pork belly is second to none.
Jukkumi bokkeum boasts a perfect match as spicy jukkumi removes the greasy taste unique to pork belly and the taurine in jukkumi suppresses the bodily absorption of pork fat and cholesterol. The spicy taste is controllable according to your liking, but for theeveryday customer, even the regular taste feels a little spicy. At such times, add a bit of bean sprouts to reduce the spiciness. The best alternatives are white radish cabbages and mayonnaise. What should not be missed as a finisher is the fried rice. Rice is fried with nutty butter by shredding the leftover jukkumi in spicy seasoning.
If you look for a place for a stroll with your stomach full of jukkumi, everyone will recommend Kangfull Comics Street where only pure sentiment overflows. Seongnae-dong Jukkumi Alley is located just ten minutes on foot from Cheonho Station of subway line 5. If you plan on driving, you have to use the Cheonho Station Public Parking Lot because there is no separate spaces for parking.
Dongdaemun Saengseon-gui Alley is located at a street corner linking Seoul Gwangjang Market with Dongdaemun Fashion Town. Grilled fish restaurants stand in a continuous row on both sides of the narrow alley through which only one vehicle can squeeze. It has a history of booming with workers when the nearby area teemed with sewing factories 20 years ago.
Fish is grilled on briquettes so as to avoid the grease that comes with using pan-frying in oil. Fish meat is grilled on gentle briquettes while being turned over 3-5 times. The seasoning is not overly salty either to prevent masking the nutty taste of fish. As all restaurants take out the grill to the alley, visitors will find the alley covered with foggy smoke during meal time.
There are many kinds of fish available, such as mackerel, Spanish mackerel, croaker, hairtail, and atka mackerel. Local travelers look for mackerel mostly, Japanese for Spanish mackerel, and Chinese for croaker. Since Chinese travelers visit the alley in droves lately, there are many restaurants with Chinese-speaking employees. Once fish is ordered, it is served in the form of baekban (a meal set including a bowl of rice, soup, and side dishes) without exception. Rice and side dishes are served first because fish must be grilled upon the receipt of order. Adjusting the speed of consumption is key as it becomes all too easy to dive into the side dishes and have nothing left but the fish when it comes out!
In the 1980s, cutlassfish was a common fish getting on the table every day. At the time, restaurants at Namdaemun Market braised cheap cutlassfish spicy to suit merchants’ palate before selling them, which went viral to result in the creation of the present-day Namdaemun Galchi-jorim Alley. Nowadays, they are so expensive, invoking the name, golden cutlassfish, but the Namdaemun braised cutlassfish are still inexpensive. Nonetheless, the ingredients are quite good. The origin of cutlassfish varies from restaurant to restaurant, but domestic cutlassfish from Yeosu, Jeju, Mokpo, and the like, are typically used.
Entering the Sungnyemun Imported Goods Shopping Center, a winding, narrow alley unfolds, reminding people of a maze. Right when you turn into an alley entrance, you can see all the signboards reading “braised cutlassfish.” You might even feel your nose tingle if you take a deep breath, or go into a sneezing fit at the spicy smell.
Most restaurants located in Namdaemun Galchi-jorim Alley have a long history ranging from 20-40 years. The traditional recipe involves using water left over from washing rice and placing it into a old pot with white radish on the bottom. Then chopped cutlassfish is placed over it along with crushed garlic, green onions, red pepper powder, and other seasoning, before braising them until the radish is on the verge of being slightly burnt. It is generally eaten by first removing the small bones and dipping the fish in the soup before eating it. The radish, here, is a perfect match with the side of rice.
A five-minute walk from exit 1 of Hoegi Station of the Jungang Line in Seoul brings you to Pajeon Alley. One may assume that the alley itself is smeared all over with grease, but it’s actually kept in good shape. Visitors can have a pleasant time looking around following the improvements made near Hoegi Station were carried out from the entrance of Hoegi Station Pajeon Alley in 2016.
About ten pajeon restaurants are clustered in Hoegi Station Pajeon Alley. They are already famous restaurants to collegians in the northeastern district of Seoul attending Kyung Hee University, University of Seoul, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and Kwangwoon University. That’s because people can eat thick and hearty pajeon at affordable prices.
They used to be popular meeting places among collegians in the past, with the oldest pajeon restaurant in the alley being Nageune Pajeon. Pajeon has been made here for more than 40 years. With a thickness over 3 cm, such seafood ingredients as shrimp, cuttlefish, and baby clam are also enjoyed. And nothing is better than topping it all off with a drink of makgeolli (rice wine). These days, Imone Wang Pajeon is attracting more and more youngsters. Once you bite into a piece of pajeon, the crispiness is so invigorating, compared to that of fried food rather than a pancake. Also, the soy sauce with green onions makes it all the more savory! Monsoon season is almost here, so be ready to enjoy some delicious food amid the rainy weather!
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