top 5 must-eats in seoul 🇰🇷

sarukame 🍜

we were making our way to oreno ramen but decided to stop by sarukame instead as oreno was a distance away and we saw that there was a queue forming (v sporean heh) turned out to be one of our best decisions!! the chicken ramen (9,000 KRW) was insanely good - broth was mindblowing, cha shu tasted like cured meat. it was probably one of the best ramens i’ve ever had. tho’ i must say that the onsen egg was a little disappointing cause it wasn’t really marinated. the clam ramen (9,800 KRW) was similar to the chicken ramen but the broth was really shouting CLAMS - you’ll love this if you love clams! we saw many people ordering the mini donburi with chashu (3,800 KRW) together with a bowl of ramen and we totally understand why! it was a very simple dish but everything came together perfectly. there was this charred taste from the chashu which really made the dish stood out. the disappointing dish here was the tantanmen (9,800 KRW). we ordered both the regular and maje tantanmens but they were really too salty for our liking

note: the queue was a scam 😂 most people already have a queue number when they arrive, so don’t queue! get a number from the machine outside of the shop (we used a dummy korean phone number and took photo of the screen) the staff who was managing the customers spoke fluent english so you can always let her know if you encounter any issues

namdaemun kalguksu alley 🍲

located in namdaemun market is the kalguksu alley. i struggled a little when finding this place because the entrance was sooooo small that i just kept overlooking it. you might feel quite intimidated when you enter cause the ahjummas will keep asking you to go to their stall. so you can either enter with a stall in mind or just settle for whoever approaches you first - cause tbh, every stall sells the same thing 😂 (we settled for the second stall on the right, nearest to the entrance). the barley rice (which we think is the same as bimbimbap) was the most value for money cause they gave spicy noodles and knife-cut noodles as service. if you get the knife-cut noodles (8,000 KRW) then you get spicy noodles for service and if you order spicy noodles, you get knife-cut noodles for service. basically the only dish you dont get for service is the barley rice and so, order the barley rice! food was very heartwarming and nutritious. would recommend to come here for the experience. just note that this is not a place to chill and hangout 😂 you got to eat and then leave immediately once done (else they will chase you out)

samcheongdong sujebi 🏡

if you’re dropping by bukchon hanok village, do try out this sujebi place! the queue was very manageable when we arrived at around 11am - tho’ i must say it got really crazy when we left (so reach early!) we got the makgeoli (4,000 KRW), sujebi (9,000 KRW per pax), and green onion pancake (16,000 KRW). makgeoli turned out to be one of my mum’s fav dishes in korea. sujebi was very comforting especially in the chilly weather we were in. it was cooked well, not overly tough or soggy. soup was also very flavourful. ordered a 3 pax sujebi for 6 of us and it was sufficient. though the food was delicious, i don’t think it’s worth more than a 45 mins’ wait

mara gongbang 🌶️

yes, this is mala! think we just got tired of korean food and decided to try other cuisines. there’re actually quite a number of mala shops around and we picked this initially cause we wanted to have it for supper - but they said they were closed 😭 (though we went way before their closing hours). so we went back again another day just to try it. soup was super shiok and spicy even tho the spice level was the lowest. but the best thing here is the variety of noodles - you’ll love it if you love potato/tapioca noodles like me! guo bao rou and cong you bing were pretty average so they can be skipped. the total amounted to 48,200 KRW (for 6 pax) which i think was pretty decent

myeongdong food street 🍢

these 2 stalls are just next to each other, outside of the nike store in myeongdong. i happened to be craving for both fishcake and hotteok and they looked good so i got them. only ordered one fishcake (2,000 KRW) but i think i had almost 4 cups of soup (both flavours) 😛 - it was that comforting!! the hotteok stall was constantly making hotteoks so needless to say, the hotteok (2,000 KRW) was very fresh and crispy. really helped to satisfy my cravings for it. can’t say that these two are like the best of the best, but it was the right time, right place, and right weather for me 😂

🍋 check out my other posts on seoul -

cafes/food kiosks i tried in seoul

fun things to do in seoul

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