Top 6 Must-Visit Food Spots at Korean Gwangjang Market in Seoul

Seoul is home to dozens of traditional markets, but none carry the history, the energy, or the sheer concentration of incredible food that Gwangjang Market does. Established in 1905, the Korean Gwangjang Market (광장시장) holds the distinction of being South Korea’s first permanent marketplace — and more than a century later, it remains one of the most vibrant food destinations in the country.

With over 5,000 shops crammed into 42,000 square meters and roughly 65,000 visitors passing through every single day, knowing exactly where to eat can feel overwhelming. Hundreds of stalls serve up sizzling pancakes, steaming noodles, and addictive little rice rolls — but not all stalls are created equal.

This guide cuts through the noise. Here are the top six food spots you should not miss at Gwangjang Market, plus two unexpected bonus stops that most first-time visitors overlook.

Table of Contents

• A Brief History of Gwangjang Market
• Why Gwangjang Market Is a Must-Visit for Food Lovers
• The Top 6 Must-Eat Food Spots at Gwangjang Market
• Two Bonus Stops You Didn’t Expect
• What Is the Best Time to Visit Gwangjang Market?
• How Do You Get to Gwangjang Market?
• Practical Tips for First-Time Visitors
• Bringing Gwangjang Market Home

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A Brief History of Gwangjang Market: Korea’s First Permanent Marketplace

The story of Gwangjang Market is inseparable from modern Korean history. In 1905, after Japan seized control of Namdaemun Market following the signing of the Eulsa Treaty, a group of Korean merchants pooled 100,000 won to purchase land and establish an independent market. They built upon the existing Bae O Gae morning market (배오개시장) near Dongdaemun, creating what was then called Dongdaemun Market — the first marketplace in Korea to operate every day of the week.

Before this, Korean markets were temporary affairs, opening only on certain days. Gwangjang Market changed that entirely. The name itself, which translates roughly to "gather from afar and keep altogether," speaks to its founding purpose: a place where Korean commerce could thrive independently. The market was officially renamed Gwangjang Market in 1960, and the market association that manages it today remains one of the oldest active companies in South Korea.

Originally renowned for its textiles, silk, and hanbok (traditional Korean clothing), the market gradually became equally famous for its food. Workers and shopkeepers needed meals throughout the day, so food vendors set up stalls in the narrow corridors between fabric shops. What started as a practical solution evolved into a full-blown culinary destination — one that Netflix’s Street Food: Asia series introduced to a global audience in 2019.

Today, the upper floors preserve Gwangjang Market’s original identity. The second floor is packed with shops selling silk, satin, linen, and other fabrics, making it the largest and most renowned textile wholesale district in Seoul. You can find everything from curtain material and custom suiting fabric to bedding, all at wholesale prices that supply nearby markets like Namdaemun and Pyounghwa Clothing Market. Several hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) tailors are also located here, where you can choose your fabric, get measured, and have a custom hanbok made — from formal wedding hanbok to modern everyday styles. In recent years, a thriving vintage clothing market has also taken root on the upper floor, drawing younger crowds with racks of 80s and 90s denim, varsity jackets, and military coats starting from just ₩10,000.

If you have time after eating your way through the food alleys, heading upstairs to browse the fabric district and hanbok shops is a great way to experience Gwangjang Market beyond the food. But the ground-floor food alleys remain where the biggest crowds gather.

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Why Gwangjang Market Is a Must-Visit for Food Lovers

What makes Gwangjang Market different from other Seoul food destinations? Three things stand out.

It’s authentically local. Despite its fame, Gwangjang Market hasn’t turned into a tourist-only zone. Visit during a weekday lunch hour and you’ll see office workers lined up for bindaetteok alongside grandmothers buying kimchi for the week. The food here is made fresh, served fast, and priced honestly.

The variety is unmatched. Within a short walk, you can eat mung bean pancakes fried in front of you, Korean-style beef tartare, chewy rice cakes in fiery sauce, addictive mini gimbap rolls, hand-cut noodle soup, and freshly twisted donuts dusted in sugar. Few places in Seoul — or anywhere — concentrate this many Korean culinary traditions in one space.

The atmosphere is the experience. Sitting on a metal stool at a crowded counter, elbow to elbow with strangers, watching a vendor ladle batter onto a sizzling griddle — this is not restaurant dining. It’s immersive, sensory, and a little chaotic. Korean food culture at Gwangjang Market is something you feel as much as you taste.

