The beginning of our Seoul eating adventure
Our trip to Seoul started off with a little bit of excitement at the airport. My bag was the very last to come out, and of course, it had been flagged by customs. It had an alarm (huge lock that was blinking and beeping) on it because of a multi-tool knife I packed. Once we cleared that up, we found ourselves buying express train tickets, only to realize we actually needed bus tickets instead. After sorting the ticket situation, we finally boarded the limo airport bus with the help of some very organized and helpful staff who managed our luggage. So far, I’m loving how smoothly things run in this country.
Once we were settled in, it was time for breakfast. We stopped by Isaac Toast and ordered a ham, cheese, and potato sandwich, which had an unexpected twist—corn. It threw us off a bit, especially since we were expecting something savory, it was slightly sweet, which was not what we had in mind. Afterward, we headed to Olive Young, a massive store full of beauty products. It was a bit overwhelming, and I ended up buying stuff without fully knowing what it was. On the way out, we passed an Innisfree store, so naturally, I had to stop in and pick up a few more items that I clearly needed.
Later, we met up with Andy’s friend Keenan (he’s been living here for over 10 years)and explored Namdaemun Market which is near our hotel in Myeondong (the shopping district). We ate BBQ and it was amazing! Thinly sliced beef, pork belly, and dumplings, with of course beer and soju. Just two hours later, Andy decided he wanted a snack. He ordered a pig and then an onion egg tart, thinking the portions would be small, they were not small. He wanted to order something else and the woman wouldn’t let him, “too much”. We manned up and ate it all, very impressive. Walking through the small market isles to walk off the food and alcohol buzz, we picked up some K-pop goods for a friend’s upcoming party— a lucky coincidence.
The next morning, we tried street toast again for breakfast, this time from a street vendor. This time it wasn’t sweet and it was much better. We then headed to Dongdaemun Market, which turned out to be Andy’s paradise—it’s filled with tools, mostly woodworking. We ended up buying a caliper and a marking knife for some future projects.
For lunch, we ventured to Gwangjang Market, the famous food market featured on a Netflix show. We found a small stall and ordered dumplings and dumpling soup with knife cut noodles, paired with a cold beer. The stall didn’t have beer but the dude ran out to get some for us. The stall owner was so kind to show us where to find the soy marinated crab. I was a bit concerned what we were getting into since there’s only place for it (there’s usually multiple stalls selling the same thing) and there’s not a lot of attention around the crab. The stall owner prepared it for us, cutting it open so we could eat the crab eggs and adding a little rice. She watched Andy try it first, very interested in what his reaction would be. The taste was strong and reminded us of uni—not bad, but definitely an acquired flavor. We washed it down with sweet yogurt, which had a strange aftertaste following the crab eggs.
After lunch, we visited Seoul Tower. We took the gondola up to the tower then an elevator ride to the top after passing these “experiences” of rooms with videos. The top of the tower offers 360-degree views of this massive city. The skyline seems to go on forever, and the view gave us a real sense of just how sprawling Seoul is.
Andy received emergency alerts throughout the day, the first were for Covid and the second was because N Korea launched another garbage balloon and the government said if anyone finds fallen garbage to contact them immediately. We found no fallen garbage yet.
For dinner, after we stopped for some dumpling snacks, we kept it classic with fried chicken , fried shrimp, and beer and soju. So delicious! Later that night, we decided to go out like the young kids and headed to Itaewon for some late-night fun. We topped our eating adventure off with some croquetas. My belly is full but I’m doing a better job of pacing myself. We still have two more days to go!
