It seems that as South Korean popular culture is becoming bigger, people are also looking more into the cuisine and food trends that rise. Already amongst certain groups, snacks like honey-butter flavoured potato chips and sugar-crusted flavoured almonds have seen cult followings, and similarly is the case with the recent 2020 trends of the Parasite movie-inspired ramdon, and fluffy “reverse latte” dalgona coffee. People are paying attention to South Korea for food, and for good reason – they love their eats, and their absolute obsession with food shows.

Tourists go to South Korea for tastes of the food right at its origin, often starting in the capital of Seoul, and making trips south to Busan, known as a foody paradise, and Jeju for its hallabong mandarin oranges (한라봉) and its rich black pork barbecue. Jeonju is now also the third most visited city in South Korea, famous for its history, culture – and its status as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.

Jeonju Hanok Village (전주한옥마을)

Hanok (한옥) refers to traditional-style Korean houses, of which there are more than 800 in the traditional village in Jeonju. Some of these homes are available for guests to stay in, so visitors can have a taste of traditional styles of living in a genuine setting – though of course, with all the modern amenities. It should be reminded that residents inhabit the other homes, so be respectful when taking photos or wandering the area.

The village also contains a cluster of shops with plenty of street food clustered in a neighbourhood that has become recognised as something of an attraction in itself. Most people now come to sample the treats as well as take photos, and in many cases you can also rent hanbok traditional Korean gowns to wander around the village in. This attraction is surprisingly much better to visit on a weekend – the liveliness of crowds, especially with many wearing traditional gowns, makes for a better atmosphere. With the vast area that the village is spread, even a busy day won’t feel suffocating. It may mean a bit of queuing for food, but it’s hardly any more than a few minutes.

The Eats

Jeonju Hanok Village has a large number of food establishments, ranging from stalls, to shops, to restaurants and cafés. These feature a range of products from Jeonju specialty foods to trendy items. Regardless of your preference, you’ll definitely find things that you’ll want to try.

DaWooRang Dumplings (다우랑)

The first eatery we stopped at was one of the first ones we came across, because it’s so hard to miss. Located on the corner of the first block of the little village, the wide windows and long queue made in unmistakeably a must-try destination. This is also one of the most popular spots, popping up on Korean blogs left and right. They specialise in mandu (만두), or dumplings, with an assortment of flavours spread along the counters.

Flavours are chosen by telling the clerk of which ones you’d like, and at the end they are packaged for you to take home. The dumplings can be heated at a microwave in the shop, but generally is not served warm. They also have a selection of steamed buns and baked bread-like mandu too.

The mandu were more expensive than we were expecting. Their most famous shrimp dumpling (새우만두) was ₩2,500 (US$2), and as was their crispy cheese dumpling (바삭치즈군만두), the two items we decided to choose. They were reasonably large, about half the size of our palms. We didn’t bother heating it, as the queue for the microwaves was too long, but it was delicious enough cold.

The skin is very thin and tender, not chewy, and the meat filling is flavourful despite it tasting a little cheap with the glass noodles. The shrimp dumpling also had something orange – possibly kimchi or gochugaru red pepper powder for a little bit of spice, but the cheese of the first mandu was pretty much unnoticeable.

While it is a tasty treat, we aren’t sure if the size and quality justifies the price; nonetheless, it does make for a delicious eat, and one that is surprisingly filling.

GyoDong Croquettes (교동고로케)

This isn’t our first time having croquettes, and as we’ve learned from our past experiences being surprised at the potato-less Korean versions, goroke (고로케) in South Korea typically refers to round, filled, deep-fried, hand-sized snacks. Its exterior can typically range from bread to fishcake, though but is usually crumbed with a coarse panko-like breadcrumb.

At GyoDong Croquettes, another famous eatery just around the corner of the mandu store, the croquettes are bread-based, and contain flavours that are particular to Jeonju specialties.

Its most popular flavour by far is the Jeonju bibimbap croquette (전주 비빔밥 고로게). Bibimbap (비빔밥) is a famous Korean dish of rice and a variety of seasoned vegetables and meat that is served with a spicy red gochujang (고추장) paste that is mixed through the dish. The Jeonju style is famous in Korea thanks to its addition of Jeonju beansprouts and the use of beef stock to cook the rice. The croquette cost us ₩3,000 (US$2.40), and was still warm and crispy when we took it outside to sample.

The bread is nice and chewy, and a little bit sweet, which stands up well against the slightly spicy, red-pepper flavour of the gochujang red pepper sauce. While the filling-to-bread ratio is highly commendable, it does contain a lot of rice, so just eating half of the croquette each made for quite a heavy snack. Despite that, we enjoyed the texture and the quality of the croquette so much we came back another day to sample different flavours.

We tried their cream cheese croquette (크림치즈 고로게) for ₩2,500 (US$2), which was pretty standard as a cream chew inside bread, recommended for anyone who likes cream cheese. The third flavour we tried was the ddeok galbi croquette (떡갈비 고로게) for ₩3,000 (US$2.40). Ddeok galbi refers to another Jeonju specialty of minced beef that is packed back onto beef bones before being grilled. This one tastes of fresh red bell peppers, sweet and savoury from marinated beef. It’s very fragrant and flavourful, a recommended flavour for those who like bulgogi or barbecued meats.

