Best Korean street food — Top 22 best street food in Korea & Seoul you definitely must-eat

November 1, 2024

10. Hweori Gamja – Tornado potato

Korean street food hweori gamja tornado potato — Credit: best korean street food blog.

Similar to French fries but having the shape of a “tornado”, the potato slice is much thinner and crunchier. Not only well known in Korea, this snack has even created a fever in Vietnam, popularly sold at a number of night markets. You’ll enjoy a potato twisted into spiral and thin slices, deep-fried until becoming crispy with a captivating fresh gold color. After the oil is drained, the seller will sprinkle a layer of seasoning salt on top of it in order to bring out the savory taste of potato.

11. Kopija – Pizza cone

From the first look, you’ll be reminded of an ice cream cone. With this kind of shape, it is a really convenient way to enjoy pizza on the go while still keeping the traditional delight of a handmade pizza recipe. Uniquely designed with crunchy crust and the toppings now become fillings, this is considered an interesting and creative combination of pizza and ice cream.

Since pizza cone can fulfill the demand of a busy lifestyle, a lot of people truly enjoy this snack. The fillings are as diverse as normal pizza toppings you normally see and with an affordable price, don’t hesitate to try this new and fun experience of eating pizza.

kopija pizza cone Image by: must eat street food in seoul blog. — Image by: must eat street food in seoul blog.

12. Boong-uh-ppang – Gold fish pastry

Boong-uh-ppang – a type of pastry which has a shape of a golden fish stuffed with red bean paste is one of the most noteworthy street food treat of Koreans and mostly preferred during the cold winter. Today, along with the traditional pastry, there is another modern variation that has ice cream filling.

13. Korean fish-shaped ice cream waffle

This treat is really similar to ice cream cone, but the cone has a creative shape of a fish instead of the usual shape. The cone is good-looking and tasty with multiple ice cream flavors and numerous toppings for selection, hence becoming a favorite type of street food for Korean teenagers.

14. Potato hot dog

Two most popular snacks – hot dog and French fries – are now combined into one, making fast food addicts unable to reject this lickerish and convenient snack.

15. Gyeran-ppang – Egg bread

Gyeran-ppang or egg bread is a popular dish consumed for breakfast in Korea. In the freezing weather of the winter, there is nothing better than the scent and warmness radiating from a delicious piece of egg bread. Originally, egg is the only ingredient, but later people also add cheese, ham and a couple of other ingredients to enliven the taste.

16. Gimbap – Seaweed rice rolls

Gimbap is an indispensable dish when talking about Korean cuisine. The rolls are served as snacks or lunch. The main ingredients are rice and seaweed, and the filling is a combination of cheese, tuna, beef, radish, kimchi, ham, sausage or egg depending on your preference.

Besides, a similar dish to gimbap and in a smaller size is mayak, which is cut into long pieces and eaten with sauces.

Korean street food mayak gimbap — Mayak gimbap

17. Grilled sweet potato

Seoul’s winter is no longer special without the delightful scent of grilled sweet potato and roasted chestnut around the corner of the street.

18. Mandu – Dumpling

Mandu is a Korean dumpling similar to Japanese gyoza. When being grilled or deep-fried, it is called gunmandu. Mandu is usually served with a dipping sauce made of soya sauce and vinegar.

Korean street food mandu dumpling Credit: best korean street food blog. — Credit: best korean street food blog.

Mandu’s filling is a mixture of meat and a variety of vegetables. There are several variations of mandu and all of them are delicious and appetizing such as steamed, boiled and fried mandu. Today, the weather is cool so let’s make fried mandu!

You can use any of your favorite types of meat to make mandu (or maybe you don’t even need meat). Although pork is traditional, you can mix pork and beef or pork and shrimp together.

busan-street-food-odeng-1024x683 Picture: best street food in korea blog. — Picture: best street food in korea blog.

19. Dakgangjeong – Sweet crispy popcorn chicken

Popcorn chicken is commonly preferred by a lot of people in Korea. This is a simple dish with carefully seasoned and deep-fried boneless chicken with a coating of batter and delish creamy honey sauce. The chicken is kept in paper cups that have not only appealing look but also affordable price.

Korean street food takgangjeong popcorn chicken Picture: best street food in korea blog. — Picture: best street food in korea blog.

20. Korean ice cream

Korean street food jipangi ice cream — Jipangi ice cream, Insadong

Despite the cold weather here, ice cream is everyone’s favorite treat, especially the youth. If you have an opportunity to walk by the famous Myeongdong Market of Korea, don’t forget to try the special 32 cm long ice cream.

Korean street food ice cream — Twisted ice cream cone, Myeongdong Market. Picture: best street food in korea blog.

21. Sundae – Korean blood sausage

Though sundae is a rustic dish, it has a major contribution to street food culture of Korea that you can’t overlook when coming here. In spite of the eye-catching look similar to Vietnamese pork sausage, sundae is typically made of pig’s intestine stuffed with dangmyeon, barley, pork blood, perilla leaves, scallion, doenjang, sticky rice, kimchi and fermented soybean paste. Such a flavorful dish!

22. Vegetable twigim

You don’t need to waste your time searching for this dish because it is available at almost every street food place. All kinds of vegetables even including chili and squid are fried, namely “twigim”, and served with soya sauce.

Korean street food gwangjang market — Gwangjang Market, Seoul

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