Image credit: shalamov
Sampling Korean food in Seoul for the first time is a lot like falling in love.
First, you fix your gaze on a dish that catches your fancy. Then, you slowly test the water – give it a closer look, catch a whiff, and take a little bite. After which, you go all the way in and savor all the flavors, the sensational highlights, the interesting textures, and all the elements that make you yearn for more.
You never forget your first taste of Korean food – the same way you’ll always remember falling in love for the first time.
Korean food is a breed above other cuisines. It is characterized by the unabashed use of spices, juxtaposed alongside ingenious methods of food preservation and skillful consumption of all parts of an animal. Korean fare is one of those cuisines that you can heartily partake without feeling much guilt as it is among the more healthful foods across the globe.
The best time to enjoy Korean food in Seoul is March-May and September-November because the beautiful colors of spring and summer, respectively, make for the most lavish backdrop.
If it’s your first time in The Land of the Morning Calm, here’s your guide to the best foods in Seoul.
Image credit: Jean-François Chénier/Flickr
A Korean meal always ends up looking like a feast because of all those side dishes served in tiny, little plates, or what the locals call “banchan”.
These banchan come in a wide range of assortment such as vegetable, egg, fish, and seafood. They are served in plenty of different ways, too – raw, fermented, braised, fried, etc. Kimchi, the most popular Korean dish, is also the most common banchan.
What’s great about eating in Seoul restaurants is that you can never predict the kinds of banchan that would be serving. It’s almost always a different set in each restaurant every day.
Oh, and you know what’s even better? Banchan refills are usually free, so you can fill up to your appetite’s content.
Here are the best places to have banchan in Seoul.
Image credit: Travis/Flickr
Nobody goes to Seoul without the intention of indulging in authentic Korean BBQ, or gogigui as the locals would call it. It is, after all, Korea’s most valuable export, next to catchy K-Pop tunes and intricate nail art.
Barbecue places are found in every corner of Seoul, and though it’s “practically just pieces of meat grilled on charcoal”, you’ll find that these Korean BBQ places are not created equal.
The most mouth-watering gogigui is made from high-grade meat with beautiful marbling of fat – so delicious that marinades and sauces won’t even be necessary. Pickled veggies are a perfect accompaniment to gogigui as the acidity cuts through the richness of the meat.
Here are the best places to have gogigui in Seoul.
Image credit: Tialna Wolfs/Flickr
Mandu, or Korean Dumplings, are a popular dish in Seoul. These bite-sized morsels are both light and filling at the same time. They can be enjoyed as street fare, as appetizers in a full-fledged Korean feast, or accompanied by a warm bowl of Korean noodles.
Just like dumplings in other Asian countries, Korean dumplings come in a huge assortment of variants, from the simplest ones such as chicken and veggies to the more exotic like pheasant and kimchi.
Mandu are prepared in several ways: boiled, steamed, or fried, and are often served with a ubiquitous dipping sauce of soy, vinegar, and chili.
Here are the best places to have mandu in Seoul.
Image credit: Rachael Neumiller/Flickr
Pancakes are a favorite in any part of the world. Korean pancakes are a little different from the sweet, fluffy ones that we’ve grown to love, but they’re a big hit in this dynamic city, too.
Unlike the pancakes we’re used to having at breakfast, pajeon is savory, flavorful, and can be found any time of the day.
Loosely translated, pajeon means “green onion (pa) pancake (jeon)”, crediting to the abundance of green onions as main ingredient. Korean pancakes are often prepared with a variety of fillings such as squid, oysters, and mussels.
For a truly Korean flavor, try the kimchijeon. Far from being just a breakfast fare, locals love their pajeon with a side of soju, Korea’s most popular liquor.
Here are the best places to have pajeon in Seoul.
Image credit: Craig Nagy/Flickr
Korean dishes are known for packing plenty of flavor – and dakgalbi is no exception.
This popular Korean street food starts with pieces of diced chicken marinated in gochujang, a kind of chili pepper paste that is the base of plenty of marinades, dips, and sauces. These chicken bits are then stir fried in a cast iron pan with cabbage, sweet potato, scallions, perilla leaves, and rice cake.
