True Taste Korea

Korean Street Food

  • Is Gwangjang Market Really Korean Food? Why Locals Are Warning Tourists

    Gwangjang Market appears on countless Seoul travel itineraries.

    Foreign visitors come for tteokbokki, gimbap, bindaetteok, yukhoe and rows of steaming food stalls.

    But on Reddit, a very different conversation has been taking place.

    Some Koreans are telling tourists:

    “Please don’t think this is what Korean food normally tastes like.”

    So is Gwangjang Market really a tourist trap?

    Why Are Koreans Complaining About Gwangjang Market?

    One Korean Reddit user caused a huge discussion after visiting the market and criticizing several foods.

    The complaints included tiny portions of tteokbokki, reheated jeon, overpriced gimbap and disappointing jjajangmyeon.

    The post received more than 2,000 upvotes.

    But the strongest complaint wasn’t simply about price.

    The writer was worried that international visitors might eat mediocre tourist-market food and assume:

    “So this is Korean food.”

    Other travelers have raised similar complaints about repetitive menus, prices and inconsistent quality.

    But Is Gwangjang Market Really That Bad?

    Not everyone agrees.

    One traveler almost skipped Gwangjang Market after reading negative Reddit comments.

    They went anyway.

    Their verdict?

    It became one of the highlights of their Seoul trip.

    They enjoyed the atmosphere, conversations, food and the experience of eating inside a crowded Korean market.

    And that reveals the real problem with the question.

    Gwangjang Market can be a great travel experience without necessarily being the best place to judge Korean food.

    Those are two different things.

    What Should You Actually Eat There?

    If you visit, stick to foods the market is genuinely famous for.

    Bindaetteok — crispy mung bean pancakes.

    Mayak gimbap — small seaweed rice rolls usually eaten with mustard sauce.

    Yukhoe — seasoned raw beef, one of the market’s best-known specialties.

    You will also find noodles, dumplings, tteokbokki and other Korean street foods.

    Walk around before choosing a stall.

    Look at prices.

    Look at what people are actually eating.

    And don’t assume that the busiest stall automatically has the best food.

    Is This What Koreans Eat Every Day?

    Definitely not.

    This is where first-time visitors sometimes get the wrong impression.

    Korean food is much bigger than tteokbokki, fried pancakes and market snacks.

    A normal Korean meal may be something far less Instagram-friendly:

    rice, soup or stew, kimchi and several small side dishes.

    Office workers might eat doenjang-jjigae, kimchi-jjigae, grilled fish, pork, gukbap or a simple baekban set meal.

    In other words, street food is Korean food.

    But it isn’t the whole story.

    Should Tourists Skip Gwangjang Market?

    Probably not — as long as you know what you’re going there for.

    Gwangjang Market is historic, chaotic, crowded and visually exciting.

    It is one of Seoul’s most famous traditional markets, and the food alley itself is part of the experience.

    Go for the atmosphere.

    Try one or two famous dishes.

    Take in the noise, smells and crowds.

    But don’t let one plate of tteokbokki become your final judgment on Korean cuisine.

    If you really want to understand what Koreans eat, do something less glamorous on another day:

    Walk into a neighborhood restaurant at lunchtime.

    Order what the office workers at the next table are eating.

    That meal may never appear in a Netflix food show.

    But it might bring you much closer to the true taste of Korea.

  • Jay Park Misses Tteokbokki in America — What Makes It So Addictive?

    Jay Park has lived between two food cultures.

    When he’s in Korea, there are American and Mexican-style foods he misses.

    But what about when he’s in the United States?

    One Korean food comes to mind:

    Tteokbokki (떡볶이).

    During an interview with Soompi, Jay Park was asked which Korean foods he misses while in America.

    His answer was straightforward: tteokbokki.

    He even added that he loves it.

    So what makes this simple Korean street food so hard to forget?

    What Is Tteokbokki?

    Tteokbokki is one of Korea’s most famous street foods.

    The classic version combines chewy rice cakes with vegetables and a red, spicy-sweet sauce usually based on gochujang.

    Fish cake is another common addition.

    It doesn’t sound particularly complicated.

    But that’s part of its appeal.

    The rice cakes absorb the thick sauce while retaining their distinctive chewy texture.

    The result is spicy, sweet, savory and chewy at the same time.

    Tteokbokki Is More Than Just Street Food in Korea

    For many Koreans, tteokbokki is connected to childhood.

    The Korea Tourism Organization describes memories of students stopping at small snack shops after school to eat tteokbokki with friends, which helped make it a kind of Korean nostalgia food.

    That’s an important part of understanding the dish.

    Tteokbokki isn’t supposed to be fancy.

    It’s affordable comfort food—the kind of thing you can share with friends without planning a special dinner.

    That makes Jay Park’s answer particularly relatable.

    Of all the elaborate Korean dishes he could miss while overseas, he picked one of Korea’s simplest everyday foods.

    How Spicy Is Tteokbokki?

    That depends.

    The bright-red sauce can look intimidating, but different restaurants make it at very different heat levels.

    Traditional modern-style tteokbokki is generally both sweet and spicy, rather than simply hot.

    And today there are countless variations.

    You can find cheese tteokbokki, jjajang tteokbokki, rosé tteokbokki and even versions with ramen noodles. The classic gochujang version, however, remains at the center of Korean bunsik culture.

    What Should You Eat With Tteokbokki?

    Here’s where things get even better.

    A Korean bunsik shop usually doesn’t sell only tteokbokki.

    You might order:

    Tteokbokki + fried food + sundae + gimbap.

    The Korea Tourism Organization notes that tteokbokki, fried foods and Korean sundae are such a popular combination that Koreans even shorten the three names into “tteoktwisun.”

    And don’t waste the sauce.

    Dip a fried dumpling or another piece of fried food into the leftover tteokbokki sauce and you’ll understand why the combination works.

    Why Does Jay Park Miss It?

    Jay Park didn’t give a complicated explanation.

    He simply said that when he’s in the States, tteokbokki is one of the Korean foods he misses and that he loves it.

    Maybe that’s exactly the point.

    The foods people miss aren’t always expensive restaurant dishes.

    Sometimes they’re the cheap, familiar foods attached to everyday life.

    For Jay Park, one of those foods is a bowl of chewy rice cakes covered in spicy red sauce.

    And if you’re discovering Korean food through K-pop, tteokbokki might be one of the easiest places to start.

    Just have something cold to drink nearby.