With Korea’s rapid development in the last half-century comes a fascinating juxtaposition of the traditional and modern. Sandwiched between luxury department stores and high-rise buildings you can find pockets of older South Korea, evolved over time but still preserving the busy laborious life of the humble traditional market.

As much as the flashiness of the Korean wave is influencing the direction of South Korea’s growing tourism industry, a journey overseas is hardly complete without a glimpse into the daily lives of locals. Traditional markets are a great way of spending a few hours on a trip, especially with the services and merchandise on offer. Within a short time, you can observe the works of an artisan, sample delicious food, and take a breather from the rush of a city life – there’s really no experience that compares.

Traditional markets in Korea typically, but not always, consist of a wide alley with merchants operating on either side from out of their respective shops. They are covered overhead and closed off from vehicle access, which makes for an uninterrupted experience regardless of the weather or the situation outside.

MangWon Market (망원시장)

Thanks to South Korea’s incognito personality in staying off mainstream English-speaking sites, there isn’t a lot of information behind MangWon Market. Despite that, its growing presence on Korean television and broadcasts such as YouTube has seen its rise in popularity, especially amongst foreign tourists.

The market is located a few minutes’ walk from MangWon Station (망원역). The easiest route is to take Exit 2, turn right, and take the first road on the right which is parallel to the stairs of MangWon Station Exit 2. There, it’s a straight line down a long road, with the market’s entrance on the right.

Having previously flown under the radar, MangWon Market is known for its incredibly cheap produce, as well as cooked meals such as sujebi hand-torn noodles (수제비). Nowadays, stalls have begun to feature trendy foods that have attracted attention, some of which we definitely couldn’t pass up trying.

Qus DakGangJeong Fried Chicken (큐스닭강정)

Perhaps one of the most famous stalls in the market is the huge spread of pink banners and an awesome display of fried chicken known as the stall “Qus” (pronounced “Cues”). It’s difficult to miss, especially with all the stills pasted on its walls from when it was featured on a TV show – a common way of showing off a restaurant’s fame in Korea.

Besides the numerous flavours, Qus also has multiple portion sizes to choose from, which is highly convenient for everyone. This varies from the smallest ₩3,000 (US$2.55) of two cups all the way up to the largest of five boxes at ₩20,000 (US$16.85). You can choose at least two flavours for each of the sizes, which we took advantage of when we purchased the smallest cup and chose the attendant’s recommendation of the spicy fried chicken (매콤 닭강정), and our own choice of the white cream (화이트 크림 닭강정).

Other flavours include sweet, cheese mustard, and fruit flavoured fried chicken, which was unusual to us to say the least. While we would have loved to try them all it wouldn’t have been possible with our tiny capacity. The flavours are also listed in English on the signs, which is very helpful.

She gave us each a free ddeokbokki chewy rice cake (떡볶이) along with the fried chicken. The white creamy flavour was both of our preference – similar to a mayonnaise but not quite as rich, it had a sweet flavour as well which complimented the savoury, crispy fried chicken nicely. The spicy one was not spicy at all, just providing a little warmth on the tongue, with a light flavour that wasn’t so strongly of red peppers. A highly recommended stop, and thanks to the options of flavours and sizes it’s suitable for everyone.

MangWon Handmade Croquette (망원수제고로케)

Croquettes in Korea have a very different meaning to the potato-based dish that many might think of. In Korea, the term is more loosely used to refer to rounded, usually filled, crumbed, fried foods, so it’s completely normal to find that the potato has been replaced with bread, or even fishcakes.

In one corner where MangWon Market intersects with the main road is MangWon SuJe Goroke, or MangWon Handmade Croquette (망원수제고로케), a stall which specialises in fried items in the Korean style. While waiting in the queue, many people ordered the chapssal kwabaegi rice-flour doughnut (찹쌀 꽈배기), which piqued Jos’ interest. At ₩800 (US$0.70), it was surprisingly more expensive than the actual croquettes, but definitely not any less delicious. Freshly fried, it was still hot, with a crisp skin made even crispier thanks to the bloomed blisters on the surface of the doughnut, with a satisfying chew from the rice flour and deliciously sweet from the sugar coating.

