Gwangjang Market

What it is

Gwangjang Market is a historic covered market in Jongno. It’s part textile and hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) wholesale market and part street-food alley, and the food is what draws most visitors.

What to eat:

• Bindaetteok (빈대떡): a thick mung-bean pancake fried until crisp at the edges. You’ll see it frying on the griddles.
• Mayak gimbap (마약김밥): small, bite-size seaweed rice rolls. The name means “narcotic gimbap,” a joke about how hard they are to stop eating.
• Yukhoe (육회): Korean raw beef tartare. The market has its own Beef Tartare Street.
• Soy-marinated crab and tteokbokki (chewy rice cakes in a sweet-spicy sauce) round out the stalls.

Most of it is mild. Tteokbokki and some dipping sauces bring the heat.

How to order

Most Food Alley stalls have a counter with bench seats around it. Point to what you want, sit down, and pay when the food arrives.

Bring cash. Many stalls are cash-only, and card machines don’t always accept foreign cards.

Treat it as grazing, not one big meal. Share a bindaetteok at one stall, mayak gimbap at another, then yukhoe on Beef Tartare Street.

On Sundays, the clothing and hanbok sections are closed, but the Food Alley stays open. Sunday is still a good day to come for food.

Where to eat it

Food Alley. The main cluster of street-food stalls runs through the center of the market, where the east, north and south gate passages meet. This is where you’ll find the bindaetteok griddles, mayak gimbap, soy crab and tteokbokki.

Beef Tartare (Yukhoe) Street. A row of yukhoe specialists just off the main market, including the MICHELIN Guide Bib Gourmand-listed Buchon Yukhoe. If you’ve never tried raw beef, this is a good place to start.

Shoppers and night owls: the Food Alley stays open until 23:00 every day, later than most central Seoul markets, which makes it a good dinner stop after shopping. For photos with fewer people in the frame, come in the early evening on a weekday.

The closest subway stop is Jongno 5-ga Station (Line 1).

Long-running spots

We haven’t yet verified founding dates for Gwangjang’s stalls, so we list areas rather than specific restaurants here.

Good for families

For a family of four or more, this works better as a tasting stop than a sit-down meal. Most stalls have only a handful of stools or bench seats, so expect to split up or eat in shifts rather than sitting together.

Food Alley aisles are narrow and get crowded at lunch and in the evening. A stroller works on a weekday morning, but on weekend afternoons it’s difficult. A baby carrier is easier.

Older kids usually enjoy it as a food safari, since they can watch bindaetteok frying and pick what looks good. Keep small children close, because griddles and hot oil sit right at stall level. For a child who doesn’t eat spicy food, mayak gimbap and bindaetteok are safe choices.

The market building has public restrooms, but we couldn’t confirm baby-changing facilities or a nursing room.

Dietary notes

Vegetarian: Limited. Bindaetteok can be vegetarian, but some stalls add pork or seafood. Many stalls also fry everything in shared oil, so cross-contamination is common. Ask before ordering if you’re strict.

Halal: Limited. We found no halal certification for market vendors. Pork, raw beef and makgeolli (rice wine) are sold throughout the market, so choose stall by stall.

Allergies: Seafood (crab, shellfish) and sesame are common, and fried items share oil.