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1.2 Itinerary of food fighters : A Day at Gwangjang Market

Why Gwang Jang Market Food Tour ?

Trying to taste local food is the easiest way to understand different culture and life. I strongly believe that food is indispensable part of my tour:)
If you are ready to challenge Korean’s authentic food culture, I’m sure that Gwangjang market food tour will be the highlight of your tour!
Gwangjang Market is the largest and representative market in Korea because it has 112 years history. That’s why it often shows up on famous TV show ‘Running man’ like below! You can find how dynamic and interesting Gwangjang market is!

The reason I recommend this tour is

1) Food is the most attractive mirror of each culture. I strongly believe that trying local food is indispensable part of tour.
2) Market shows real local life, so you can experience the culture vividly.
3) Story about food and market from the tour guide is really interesting and helpful for tourists.

Itinerary of food fighters : A Day at Gwangjang Market

You will definitely forget the hunger while you are in Gwangjang market food tour. Because you will get to eat many of Korean foods with drinks!
*Schedule is estimated based on conditions without waiting line. Please kindly note that Gwangjang market is quite crowded area especially on weekend.

We just met in front of Jong-no 5 ga subway station exit 7 at 17:00. It was easy to find out so we introduced each other and started tour with explanation about Gwangjang Market’s history.
The guide told us the meaning of the name ‘Gwangjang’ and how this market started with information about history during colonized period and why it becomes so popular in these days.

Even though we met on weekday, Gwangjang market was pretty crowded and full of foods. The diversity of food was more than I expected.

The guide also gave us gift with mission. The gift was Korean traditional fortune pocket. The guide told us that seniors usually put pocket money in this fortune pocket for young grandchild and give it to their children on every new year’s day. When I opened this pocket I was surprised because of mission in the pocket. Thanks to this mission, all participants became a team 🙂

We just went into the market and the guide kindly introduced ‘Korean Mung-been Pancake’, which is called ‘Bindaetteok.’ The smell of it was amazing and no one cannot skip this Bindaetteok pancake street. There were numerous small vendors for it but the guide leaded us to best shop in this market.

The texture of Bindaetteok was so crunch and the flavor was savory. We also tried to drink Korean traditional alcohol called as Makgeoli made from rice. It was sweet and quite easily made us feel full after drinking. The guide also explained the ingredients of it and told us the meaning of its name.

Now, it’s time to explore Gwangjang market! There was also fabric market especially for wedding ceremony. We can easily know how to prepare wedding ceremony in Korea. Gwangjang market shows how Korean wear this traditional costume called as Hanbok to celebrate their special family event or just in daily life. Also, you can face diverse types of accessories such as Ggot-sin, traditional shoes for women and I was so impressed! Korean keep their beautiful pattern and symbol color!
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We tasted Mayak gimbap the most representative street food of Gwangjang market. It was served with yellow mustard sauce which was really addicted! Also, we ate Tteokbokki and Korean black sausage that I always watched in Korean series. I really wondered the flavor and it was more than I expected. Though I tried to keep space for other foods in my stomach, I could not stop eating. Now, I’m missing the food that I remained. It was really good experience to eat local food with interesting Korean’s daily life story.

After we came out from the street food vendors street, we moved into Yukhoe street. Yukhoe is Korean raw beef steak like tartar steak. There were numerous Yukhoe restaurants and each stores are full of people with long waiting line. I never knew Korean eat raw beef with their own sauce and method. It was my best dish in this tour and I kept saying sorry to beef soup that the restaurant served as a service even for free because I was totally full!

Every time I looked around corner, I could find many of things I had wanted to see in this market, including local life and the culture! All aged people and family loved this market and merchants were busy in their reality.

We were food fighters during this tour so we could not have stopped eating before my stomach felt full. We finally went into Korean Barbecue restaurant and ordered pork belly with soju(Korean alcohol). We learned Korean alcohol game and we had so much fun!

After I recollect memories in Gwangjang Market food tour, I just wanted to again express my gratitude and appreciation to Zoey and Funtastic Korea.

The food tour was awesome and fun and educational. It was one of the highlights of my visit to Korea. Zoey was a very fun, energetic, enthusiastic and amazing host and tour guide. We felt so welcomed in your country.
Strongly recommend you to join this tour sincerely !

Map of Gwangjang Market

Travelling time by car, assuming smooth traffic conditions:
1) Myeongdong station → Gwangjang market
– Subway : 30 min.
– Bus : 20 min.
2) Hongik Univ. station → Gwangjang market
– Subway : 30 min.
– Bus : 30 min.
3) Insadong → Gwangjang market
– Subway : 20 min.
– Bus : 20 min.