The yachae goroke vegetable croquette (야채 고로케) was shocking cheap at ₩500 (US$0.40), and so worth the price. The croquette is hefty, with only a thin layer of bread and a generous portion of the filling of vegetables, glass noodles, and a little bit of meat (yes – this is despite its name as a vegetable croquette). With such low prices comes a high turnover, so it’s not surprising that the products are so fresh. This still is a Jos’ pick as one of her favourite eats of the market.

BaSak MaCha Deep-Fried Market (바삭 마차)

They’re not sugarcoating when they say deep-fried market – this stand at the southern-most entrance of the market has gained huge reputation for its modern new gut-busting trend: roll cutlets (롤까스). Thin strips of pork are layered, creating a more tender product which is used to roll any combination of ingredients before being crumbed and deep-fried. It’s not healthy, but that doesn’t need to be said. It’s a treat, one that’s good to be enjoyed once every so often.

We chose their famous Quattro Cheese Roll Cutlet (콰트로 치즈 롤까스), which went for a surprisingly reasonable ₩3,900 (US$3.30), especially for its size and weight. There are also a selection of homemade sauces which we passed on. You can take seats in a little area in the building, where they also provide communal scissors to slice up the meaty hunk into edible pieces.

The cheese was not of incredible quality, but it doesn’t need to be. Each seemed to play a different role: one for stretch, one for saltiness, one for flavour, and so on. They’re filling and hugely satisfying – you really don’t need more than one, or even half. The sauce is a great idea to cut back the richness of the dish, or simply wallow in its greasy, deep-fried deliciousness. The concept of the dish may be gimmicky, but it’s because it’s so obviously engineered to be good that the product is popular. Perhaps not for the faint of heart, but a tasty snack – or meal – for those searching for a food-fuelled dopamine hit.

NamDaeMun Market (남대문시장)

NamDaeMun is not a very old market, established in the 1960s, but it is the largest in Korea with more than 10,000 stalls dispersed over a huge area. Located between the hip area of MyeongDong and the central Seoul Station, it’s an ideal location to attract customers from all over. Though the market is closed on Sundays, it is essentially up to the individual storeowners to determine their opening times which will vary from place to place.

The market is famous for its large number of optometrists, where you can get prescription glasses for cheap and unreasonably quickly – but that’s for a different time. The size of the market also means it’s an excellent place to come for anything and everything: groceries, merchandise, souvenirs, and street food are available to suit all tastes and budgets. It’s difficult to walk into the NamDaeMun Market and leave without having a taste of everything on offer.

The best thing about this market is that they have guides working for the tourism industry! If you’re lost or you need help, you can seek out people dressed in bright red uniforms. Their armbands indicate which foreign language they speak, so simply look for “English”.

NamDaeMun Yachae Hoddeok Vegetable Pancakes (남대문 야채 호떡)

Possibly one of the most famous eating spots in the market is a pancake stall at the northernmost entrance (Gate 2). They specialise in hoddeok (호떡), Korean-style pancakes which consists of a chewy dough filled with a variety of ingredients, then cooked on a hot griddle with plenty of oil. There are several variants of hoddeok: thick or thin, which can refer to the pancake itself or the dough; sweet, where the filling is often seeds, nuts, cinnamon, sugar, and honey, or savoury, which usually consists of vegetables; and pre-stuffed or post-stuffed, where the pancakes are either filled before cooking or a cooked pancake is sliced open and then filled. This post-stuffed pancake is a specialty of the southern city of Busan, which we’ll definitely dive into later.

This stall is undeniably popular, though at a quick glance you may not think so. The cart operates outside of the main market’s crowds, and stubbornly lacks the photographs of celebrity and media visits that would otherwise be pasted on a stall to gain more attention. Despite this, you’re hard-pressed not to find a queue organised exquisitely about a metre from the cart. Follow the direction of the attendants – the higgledy line maintains order and prevents blockage of the footpath. This queue goes quickly. We waited only 15 minutes despite the number of people.