Originating in the city of Chuncheon in Gangwon Province in the late 1960’s, dakgalbi was created as a cheaper alternative to grilled meats as anju, or bar fare. The locals couldn’t get enough of it that dakgalbi restaurants sprouted in different parts of the city, even giving birth to a dakgalbi alley – yes, an alley of dakgalbi eateries. If that’s not enough, Chuncheon pays tribute to dakgalbi by means of an annual autumn festival.
Here’s where to get the best dakgalbi in Seoul.
Image credit: SnippyHolloW/Flickr
Happiness does not always need a profound definition. In Seoul, happiness can be conveniently found in a sizzling bowl of bibimbap.
As pleasing as the colors of each ingredient in this dish are, it’s when you finally mix all the elements together and put a scoopful of it in your mouth you can truly understand that the feast of the eyes was just a prelude to a more exciting surprise.
This filling combination of white rice with sautéed and seasoned vegetables, chili paste, soy sauce, fermented soy bean paste, egg and beef slices promises to leave you grinning from ear to ear.
Ranked number 40 on the World’s most delicious foods readers’ poll made by CNN Travel in 2011, bibimbap will not fail to please anyone.
Here’s where to get the best bibimbap in Seoul.
Image credit: cokemomo
We have yet to find somebody who lives in Seoul who does not love a fiery hot bowl of Kimchi Jjigae. A staple food in Korea. Koreans eat this kimchi-based stew once or twice a week or sometimes even more.
Kimchi Jjigae is so delicious that one might get quite addicted to having it. No wonder it is one of the most loved dishes in Seoul.
It is a simple but flavorsome recipe of diced tofu, pork or seafood, scallions, onions and, of course, the iconic spicy-sour kimchi made into a flaming hot stew.
The broth will sizzle your palate down to your throat so it is best followed by gulping a refreshing beverage so you could just easily ladle another spoonful of the stew. Do expect yourself to repeat the slurping and gulping motions and (just what was like mentioned above) get addicted to it.
Here’s where to get the best Kimchi Jjigae in Seoul.
Image credit: egg (Hong, Yun Seon)/Flickr
In Seoul, “Black Day” is a day when all the single people wear black clothes and eat black foods such as this dish of black bean sauce noodles. While it seems like a gloomy occasion, gloom is the last thing Jajangmyeon would make you feel once you get to try it.
This ubiquitous dish in Seoul is made of classic hand-pulled noodles, salty black soybean paste (called jajang when heated and chunjang when unheated), diced pork and sometimes seafood, and vegetables. It’s chewy, rich and thick, flavorful and saucy, that it is Asia’s counterpart to Italy’s spaghetti.
It’s a big part of Korean food culture that was served on special occasions only but now, people can enjoy this noodle dish all year round in almost all Chinese-Korean restaurants.
Here’s where you can get the best Jajangmyeon in Seoul.
Image credit: cokemomo
This is the kind of food that you will love in any kind of weather. It’s very light and refreshing that it does great wonders to one’s mood.
Bibim Naengmyeon is a delectable recipe of cold, chewy noodles bathed in an Asian spicy sauce, garnished with julienned cucumber, Korean pear slices, pickled radish strips and a boiled egg on top.
As if the lovely sight of all these in a bowl is not enough, the taste that you get when you mix the elements together makes it amazing all the more. Combine it with vinegar and mustard, and bam! For all the delicious adjectives it will make you think of, it will actually leave you speechless and just make you enjoy the dish, spoonful after spoonful.
Here’s where to get the best Bibim Naengmyeon in Seoul.
Image credit: AppleSister/Flickr
If you have just finished your marathon-like shopping spree and want to be reinvigorated so you can do more shopping, then Samgyetang can help you with that.
Ironically, a piping hot bowl of this ginseng chicken soup is popular during the sweltering hot summer in Seoul. Not only it is comforting and healthy, but it also helps you regain your stamina, thanks to the ginseng infused in this recipe. Some restaurants even use more medicinal herbs, making it more nourishing and can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike.
It may remind you of porridge but it has more broth and is done in a different way. Samgyetang consists of a whole young garlic-and-rice-stuffed chicken, scallions, spices and Korean ginseng. Soothing, reenergizing and downright slurpy-good.
Here’s where to get the best Samgyetang in Seoul.
