TOURING SEOUL: Namdaemun Market
Dutch at our nearest entrance to Namdaemun Market.
Walking around the neighborhood right beside our hotel!
Dear Foodie Fam,
Literally a few minutes walk from our hotel (Hill House, Seoul, South Korea), Namdaemun Market was a daily call we couldn’t resist.
Read on to find out why it was worth the wander…
Namdaemun Gate! This photo is not by me. I got it off pixabay and it’s by luyoun.
History
Named after the nearby Namdaemun Gate (Korea’s National Treasure No.1), Namdaemun Market as it is now is relatively new (opened in 1964). However, for 600 years, there’s always been some sort of market here. This makes Namdaemun the oldest market in Seoul.
Aside from being the oldest, Namdaemunis the largest traditional Korean market. It’s sprawled across 10 acres of Seoul. Here, there’s 10,000 stores dispersed among open air shops, multistory buildings, pop-ups, stalls, alleys… even an underground arcade.
Typical scene at Namdaemun Market, Seoul, South Korea.
Something you could get at Namdaemun is a face mask. These will help you fit in, keep you healthy and even keep your warm!
The Experience
The place isn’t just crowded with shops, it’s crowded with people. You’ve got locals looking for everyday essentials and medical supplies and (duh) you’ve got tourists who can find almost any type of souvenir. There’s kitchen goods, clothes, outdoor gear, stationery, fine art, flowers, teas, eyeglasses, contact lenses, hanboks (traditional clothes), world renowned used camera gear... even fishing gear and knock-offs (which the vendors will be honest about.) Many of these items are made by the vendors, themselves.
The fact that buyers purchase directly from makers and wholesalers makes this market thrive to this day. (For wholesale shopping, visit from 11PM -4AM.)
Because this market is frequented by lots of locals, it’s an affordable place to grab souvenirs for friends and families. This is where we blew our pasalubong (Tagalog: "[something] for when you welcome me" / gifts and souvenirs to bring home to loved ones) budget! Traditional and touristy gifts can be bought here (ie: magnets, postcards) at a cheaper price than at tourist destinations. There’s also loads of cute things like socks stationery and phone cases (ie: Totoro, moomins). I wanted to buy dog clothes to bring home to my fur babies but quickly realized most Seoul dogs were considerably smaller than my own.
Even in the bright daytime, it was cold that November. Outside and inside the market, everyone was wearing this type of straight, slim jacket quilted horizontally and reaching down past the knees. They were reminiscent of puffer jackets and probably stuffed with down. A lot of people were also wearing Supreme knock-off hoodies. Women of all ages wore faux fur scarves. Chilled to the bone (California girl, indeed), I scored a pretty and thick peacoat for $8. I found it when a man brought out a huge bag of one-off jackets and coats and emptied them into a big pile on his outdoor cart. I wanted so many of them but most weren’t my size. A lot of locals were grabbing stuff up so quickly and I could tell this was a normal occurrence!
Being tempted by a Namdaemun scarf vendor. Unfortunately, he was a hard one to crack and I walked away without this scarf.
These furry scarves and stoles were very popular during our visit!
I really wanted a furry scarf, too. I didn’t find one at Namdaemun that I could afford because… well… though I enjoyed bartering (Hangeul and Sino-Korean number systems were pretty easy to learn compared to others), South Koreans were very skilled at having the upperhand and outright denying business from anyone that seemed to devalue their goods.
Enjoying gimbap and naengmyeon (with kal-guksu) in a warm little Namdaemun Market restaurant. I am also wearing the notorious fake Supreme hoodie.
One thing I wasn’t too happy about buying was a fake Supreme hoodie. Although the vendor did mention from the get-go that the hoodies were fake, Dutch and I were bitterly cold. We were packed light to avoid check-in luggage for flights between five countries including very hot Egypt. I wore all my layers at once because we sorely underestimated the Korean chill. Needing some sort of pullover to avoid the cold, we reluctantly bought two fake Supreme hoodies.
There’s hanbok you can buy for adults, children and (not pictured here) even dogs!
Emo (이모 “aunt”s) working outdoors and displaying just a little taste of the glorious food at Namdaemun Market!
Eating
If you’re looking for affordable, beloved Korean dishes, Namdaemun has that, too. If you wander just far enough into the maze of shopping stalls, you won’t be able to escape the enticing smell of food… Follow that smell to some exquisite grub.
Lots of places sell common street food like noodles, pan fried stuff, donuts and dumplings. Of course, places you can sit and eat at will have that free banchan, too!
Here, you can grab yummies like bori-bap (barley rice), naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles), and glutinous rice. Most noodles here are handmade! The most unbelievable part is that everything costs between 5,000 and 8,000 won.
This photo is not taken by me. I got is from pixabay and it is by tragrpx.
Two Main Spots to Eat At in Namdaemun Market:
Kal-guksu Alley: During the Korean war, small, roofless eateries started selling leftover food from U.S. Army bases (and sections in the backend would sell other American military stuff.) Today, this alley is best known for it’s wheat flour noodles called kal-guksu (칼국수; “knife cut noodles”). These famous handmade noodles are usually paired with a broth made of chicken or anchovies, shellfish and/or kelp simmered for hours. Sometimes, zucchini, potatoes and scallions are added later. Yes, you will see long lines at these stalls… but remember: pretty much all the stalls have the same food and all the “aunties” are cool with each other despite their jocking for your attention.
Galchi Jorim Alley (Huirak Sikdang 희락식당)): This 50 year old alley is named after braised hairtail/scabbard fish prepared outside over large gas grills in large pots. It may be the first Galchi Jorim (갈치조림) alley in history and is said to have originated from late-night Namdaemun workers who left shift hungry for galchi jorim. For the most part, these restaurants all sell the same type of food- just varied in levels of spiciness or type of side dishes. The fish were even mostly caught in either Jeju or Busan although with hairtail fish getting more rare, some catches might be from China (where most hairtail fish is caught, globally). If you are serious about eating galchi jorim here, the place that is said to have the best and OG galchi jorim is Huirak Sikdang (희락식당) . There’s some really in depth details on galchi jorim and how to get to the Galchi Jorim alley at Mark Wein’s Migrationology blog.
If you can’t wait to go to Seoul to try Kalguksu and Galchi Jorim, you can check out these videos from my friend Seonkyoung Longest!