Despite the croquettes being cold on our second round of eats, we highly enjoyed it and would recommend a visit here! There are plenty of curious flavours to choose from so there’s something for everyone.

DdoBaGi HwaDeok Mandu (또바기 화덕 만두)

This next stop was more of a curiosity than a must-try, as there are so many enticing food options available all throughout the village that we couldn’t possibly conquer them all. We ordered a hoddeok Korean-style pancake (호떡), in which a dough is filled and grilled while flattening into a fat pancake shape.

We got the cheese flavour (치즈 호떡) as the cheese is supposed to be from a nearby town of ImSil, famous for its cheese. This was ₩3,000 (US$2.40), and grilled from scratch to order until toasty, golden-brown perfection.

While a typical hoddeok pancake often has a distinct, chewy texture, the texture of this one was more akin to a bread dough. The pancake was filled to bursting with a soft, chewy, mozzarella-like cheese, mildly salty in flavour. Despite our mediocre feedback of the product as we ate it, the sheer enjoyment of cheesy goodness in a hot, toasty shell was very enjoyable. Jos later regretted that she was so hard on it.

ImSil Cheese PaMae Jang (임실치즈 판매장)

While the hoddeok was tasty, we wanted to try real ImSil cheese, and fortunately came across a little stall that sold it on skewers. The cheese is a block of white, much like mochi rice cakes, grilled, and served with a sauce of your choosing – condensed milk (연유), chilli (칠리), mango (망고), chocolate (초코), and yoghurt (요구르트). We chose the recommended condensed milk sauce, which came to ₩3,000 (US$2.40).

The cheese is much like haloumi – firm in texture, a little like tofu but salty and milky in flavour, and does not melt, only soften. The outside was toasty brown and a little crunchy, the centre tender and chewy. The saltiness was balanced by the sweetness of the condensed milk. The cheese is so mild in flavour that, like cream cheese, it’s neither savoury nor sweet, so don’t be too weirded out by the predominantly-sweet sauce options! It’s super delicious, and highly recommended for cheese lovers.

Mom and Tart (맘앤타르트)

Noms is a sucker for egg tarts, and Jos is always up for something popular. Signs for Mom and Tart were up in a couple of places around Jeonju, so the moment we spotted the sign down a street on the outskirts of the village we didn’t hesitate to try one. The little shop specialises in egg custard tarts, whose origin can be traced back to Portuguese pastel de nata, popular in Hong Kong and the Canton area of Mainland China. Crusts can vary from flaky and buttery to a sweet shortcrust, but we were keen to see how the Korean shop matched up to what we found in yum cha restaurants.

Initially, we balked at the price – a single custard tart was ₩2,500 (US$2), normally a little bit expensive compared to what we found at home, but once we tasted it, any regrets flew out the window.

It was possibly the best egg tart we’ve ever had – the flaky pastry had layers so distinct, paper-thin shells of black pastry almost like layers of dried laver seaweed sheets were layered one on top of the other to give an incredible, crisp shatter as it yielded to the pressure of the teeth. The custard was creamy and smooth, with a pleasantly savoury, salty-sweet flavour that was fragrant.

We were so impressed that we came back again a different day to try their triple cheese tart (트리플치즈), this time not batting an eye at the ₩2,700 (US$2.15) price tag. This one is a little more savoury and hardly sweet, almost like a custardy quiche, thanks to the cheese flavour. Next time we visit Jeonju, we will, without a doubt, make another stop at this incredible tart shop to try all their flavours. It’s just that good.

MunGangJeong (문강정)

There are a lot of titbits around the village that every visitor seems to have – while were there, these seemed to be chicken sticks and fried octopus. After a while watching everyone enjoy their food so much, we gave in to try the deep-fried octopus bites after a craving for crunchy food. We stopped by MunGangJeong (문강정), a fried octopus eatery so popular in the village it has 2 locations.

They offer two flavours: mozzarella cheese (모짜렐라 치즈), and katsuobushi (가쓰오부시), also known as those dried bonito fish flakes that appear to dance when in contact with heat. We went for the cheese (hey, we were on a roll), which was ₩4,500 (US$3.55) for one portion. The octopus seemed to be prepared already, pulled from a fryer or basket and tossed into a box ready for the cheese. To our surprise it was served via raclette, the increasingly-popular method of heating cheese on a small grill pan and sliding the melted goodness onto the octopus.

What a delight. Stretchy cheese and drizzled sauce on crunchy, crumbed octopus, whose meat is firm but not tough nor chewy. This wasn’t so much a revolutionary dish rather than purely enjoyable, but if you’re keen on octopus then it’s a great snack to try.

Despite our eats, we barely scratched the surface of what’s on offer in the Hanok Village of Jeonju alone. With a huge number of offerings, it’s easy to understand why this city was named one of UNESCO’s destinations for food. If you’re a gourmand looking for an extra destination in Seoul, this little city hotspot has tonnes of activities, sights, and eats for you to indulge in.

Jeonju Hanok Village (전주 한옥마을)
99 Girin-daero, Pungnamdong 3(sam)-ga, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea
Open 24 hours
Website (Browser-translated English site)

*Please note that we visited Jeonju in May of 2019. This blog does not include any updates or changes that may have occurred since the development of COVID-19. Please check out formal websites for more information on this.