Hungry for some Korean street food? Here’s an inventory of a number of the foremost in style street food that you’re going to find in Korea.
Korean street foods, as an entire, are actually a sight to hit our eyes on. Just like street foods around the world, Korean street foods can be considered the cheapest and easiest food as they all are minute-ready-to-eat dishes.
13 Best Street Foods to Eat in Korea
1. Tteokbokki (Korean Spicy Rice Cakes)
Ddeokbokki is a well known Korean street snack prepared with soft rice cakes, patty and sweet red chilli pepper sauce. It is commonly found in street’s snack stalls, eateries and restaurants and they taste rather similar in terms of the rice cake.
What is special about the tteokbokkii that in contrast to the standard thick chilli pepper paste it’s overdone in, their tteokbokki is served in a liquid flowy sauce – sort of a soup broth.
The rice cakes are chewy and delicious whereas you eat on the spicy broth. Most famously found at Express Bus Terminal Station, Seoul.
2. Samgyupsal (Grilled Pork Belly BBQ)
Samgyupsal consists of thick slices of the seasoned or unseasoned side of pork meat, grilled over a hot plate or metal grill. The various seasoning gives you that extra variety.
Palsaek Samgyeopsal, one of the most popular places for Samgyupsal, serves 8 different seasoned pork belly- plain, wine, pine leaf, curry, red-pepper paste, herb, soybean paste, ginseng flavours respectively.
The restaurant is equipped with servers who can speak multiple languages. The Palsaek Samgyeopsal costs 34,000 won and serves 2 to 3 people. There are 2 outlets in Seoul, one in Sinchon and another in Hyehwa vicinity.
3. Gogigui (Korean BBQ)
Another dish of Samgyupsal, is the full-fledged Korean BBQ. One can order cheap soju, throw some pork (amgyupsal) or beef (sogogi) on the grill within the centre of the table and begin feasting.
The meat is usually eaten with a vegetable wrap (lettuce or Perilla leaves), with a small indefinite amount of ssamjang paste (fermented bean paste mixed with chilli pepper paste). Common accompaniments into the wrap include raw garlic, onion and/or marinated beansprouts.
4. Dakgalbi (Pan Fried Chicken)
Dakgalbi, a Korean dish emerged from Chuncheon, Gangwon province. It is a gochujang (chilli pepper paste), marinated diced chicken, stir-fried together with sliced cabbage, sweet potato, scallions, onions, perilla leaves, and ddeok (rice cake) along on a hot plate.
A popular place to have dakgalbi will be Yoogane. They have many branches in Seoul: Myeongdong, Korea University and Hyehwa vicinity.
Marinated chicken galbi fried rice costs 5,500 won per person.
5. Samgyetang (Ginseng Chicken Soup)
Even though it is a spicy dish, Samgyetang is still considered a popular food for summer. Koreans have a saying called ‘yi yeol chi yeol’ which loosely translates as ‘to fight the warmth, you need to fight it with a lot of heat as well’. By eating this very wholesome dish, it’s the same to fill the lost internal heat in the body, giving an energy boost.
Even though it is a spicy dish, Samgyetang is still considered a popular food for summer. Koreans have a saying called ‘yi yeol chi yeol’ which loosely translates as ‘to fight the warmth, you need to fight it with a lot of heat as well. By eating this very wholesome dish, it’s the same to fill the lost internal heat in the body, giving an energy boost.
Samgyetang is made from a whole chicken stuffed with viscous rice and is stewed during a broth of Korean ginseng, dried seeded jujube fruits, garlic, ginger and varied herbs and condiments. The broth is gratifyingly made with the slight bitterness of ginseng and medicinal herbs.
Tosokchon restaurant serves pretty decent haemul pajeon (onion pancake) in addition to the chicken soup. A normal samgyetang portion prices fifteen,000 won per person.
6. Jjimdak (Braised chicken)
Andong Jjimdak, is a dish proverbial originating from Andong, a province in South Korea. It is made with chicken, carrot, potatoes, onions, vegetables marinated with Korean soy and served with glass noodles and rice cakes. It is rather peppery though but within the tolerable range.
Prices range from 10,000 to 18,000 won looking at the number of diners.
7. Patbingsu (Red Bean Shaved Ice)
Patbingsu is a Korean beardless ice sweet shaving with sweet toppings like cut fruit, milk, fruit sweetener, and red bean paste. It is simply out there in cafes, nourishment joints and even in bubble tea stores in Seoul. The Tteok (the white rice cake) topping is very sugary and chewy, two cubes are hardly enough.
Prices range from 5,000 won to 8,000 won.
Read also – 7 Traditional Sweets to Have When You’re in Maharashtra
8. Juk (Korean Traditional Porridge)
Korean ancient dish happens to be one amongst the rare non-spicy Korean foods you could try. A nice would be Bonjuk which has many outlets all over Seoul. They have a range of porridge from traditionally sweet ones like patjuk (red bean) or pumpkin porridge, to savoury seafood and meat-based porridge.
It’s quite a good deal for a bowl of dishes although at 9,500 won.
9. Budae Jjigae (Korean Army Stew)
Budae Jigae was quickly popularized when the warfare, where individuals had very little to eat and supermolecule(protein) was scarce. People created this stew from leftover spam (luncheon meat) and sausages from the military camp rations, then burned it in ancient chilli paste soup broth and therefore the nickname for army stew came about.
The soup may be a delicious thick broth with a hint of cheese and is a howling merger of Korean and Western influences.
10. Bibimbap (Korean Mixed Rice)
Bibimbap is one among the representative native foods of Korea and is wideout there in eateries and restaurants. It is warm rice with seasoned vegetables, chilli pepper paste, egg, sliced meat however is added supplementary into the mixed rice. A bowl of no-frills barley bibimbap is worth 5,000 won.
11. Chi-maek (Fried Chicken and Beer)
South Koreans love their chicken. What is South Korea without its famed chicken-maekju combination that was widely popularised all over Asia due to its depiction in the famous K-drama – You Who Came From The Star.
The seasoned chicken is drizzled in garlic, tomato and a whole heap secret ingredients that differ in every cooked chicken building.
12. Injeolmi Toast (Rice Cake Sandwich Toast)
Toasted bread with grilled rice cake in between, gently drizzled with honey and munificently dusted with small-grained soybean, azuki and benny seeds. This is considerable, after which guaranteed to please your appetite cravings. You could also try the Cheesecake Sulbing which the locals love and Injeolmi Toast costs 4,500 won.
13. Sannakji (Live Baby Octopus)
You eat these baby octopus raw. The octopus is served in cut up items however you’ll be able to still see the tentacles twisting regarding, and takes quite an effort to choose up the octopus and dip them into vegetable oil before eating.
The sensation of squirming octopus tentacles as you swallow them is rather different, with the tentacles suction caps sticking to your mouth cavity
as you chew them down- be warned to chew totally otherwise you would possibly risk choking. The taste isn’t anything out of the world.
Prices vary between restaurants in Noryangjin Fish Market. However, don’t hesitate to discount because the stall homeowners will certainly strive to charge ‘tourist prices’.
However, there’s one thing that one must note while hitching onto the cuisine is that Koreans are very fond of spicy and deep-fried food, so if you can’t handle the heat, choose your food wisely.
Read also – 11 Delicious Desserts to Try When You Are in Korea