Gwangjang Market 광장시장
For dinner on Tuesday I headed to Gwangjang Market in the Jongno district, one of the oldest and largest traditional markets in South Korea. This market has many shops open during the day, and also many food stalls that were open at night. Here’s some photos of the market.
I didn’t really have a plan going in and just sat down at some stalls that looked good. The outdoor stalls had heated benches which were helpful in the cold. My first stop was at a stall selling bindaetteok, a griddle fried pancake-like savory patty made of mung beans. The lady was manning a large griddle with different types of bindaetteok, deftly forming and flipping them with a spatula in each hand.
I had a regular veg bindaetteok for ₩5000, which was about the size of a plate, and thick. She cut it into quarters and served it on a foil lined plate with some soy and vinegar dipping sauce. This was great! It was hot off the griddle and had a nice crispy crust with a somewhat tender interior. It was a very hearty pancake.
After that delicious starter, I sat down at a stall selling seafood. Here I had a mixed seafood plate for ₩15,000.
There was a sweet and spicy gochujang sauce, some lettuce and perilla leaves to wrap with, and wasabi and soy sauce. There was a small cup of hot soup to sip on.
The mixed seafood was a mixed bag, both selection-wise and taste-wise. There was salmon, whelk, hamachi I think, some stringy like pieces of white fish, and sea squirt I believe. I liked the salmon and the whelk, which was pleasantly chewy, but the hamachi slices had quite a bit of gristle, as did the stringy pieces of white fish in the middle. The orange item on the left I think was sea squirt? I didn’t care for that at all, it was slimy and quite bitter! I’m glad I tried it though, I guess I don’t like sea squirt.
Next I had some gimbap from another stall. I believe this is mayak gimbap / “drug” gimbap, named because of their addictiveness. And they were indeed quite addictive. They were smaller than regular gimbap and had danmuji / yellow pickled daikon and other veggies and only a little rice. They came with a soy and vinegar dipping sauce that was salty and had some wasabi-like sharpness - looking at some recipes online looks like there is some mustard powder added.
Finally for dessert, I saw a long line outside of a stall selling donuts. I joined the line, much like a lemming.
The line moved quickly, and I got their most popular donut - a kkwabaegi / twisted donut with some rice flour I think in it. They were ₩1,000 each. The donut was very good - warm and a little chewy and covered with a dusting of sugar. I think part of the popularity is due to the freshness of the donuts, as there seems to be constant turnover from the line. One can see them rolling out and forming the dough in the front of the stall.
the Kraft single on top really is a nice touch.
The service was very friendly and convivial, and my bartender was clearly very knowledgeable about cocktails, as I guess one must be if there is no set menu.
