Seoul Food Guide: What to Eat and Where to Go

Eating well in Seoul is less about a handful of famous restaurants and more about knowing which kind of place suits which meal: a market stall for a fast pancake, a hanok dining room for a bowl of ginseng chicken soup, a charcoal grill in Gangnam for the long evening dinner. This guide sorts the city's food scene by type of place, so you can mix and match around whatever sights you have planned.

How Korean meals work

A Korean table is built around shared dishes and small plates. Rice and soup arrive for each person, a stew or grilled meat sits in the middle, and a changing set of banchan, the side dishes, fills the rest of the table. Kimchi is almost always among them. In most restaurants the banchan are refilled for free, which is part of why a simple meal feels generous.

Many restaurants specialise in one dish and serve nothing else, so the menu can be very short. That is a good sign rather than a limitation. Some grill restaurants ask for a minimum of two portions per table, so solo travellers should look for places that advertise single servings or choose markets and noodle shops instead. Opening hours and prices change often, so treat anything below as a guide and check a recent map listing before you walk across town.

Traditional markets: the best place to start

Gwangjang Market

If you only visit one food market, make it Gwangjang Market, the oldest traditional market in Seoul. The covered lanes are lined with stalls where cooks work in plain sight, and the most famous orders are bindaetteok (a crisp mung-bean pancake), mayak gimbap (small seaweed rolls that got their nickname for being hard to stop eating) and kalguksu, a hand-cut noodle soup. Seating is communal and tight. When a stool opens up at a busy stall, take it immediately and order what the neighbours are eating.

Just beside the market is the Yukhoe Street in Jongno, a row of old-school restaurants serving yukhoe, a seasoned raw beef tartare, along with sundae, the Korean blood sausage. It is a more adventurous stop and best for people who already enjoy raw or offal dishes. Everyone else can enjoy the market without it.

Tongin Market

Near Gyeongbokgung, Tongin Market has a clever system: you buy a pack of brass coins at the information booth by the entrance, then walk the stalls and trade coins for small portions, building your own lunch box. The market is known for its tteokbokki, chewy rice cakes in a spicy-sweet red sauce, and it is easy to combine with a morning at the palace. It works best around midday, when most stalls have full trays.

Mangwon Market and Noryangjin

West of the centre, Mangwon Market is a local neighbourhood market close to Hongdae. Residents go there for fried chicken and sweet doughnuts, and it feels less staged than the central markets. For seafood, Noryangjin Fisheries Market is a huge hall where you choose live fish and shellfish from the tanks, then take them upstairs to a restaurant that will prepare them. Prices are negotiated, so ask before you commit, and bring a Korean-speaking friend or a translation app if you can.

Street food in Myeongdong and beyond

In the evening Myeongdong Street Food turns the shopping streets into a corridor of stalls, with hundreds of vendors selling skewers, seafood and grilled tteok-galbi, a patty of short-rib meat. It is touristy, and prices there tend to be higher than in neighbourhood markets, but it is also the most convenient way to graze after a day of sightseeing. Walk the full length before buying anything, because the same snack looks very different from stall to stall.

Street snacks are usually eaten standing. Take napkins, avoid carrying hot food through crowds, and finish before you walk into a shop. For a more relaxed alternative with proper seats, go back to the markets above, or look for the small snack bars known as pojangmacha that appear after dark in many districts.

Sit-down classics

Samgyetang near the palace

Tosokchon Samgyetang occupies a hanok near Gyeongbokgung and is known for samgyetang, a whole young chicken stuffed with rice and simmered in a ginseng broth. Koreans traditionally eat it on hot days to restore energy, which sounds odd until you try it. Expect a queue at peak lunch times, and combine it with a morning at the palace and a walk through the Bukchon area.

Korean BBQ in Gangnam

The back streets of Gangnam Korean BBQ Street are lined with restaurants grilling samgyeopsal (pork belly) and hangjeongsal (pork neck) over charcoal. The staff may cut the meat for you, or they will show you how. Wrap a piece in a lettuce or perilla leaf with garlic, a dab of ssamjang paste and some kimchi, then eat it in one bite. Go in a group of two or more and give yourself at least an hour and a half.

Tea, cafes and sweet stops

The city's cafe culture is built around old houses. In Insadong, the Insadong Traditional Tea House courtyards serve traditional Korean teas and rice cakes in a quiet setting, which makes them ideal for resting between museums. In Ikseon-dong Hanok Cafes the narrow alleys hold hanok houses converted into cafes and small restaurants, so you can order a dessert in a room that was someone's home. The area is popular with photographers and gets busy on weekends, so go on a weekday morning if you want space.

Coffee is everywhere, and so are seasonal desserts such as shaved ice with red beans. Do not expect every cafe to sell food, and do expect the best seats to be taken after lunch.

Practical tips for eating in Seoul

• Go to markets for lunch rather than late evening, since many stalls close earlier than restaurants.
• Learn three words: juseyo (please give me), mul (water) and jal meokgesseumnida (thank you for the meal, said before eating).
• Tell staff in advance about shellfish, pork or peanut allergies, because stock and sauces often hide them.
• Vegetarians will find it hard, since broths use meat or fish; temple-style restaurants and some Insadong places are easier.
• Cash is still handy at small market stalls, though most restaurants accept cards; check payment options before you order.

Many menus have photos, and a Korean menu app or camera translation works well. Pointing is perfectly acceptable. If you are curious how another big Asian food capital compares, our guide to what to eat in Tokyo is a good companion read.

A simple one-day eating route

Start with tea in Insadong, walk to Tosokchon for an early lunch, then cross to Tongin Market for a few coin-paid snacks if you are still hungry. Rest at a hanok cafe in Ikseon-dong in the afternoon, and finish in Gangnam with barbecue. If you prefer a market-heavy day, begin at Gwangjang, then continue to Myeongdong in the evening. To fit these meals around the palaces, museums and viewpoints, read our 3-day Seoul itinerary.

You can browse every food spot on the map in the Seoul food theme, read the wider Seoul guide, or learn about the country in South Korea. When you know your dates, the Seoul planner turns it all into a day-by-day schedule.