This cart serves only two options: the sweet gul hoddeok honey pancake (꿀호떡), and the savoury yachae hoddeok vegetable pancake (야채호떡), both of which goes for a measly ₩1,000 (US$0.85). Despite this, the pancakes are huge, and thanks to the high turnover, deliciously hot and crispy. The vegetable pancake is crammed with cabbage, carrots, and plenty of glass noodles, made even more flavourful thanks to the light brush of soy sauce steeped with peppers. The sweet pancake has delicious crunch from the nuts and seeds, and excellently balanced with the cinnamon and the complex sweetness of the honey.

By far this was one of, if not the best hoddeok we sampled in Korea. It’s highly recommended, so much so that we even ate it the next day when we passed by. Thanks to the price, the freshness from a high turnover, the quality ingredients, and the efforts and hard work of the staff, this is truly a gem of NamDaeMun market, and an undeniable must-try in Seoul.

O-Deng Stew and Fishcakes (오뎅)

Odeng (오뎅) is derived from the Japanese oden (おでん), a soup in which a variety of ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon radish, and fishcakes are braised. In South Korea, odeng refers to the fishcakes that are steeped in broth. These ones are long strips that are skewered and braised in a master stock. The same is done with other ingredients. The skewers make it easy to pull out menu items, and are used also to count the bill at the end of the meal.

Right behind the hoddeok stall of NamDaeMun is a cart that serves odeng, though this dish is found virtually everywhere throughout Korea. Prices vary, but generally the items you can find are the same, in a literal sense. Most of the fishcakes are purchased from suppliers so there’s hardly any difference regardless of where you go. At this stall, one skewer goes for ₩500 (US$0.40).

The fishcake is likely a strange thing for people who aren’t accustomed, but is similar to seafood sticks or mock crab meat. It is soft and spongey in texture, with a lightly sweet, salty, savoury flavour that isn’t very strongly of fish. Because it’s served piping hot right out of the soup, it was a nice warmer for the chilly late-winter season that we’d landed in. Ask for a cup of the broth, too – this is usually complimentary, and often self-serve. Lightly flavoured but very savoury, it’s a great snack for a cold day. Tasty!

HyoJaSon Wang ManDu King Dumplings (효자손 왕만두)

Mandu (만두) are Korean-style dumplings, usually filled with meat, vegetables, and glass noodles that has slightly bouncier, chewier skin than Chinese-style dumplings. They can also refer to dumplings with slightly thicker, bread-like skin more akin to Chinese-style steamed buns. Wang (왕) means “king”, and accordingly, wang mandu is a commonly-used name for jumbo-sized dumplings in Korea.

We were curious to try HyoJaSon in NamDaeMun market because we found it swarmed with people. Its prime corner spot at an intersection of the busy market means it has maximal exposure to passers-by like us. Their menu consists of steamed dumplings, the thicker-skinned dumplings, and the larger, fluffy steamed buns, of which there were a variety of fillings. We went for the thicker-skinned mandu dumplings with half-and-half of meat (고기만두) and kimchi (김치만두) filling. We thought we were getting 6 pieces for ₩4,000 (US$3.35) but found ourselves with 10 pieces for ₩6,000 (US$5.05) – in other words, lunch.

Right out of the steamer, these dumplings were piping hot, with a decent amount of filling within its puffy, chewy-tender skin. The filling is generous and meaty, and the kimchi deliciously fragrant, not too sour, salty, nor pungent, but with a nice spiciness to it that keeps you coming back for more. While it isn’t necessarily a must-eat, it’s a common Korean staple that’s delicious, warm, filling, incredibly cheap, and distinctly different to its Chinese counterparts, so don’t hesitate to give it a go.

While we only had time to visit two markets in Korea, there’s no shortage of them dotted all throughout the country. In Seoul alone, GwangJang and TongIn are just a couple of some famous traditional markets popular for tourist visits. It’s a great activity if you’re looking for a taste of the local fare and vibe.