Myeongdong street food in Seoul is chaotic, loud, and smells like every fried thing you’ve ever wanted to eat all at once. It’s a street food paradise that punches you in the face with flavour, and classic Asian street food ambience.
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What the Myeongdong street food?
Myeongdong is Seoul in its most chaotic, over-the-top, sensory-overload form. Shiny stores with flashing lights, endless crowds elbowing each other for selfies, and neon signs yelling at you from every angle. Fashion, cosmetics, souvenirs, you name it, they’ve shoved it in this tiny district and expect you to buy it all while sweating under the summer sun.
Between the shopping madness, the streets are clogged with vendors selling everything from fried squid to sweet pancakes. It’s crowded, loud, sticky, and perfectly Korean. Walking here is part sport, part battle, part delicious experiment. If Seoul is the city, Myeongdong is its heartbeat, and that heartbeat smells like fried everything.
Click to read about North and South Korean cuisine.
Photo: Aj Selga
15 Best Myeongdong Street Foods
15. Dak-kkochi – Grilled Chicken Skewers
Nothing fancy, just juicy chunks of chicken and scallions slapped on a stick, grilled over charcoal and smothered in sweet soy or spicy sauce. You grab it, chew it, move on. Perfect for walking and sweating in the Korean summer.
14. Sundae – Korean Blood Sausage
Love it or hate it, sundae is iconic. Pig’s intestines stuffed with sticky rice, noodles, and blood. Firm, chewy, slightly iron-y. Get it with a side of salt or spicy gochujang if you want to really feel alive.
13. Hotteok – Sweet Pancakes
These are little fried discs of heaven stuffed with brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped nuts. Hot, sticky, and likely to drip down your hand. Don’t even bother pretending to be clean.
12. Gyeranppang – Egg Bread
Soft, sweet bread with a whole egg baked inside. Sounds weird, tastes brilliant. Ideal if you need breakfast at 2 pm because you’ve been walking too far and need protein and sugar in equal measure.
11. Tteokbokki – Spicy Rice Cakes
Chewy cylinders of rice cake drowned in a fiery, sticky gochujang sauce. Fish cakes and boiled eggs are optional but highly recommended. Makes your mouth burn and your brain happy.
10. Twigim – Korean Tempura
Not your Japanese tempura. This is all deep-fried, all crunchy, all wrong in the best possible way. Sweet potatoes, squid, vegetables – everything battered and fried. Eat it standing over the bin, it’s worth it.
9. Cheese Tteokbokki – Tteokbokki + Cheese
Tteokbokki but with a slab of gooey melted cheese on top. Spicy, chewy, and creamy. Perfect for sharing, though you really do not have to.
7. Grilled Squid
Whole squid grilled over open flame, brushed with soy and chili. Smoky, chewy, and tastes like the sea hit your taste buds with a baseball bat. Usually served on a stick, which is how it should be.
6. Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Winter staple. Simple, sweet, soft inside, slightly crisp outside. Can be boring, can be perfect. Depends on your mood, depends on your blood sugar.
5. Kkul-tarae – Honey Thread Candy
Sugar pulled into thousands of fine threads, wrapped around nuts. Ridiculous, delicate, hypnotic. You’ll watch the vendor for a while, then eat it quickly because it’s sticky and your hands are already messy.
4. Grilled Scallops with Cheese
Yes, they slap cheese on everything here. Scallops grilled with butter and cheese, served in the shell. Gooey, salty, indulgent. If you hate cheese, look away.
3. Ddeokgochi – Grilled Rice Cake Skewers
Rice cakes on a stick, grilled and glazed in sweet and spicy sauce. Chewy, smoky, sticky, and messy. Almost everyone in Myeongdong has one in hand at any given time.
2. Fried Chicken
Simple, perfect, messy fried chicken. Crispy batter, juicy meat, served hot. Some vendors add sauce, some leave it plain. Either way, it’s bloody brilliant.
1. Tteokgalbi – Grilled Short Rib Patties
Myeongdong’s crown jewel. Minced short ribs, grilled over charcoal, juicy, smoky, salty, savory. Eat it with your hands or with chopsticks. Either way, it’ll ruin every other burger you’ve ever had for life.
How to try Best Myeongdong Street Foods?
The easiest way is to start at Myeongdong Station, Line 4, Exit 6, and just follow the smells. Every street off the main shopping strip has a dozen vendors yelling at you, and honestly, ignore any map. Walk until your stomach complains, then eat everything you see. Some specific addresses:
- Hotteok – Myeongdong Hotteok Alley, near Lotte Department Store, Myeongdong 2-ga
- Tteokgalbi – Gwangyang BBQ, Myeongdong 8-gil
- Grilled Squid – Myeongdong Street Food Plaza, opposite Myeongdong Theater
- Gyeranppang – Egg Bread Stand, near Namsan exit, Myeongdong Station
Pro tip: Bring cash, preferably small bills. These vendors are fast, unforgiving, and they do not give change slowly. Eat fast, walk fast, repeat.
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