Street food hopping in South Korea!
We compile for you the top 10 must-try Korean street food to have during your stay!
-
Tteobeokki 떡볶이 (spicy rice cakes) with Eomuk 어묵 (Korean fish cake)
Many might already be familiar with the dish Tteokbokki, especially those interested in Korean culture and K-dramas. These spicy rice cakes are shown everywhere and for a reason. This delicacy mixed with various ingredients such as gochujang (red spicy Korean sauce) is consistently ranked in the top 5 most loved street food. Have you already tried the classic tteokbokki? You can now try “Carbonara tteokbokki”, “Curry tteokbokki”, and “Bacon tteokbokki” on the street, delicious twists to the original recipe.
While Eomuk is a popular dish made with dough and powdered fish. Fish cakes are typically dipped in salty soy sauce seasoned with green onions and sesame oil. Fish cake skewers are among the cheapest foods on the street.
-
Gamja Hotdog 감자 핫도그: Korean-style French Fries Corn Dog
This eye-catching Korean street food is actually a combo of fries and hot dog undercover, on a stick! Gamja means potatoes in Korean, so its name, gamja-hotdog, describes it. The snack can be filled with either sausage or cheese, smothered in a sauce such as ketchup and mayonnaise, or even sprinkled with sugar, so experiment and find your favorite version. Many foreigners recommend it as the must-try Korean street food!
-
Gyeran Ppang 계란빵 : Egg bread
This snack is especially trendy during winter as it is warm and comforting. Gyeran means eggs in Korean, and ppang means bread. Egg bread sounds as simple as the recipe, but the taste is anything as it’s an intriguing mix of sweet and savory. The dough is a mix of flour, baking powder, milk, eggs, butter, sugar, and salt. Then put in a shaped mold, an egg is cracked onto the bread batter to be cooked until golden brown.
-
Soondae 순대: Korean sausage
This Korean blood sausage is known as Tteokbboki’s best friend because they taste incredible together. You can easily find street vendors selling the combo – ‘tteok soon’ (tteok from tteokbokki, soon from soondae). Soondae’s dipping sauces are different depending on the region in Korea in Seoul or Gyeonggi province, street vendors sell them with salt served for dipping while in Busan, they serve it with green chili and ssamjang sauce.
-
Mandu 만두: Korean dumplings
Mandu is a Korean dumpling commonly filled with minced meat (usually pork), tofu, green onions, garlic, and glass noodles. In Korea, street food vendors will sell many varieties of Mandu but two types stand out the most: meat dumplings and kimchi dumplings. Each region has its own twist to them, you have to try them all!
-
Hotteok 호떡: Korean sweet pancakes
Another must-try on the list and an unmissable one at that, Hotteok! This sweet snack is filled with golden syrup made from cinnamon, brown sugar, and peanuts. Nowadays, you can enjoy various types of hotteok as street food vendors have replaced the original filling with ice cream or cheese. Busan especially has an original twist to it, by adding various types of nuts making it extra crunchy!
-
Sotteok 소떡: Sausages and Rice cake skewers
Simple yet delicious savory snack! The name Sotteok is once again a perfect description of the snack. ‘So'(소) is for sausage, and ‘tteok’ (떡) means Korean rice cake. Sausages and rice cakes are literally skewered in turns and then fried together. Then, it is coated with either ketchup, mustard, or red pepper paste-based spices making it heavenly to the taste.
-
Hweori Gamja 회오리 감자: Tornado Potatoes
It is also known as tornado potato or spiral potato. This snack is a whole potato shaped into a spiral with a machine, then fried on a skewer and dipped with various seasonings like onion or cheese. Then there is hweori gamja, which has a sausage in the middle – an irresistible crispy snack!
-
Bungeo Ppang 붕어빵: Korean fish-shaped pastry
Anyone interested in Asian culture must have already seen this cutely shaped pastry! Bungeo Ppang is a fish-shaped bread filled with flavors such as custard, red bean paste, cream, and many more. It is regarded as a winter snack in Korea, hence the difficulty to find a street food vendor selling them during the hotter months. However, you can still enjoy a variation in summer – there’s a vanilla ice-cream version of bungeo-ppang called bungeo samanco (붕어 싸만코) easily found in any convenience stores.
-
Ddakkkochi 닭꼬치: Korean chicken skewers
Last but not least, Ddakkochi is a popular grilled chicken skewer. It is traditionally coated with an irresistibly sweet & spicy sauce. Some vendors even pour mustard sauce or mayonnaise over ddakkochi, while others sell a spicy version of it. The latter will surely have you test your spicy food tolerance but if you fancy the challenge, go for bomb-flavored!
Youtube video on the same topic: <here>