A beginner’s guide to street food in Seoul

While most people know about kimchi and Korean barbeque, the food offerings in South Korea are incredibly diverse, and go far beyond these standard dishes. While there’s a tantalising restaurant every few metres throughout the entire city, it’s street food carts and tents that fill all the open spaces.

From dried seafood chips and tteokbokki to ice cream tubes and sugar pancakes, Seoul’s street vendors have a snack for every taste. South Korea’s capital has a nearly endless parade of cheap and delicious food.

Here are ten unique, delicious and cheap street foods to sample on your trip to Seoul. I didn’t manage to try all of them (I have never been a huge fan of fried pig’s feet), but the ones I did sample were a real works of culinary art. The best places to find good quality street food are in and around Insadong, as well as other neighbourhoods such as Myeong-dong, Jongno-gu and Samcheongdong.

The street food in South Korea’s capital would just not be the same without tentacles of fried octopus and squid. You will probably smell the fresh seafood before seeing the vendor’s cart.

One of Korea’s most consumed dishes, tteokbokki was originally made with soy sauce. This is Seoul’s most iconic street food. If you’re craving something spicy, look for a food stall serving tteokbokki, with a variety of sauces that range from mild to alarm-fire spicy. The dish is comprised of chewy rice cakes soaked in spicy pepper sauce and comes with a serving of fish cakes.

Apparently this is a wildly popular food in Korea. The more “user-friendly” version of jokbal (pigs feet) can be found around the area of Myeong-dong. If you feel brave enough to try the authentic Korean flavours of pig’s feet, head to Twigim Street in Gongdeok. There you will be able to find some of the most famous dishes cooked with jokbal.