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The Top 6 Must-Eat Food Spots at Gwangjang Market

1. Wonjo Sunhui’s Bindaetteok (원조 순희네 빈대떡) — The Iconic Mung Bean Pancake

If Gwangjang Market has a signature sound, it’s the sizzle of bindaetteok (빈대떡) hitting hot oil. And no stall embodies that sound more than Wonjo Sunhui’s Bindaetteok, a legendary vendor with over 40 years of tradition at the market.

Bindaetteok is a savory pancake made from stone-ground mung beans mixed with bean sprouts, kimchi, scallions, and sometimes pork. What sets Sunhui’s apart is their commitment to 100% mung bean batter — no rice flour or wheat flour added. The beans are ground using a traditional millstone, producing a batter that fries up remarkably crispy on the outside while staying soft and savory inside. The stall gained international recognition after being featured on Netflix’s Street Food: Asia and has even been praised by director Tim Burton.

The pancakes sell roughly 1,000 pieces per day during peak periods, and the stall has expanded to include locations in LA’s Koreatown. But the original Gwangjang Market location, near Gate 2, remains the definitive experience.

How to order: Ask for a modeum (모듬) set, which includes both the classic mung bean pancake and a meatier gogi wanja (고기완자, meat patty). Dip everything in the house soy sauce with pickled onions.

Pair it with: A bowl of makgeolli (막걸리), Korea’s traditional milky rice wine. The pairing of Korean pancakes and makgeolli is one of the most beloved food traditions in Korea — especially on rainy days, when Koreans say the sound of rain reminds them of sizzling batter.

Price: Approximately ₩5,000 per pancake; makgeolli around ₩3,000.

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2. Gabose Bibimbap (가보세 비빔밥) — Colorful, Filling, and Comforting

For visitors who want something substantial and familiar, Gabose Bibimbap offers one of the market’s most satisfying sit-down meals. Bibimbap (비빔밥) — literally "mixed rice" — is one of Korea’s most recognizable dishes worldwide, and this stall executes it with care.

A stone or metal bowl arrives piled with freshly prepared vegetables: spinach, bean sprouts, carrots, zucchini, and radish, each seasoned individually. A generous drizzle of toasted sesame oil and a spoonful of spicy gochujang tie everything together. The ritual of mixing the ingredients yourself — breaking the egg yolk, folding the rice through the vegetables — is part of what makes bibimbap so satisfying.

What makes Gabose’s version stand out is the freshness of the vegetables and the quality of their gochujang sauce. It’s a reliable, no-fuss option that works well for those who prefer cooked dishes over raw preparations.

Tip: If you’re sensitive to spice, ask for the gochujang on the side (gochujang ttaro juseyo — 고추장 따로 주세요) so you can control the heat level.

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3. Gangga Tteokbokki (강가네 떡볶이) — Sweet, Spicy, and Perfectly Chewy

No Korean market visit is complete without tteokbokki (떡볶이), and Gangga’s version is a crowd favorite at Gwangjang Market.

What sets Gangga’s tteokbokki apart is a distinctive technique: radish (mu, 무) is used instead of water as the base for the sauce. As the radish cooks down, it releases natural moisture and a subtle sweetness that gives the broth a cleaner, more rounded depth of flavor than water alone could achieve.

Tteokbokki is one of Korea’s most beloved street foods — chewy cylindrical rice cakes simmered in a thick, sweet-and-spicy sauce built on gochujang (Korean fermented chili paste). The dish originated in the Joseon Dynasty as a refined, soy-sauce-based royal court preparation, but the modern spicy version that vendors like Gangga serve became a street food sensation starting in the 1950s.

At Gangga, the sauce is bold and thick, coating each rice cake with a glossy, deeply savory-sweet layer. The rice cakes themselves have that signature jjolgit-jjolgit (쫄깃쫄깃) — the Korean onomatopoeia for a satisfying chewy bounce. It’s the kind of quick bite that pairs perfectly with market wandering.

Price: Starting around ₩4,000–₩5,000 per portion.

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4. Gwangjang Market Chapssal Kkwabaegi (광장시장 찹쌀꽈배기) — Twisted Sticky Rice Donuts

When the savory dishes start to blur together, a warm kkwabaegi (꽈배기) is the perfect palate reset.

These twisted donuts are made from glutinous rice flour (chapssal, 찹쌀), which gives them a distinctly different texture from wheat-based Western donuts. The exterior fries to a satisfying crunch, while the inside stays pillowy, soft, and slightly chewy — a texture that fans of chapssaltteok and other Korean rice-based sweets will recognize instantly.

Freshly coated in sugar and served warm, they’re almost dangerously easy to eat. The best stalls fry them in small batches to order, so the donuts arrive at maximum crispness.

Kkwabaegi is one of Korea’s oldest street snacks, and the Gwangjang Market version has become particularly famous — multiple stalls now specialize in them, sometimes offering creative fillings like red bean paste or cream cheese alongside the classic sugar-coated original.

