In the capital city of Seoul, it isn’t hard to find luxurious restaurants with diverse menus for your personal taste, but if you’re looking forward to an exciting vacation with a pretty tight budget, you can’t overlook the following wonderful street food dishes and treats. Budget-friendly, eye-catching display and wonderful taste, Seoul’s street food will totally fill you up as you can try numerous types of food with different flavors.
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If you have travelled to Korea or have lived and worked here, you would see street food carts and stalls everywhere you go which offer foods at a very low price. I bet 90% of you will see a street food place within 5 minutes walking down the street. Are you looking for best Korean street food and must eat street food in Seoul and whole Korea? Let’s check it out our list of best street food in Seoul (best street food seoul) with top 22 best street food in Seoul & best street food in Korea you definitely must-eat below. Here are the top 22 popular dishes and treats for serious foodies.
1. Tteokbokki – Spicy rice cake
Spicy rice cake is extremely famous and common in Korea, and can be identified by its eye-popping red color and typical burning taste of chili. The rice cake is prepared using various ingredients, most commonly anchovy and seaweed. In several other versions, eggs and even mozzarella cheese are also added.
A light eater will definitely feel full with just one order of spicy rice cake because of its large serving size. The sauce is rich and flavorful with a sense of chili powder and a couple of other seasonings, giving you an impulse to dig right in and enjoy the meal. For chili fans, this is certainly an incredible and “heavenly” dish for them when travelling to Korea.
2. Dakkochi – Chicken skewers
‘It is a “must” to have chicken when coming to Korea’ seems to be the truth. Koreans originally love chicken and it is also the cheapest type of meat, so almost all dishes made from chicken are best sellers on the menu.
You can’t miss Dakkochi when travelling to Korea. Dainty chicken skewers are coated by hot sauce or sweet soya sauce with a pungent chili flavor of Korean cuisine. Chicken skewers are basically made of chicken tender cut into small pieces, seasoned and pierced on a long stick. For a balance of taste, side dishes include several vegetables dipped into sweet soya sauce or some other alternations such as cheese and hot sauce depending on the customer’s preference.
Besides chicken skewers, beef or pork coated by sweet soya sauce are two other variations as tasty as chicken. Although they are a little pricey compared to the original chicken, it’s definitely worth the try.
3. Eomuk – Fish cake
Fish cake is cut into a long and thin piece and appealingly put on a wood skewer, causing a lot of people to mistakenly recognize it as boiled pork intestine. It is served together with warm and savory broth.
This dish is referred to by a lot of young travellers because it’s not only tasty but also affordable. Fish cake is a sold-out dish especially during winter days. Just imagine yourself taking a bite of fish cake with a sip of broth and waiting until the warmness spread all over your body. How great is that, right?
4. Odeng – Fish cake
Along with Tteokbokki, Odeng fish cake is the most popular street food dish in Seoul. Fish cake skewers are kept warm in seafood broth and served with hot sauce. Cheap and delicious, it is easy to understand why Odeng is favored enormously in the land of Kimchi.
5. Waffle ice cream sandwich
You can find this snack on almost every route near a subway station. The incredible smell and softness of waffle blended with the sweetness of ice cream will give sugar cravers mouthwatering pleasant. However, it is not recommended to have waffle ice cream sandwich on the subway, so make sure you finish yours before getting on the train.
6. Somsatang – Cotton candy
Cotton candy is not just a gift for children, but adults are also in love with it as you can see on the street of Seoul. It is not uncommon to see adults holding huge and colorful cotton candy in a lot of creative shapes. Maybe because of its creativity and appealing colors, cotton candy is a favorite treat for people of all ages.
7. Hotteok – Sweet pancake
Korean style pancake “Hotteok” is appealing for its golden brown crunchy crust and sweet sugar filling just like honey. Biting into a crispy pancake and discovering the melted sugar filling inside, you can’t stop having one more. This pancake doesn’t only attract children but also the adults.
8. Ojingeo twigim – Fried dried squid
Fried coated squid is widely favored for its distinctive crispy texture. It is made of dried squid and usually served with hot sauce and other dressings.
9. Ppopgi (or bbopki, bbopgi, bbobkki) – Sugar lollipop
A traditional Korean treat, sugar lollipop is made of caramelized sugar and baked in the oven, usually having cute and funny shapes such as a star or a heart. If you’re patient and skillful enough to eat the rim of Bbobkki without breaking the imprint in the middle, you’ll get another one for free.