Tip: Eat them immediately. Like all fried dough, kkwabaegi are at their absolute peak within the first few minutes.

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5. Gwangjang Toast (햄치즈계란토스트) — Korean Street Toast Done Right

Korean street toast, or gilgeori toseuteu (길거리 토스트), might be the most underrated genre of Korean street food. It looks deceptively simple — bread, ham, cheese, egg, cabbage — but the execution at Gwangjang Market elevates it into something genuinely addictive.

The bread is thick-cut milk bread (uyusikppang, 우유식빵), toasted in butter until golden and slightly caramelized. The filling gets layered quickly: a thin egg omelet, a slice of processed ham, cheese that melts on contact, shredded cabbage, and a drizzle of sweet ketchup-mayonnaise sauce. Everything gets pressed together and sliced diagonally.

What makes it work is the sweet-savory-buttery combination. The cabbage adds a crisp freshness that cuts through the richness, and the sweetness of the sauce — unusual by Western breakfast standards — is what makes Korean toast distinctly Korean. It’s the same principle that makes hotteok work: that unexpected sweetness balanced against savory elements.

Street toast became popular in Korea in the post-Korean War era when Western-style bread became widely available, and vendors adapted the sandwich to Korean taste preferences. Today, it’s a breakfast staple across the country, and the version at Gwangjang Market is among the best you’ll find in Seoul.

Price: Around ₩3,000–₩4,000.

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6. Garlic Boy (갈릭보이) — The New-Generation Market Snack

Not everything at Gwangjang Market has decades of tradition behind it. Garlic Boy represents the market’s newer wave — a vendor that’s earned a devoted following among younger Korean visitors with its boldly flavored garlic snacks.

The concept is simple but effective: crispy, garlic-forward bites with intense flavor and satisfying crunch. It’s not traditional hansik (한식, Korean cuisine) in the classical sense, but it reflects a very real trend in Korean food culture — the blending of traditional market settings with modern, Instagram-era flavor profiles.

Garlic Boy has become one of the most photographed stalls in the market, and its popularity speaks to how Gwangjang Market continues to evolve. The market has always adapted; its original transformation from textile market to food destination is proof of that. Garlic Boy is simply the latest chapter.

Best for: Visitors who’ve already worked through the classic dishes and want something contemporary. It’s also a great option for those who find heavy spice challenging, since the garlic flavor profile is bold but not spicy.

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Two Bonus Stops You Didn’t Expect Inside Gwangjang Market

HBAF Almond Store — Korea’s Favorite Flavored Almond Brand

Tucked inside the market, the HBAF store offers something most food markets don’t: a premium snack souvenir that’s lightweight, shelf-stable, and genuinely delicious.

HBAF (바프) is one of Korea’s most popular flavored almond brands, known for creative flavors that reflect Korean tastes: honey butter, tiramisu, wasabi, garlic bread, yogurt, and seasonal limited editions. The honey butter variety, in particular, taps into a Korean snack trend that became a nationwide phenomenon in 2014 when honey butter chips caused literal store shortages.

For travelers, HBAF almonds make ideal gifts — compact, affordable, and a genuine taste of modern Korean snack culture. The Gwangjang Market location lets you sample flavors before buying, which is a nice advantage over grabbing them at convenience stores.

Tip: The garlic bread and honey butter flavors are the most popular. If you’re shopping for gifts, look for the variety packs.

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Starbucks at Gwangjang Market — Old Seoul Meets Modern Seoul

Yes, there is a Starbucks inside Gwangjang Market, and the contrast is worth experiencing.

Stepping from the crowded, steaming food alleys — where grandmothers have been flipping mung bean pancakes for decades — into a sleek coffee shop with air conditioning and Wi-Fi captures something essential about modern Seoul. The city doesn’t choose between old and new; it holds both at once, often in the same building.

For practical purposes, the Starbucks serves as an excellent rest stop. After navigating narrow aisles, standing while eating, and processing an overwhelming amount of sensory input, a cold drink and a quiet seat can recharge you for round two.

It’s not the reason to visit Gwangjang Market, but it’s a genuinely interesting footnote — and a useful one.

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What Is the Best Time to Visit Gwangjang Market?

Timing matters more than most guides admit. The food stalls on Gwangjang Market’s ground floor are generally open from 8:30 AM to 11:00 PM, seven days a week, though some vendors close on Sundays or Mondays.

For the best food experience: Visit between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM on a weekday. You’ll avoid the heaviest crowds while catching vendors at their freshest. Most stalls begin preparing food around 10:00 AM, so arriving too early means limited options.

For the full atmosphere: Friday and Saturday evenings (after 5:00 PM) are when Gwangjang Market buzzes with peak energy. Tables fill quickly, makgeolli flows freely, and the narrow corridors become a shared dining room. It’s louder, busier, and more chaotic — which is exactly the point.

Avoid if possible: Weekend afternoons, especially between 12:00 and 3:00 PM, when crowds can make movement through the food alleys genuinely difficult.

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How Do You Get to Gwangjang Market?

The market sits in Seoul’s Jongno District, accessible from two subway stations:

• Jongno 5-ga Station (Line 1): Exit 7 or 8 leads directly to the market entrance. This is the most common approach and drops you closest to the food alleys.
• Euljiro 4-ga Station (Lines 2 and 5): Exit 4 takes you to the market’s south side, near the bindaetteok stalls.

The market is also a short walk from Cheonggyecheon Stream, making it easy to combine with a riverside stroll, a visit to Namdaemun Market’s famous street food stalls, or sightseeing at nearby Jongmyo Shrine.

Address: 88 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul (서울특별시 종로구 창경궁로 88)

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Practical Tips for First-Time Visitors

Bring cash. While more stalls now accept cards, many smaller vendors and the most traditional stalls remain cash-only. Keep small bills (₩1,000 and ₩5,000 notes) handy for smooth transactions.

Come hungry, but pace yourself. With six must-eat spots plus dozens of tempting alternatives, the biggest mistake is filling up at the first stall. Order small portions, share with your group, and save room.

Learn a few Korean phrases. Vendors at Gwangjang Market are generally friendly but very busy. Knowing "igeo hana juseyo" (이거 하나 주세요 — "One of this, please") and "mashisseoyo!" (맛있어요 — "It’s delicious!") goes a long way. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, learning basic ordering phrases significantly improves the traditional market experience.

Expect shared seating. Tables at Gwangjang Market are communal. You will almost certainly sit next to strangers, and this is completely normal. It’s part of the experience — and often how the best food recommendations happen.

Bring wet wipes. This one is practical. Between fried pancakes, sticky rice donuts, and saucy tteokbokki, your hands will thank you.

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Bringing Gwangjang Market Home: Ingredients and Recipes to Try

One of the wonderful things about Korean food is that many Gwangjang Market flavors can be recreated at home with the right ingredients. If the tteokbokki inspires you, gochujang — the fermented chili paste that gives the dish its signature flavor — is now widely available at international grocery stores. Pair it with quality rice cakes for an authentic result.

If you fell in love with the bindaetteok and makgeolli pairing, Korean flour designed specifically for pancakes produces noticeably better results than all-purpose Western flour. And for the gimbap you saw being rolled at market stalls, understanding the essential ingredients of kimbap — including the critical role of Korean sesame oil in seasoning the rice — is the key to getting that authentic nutty flavor.

The banchan (반찬, side dishes) that accompany many market meals are another tradition worth exploring at home. Our guide to banchan culture explains the etiquette, history, and types of side dishes that make Korean meals complete.

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Final Thoughts: More Than a Market

Gwangjang Market is not just a place to eat — it’s a living archive of Korean food culture. Within its narrow corridors, you can taste dishes that Korean families have enjoyed for generations alongside snacks that just went viral last month. You can buy silk fabric from a vendor whose family has been in the same stall for decades, then walk thirty seconds to a Starbucks. The market holds contradictions together effortlessly, and that’s what makes it feel so genuinely Seoul.

If it’s your first time, start with the six spots in this guide. Work your way through the bindaetteok, the bibimbap, the tteokbokki. Let the kkwabaegi melt on your tongue. Then do what every experienced market visitor eventually does: wander freely and discover your own favorites.

Gwangjang Market has been reinventing itself since 1905. All you have to do is show up hungry.

Have you visited Gwangjang Market? What was your favorite dish? Share your experience in the comments below — and if you’re planning your Seoul food itinerary, explore our guides to other traditional Korean markets and iconic Seoul street food spots to round out your trip.

Share this guide with friends who are planning a trip to Seoul — trust us, they’ll thank you when they’re sitting at Gwangjang Market with a crispy bindaetteok and a cold makgeolli.

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Gwangjang Market Quick Reference

Detail	Information
Address	88 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Nearest Subway	Jongno 5-ga Station (Line 1, Exit 7–8)
Food Stall Hours	Approx. 8:30 AM – 11:00 PM daily
Shop Hours	Approx. 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM (Mon–Sat)
Closed	Some vendors closed Sundays/Mondays
Payment	Cash recommended; some stalls accept cards
Daily Visitors	Approx. 65,000
Established	1905