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Insa-dong at night: A mecca for street food lovers

It’s pretty much a fact that Seoul has many ‘dongs’ (neighbourhood) that could win a nomination of being a mecca for street food. Eating is a Korean, or shall I say, an Asian pastime. No one can argue that food is a major constituent in Asian culture. I know this by heart because I am Asian.

Food is a common denominator across the continent realised on the street pavements of every Asian country.

Korean puffed rice crackers. In Cebu we have a similar delicacy called ‘ampao’.

Insa-dong is lively and busy at night, but also during the day.

I find Insa-dong a cool and artsy place, albeit having a more traditional ambiance than trendy Samcheong-dong. This is because of the presence of many old school Korean handicraft ateliers scattered around in the area promoting Korean culture.

Both ‘dongs’ are in Jongno-gu or Jongno (Seoul old city centre) and are not far from each other. Insa-dong is located south of Samcheong-dong, so it’s very handy to combine both neighbourhoods in a one-day visit.

It was at Insa-dong that I first saw a wide array of Korean street food. The selection was quite impressive, I had to control my curious stomach from getting near the carts because I am reserving the tummy space for dinner. The plan is to order a typical Korean meat and vegetable dish. So with that forethought, I just fed my camera instead.

Korean honey string candy filled with nuts. The guy from the left told me that he honeymooned in Cebu, Philippines.

Cooked insects. Thick maggots. Yuck.

Open-air food stalls with a common eating area in Insa-dong.

GyeRanBang – Korean egg muffins, with real sunny side up eggs.

Vendor selling sausages in skewers and grilled dumpling.

There are many local Korean restaurants in Insa-dong as well. It was on this alley we had dinner.

Street vendor selling a variety of snacks: twigim (fried vegetables tempura style), fried dumplings, ddeokbokki (rice cake in spicy red sauce).

I think they are moon cakes.

Meat and vegetable barbecue skewers.

Here in Insadong, especially during the evening, Caucasians have become an interesting sight. You can find some Caucasian street artists. There is a Caucasian street musician. There are even Caucasians recruiting everyone passing by for Hari Krishna. Because they are Caucasians and there are not many white-skinned tourists in Seoul, they tend to pop-out from the crowd.

Caucasian street musician and Hari Krishna proselytisers.

Street artists. You cannot see it in this picture but the two other street artists are blonde Caucasian women.

South Korea is also another mecca for native English-speaking English teachers (from the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) working as ESL teachers. Even Filipinos come here to teach English.

Well, dear English teachers, there is a lot to be done because we rarely met locals who spoke at least basic conversational English! When in South Korea be prepared for the occasional hand gesture communication and speaking in very simple, very slow and clear English.

Travel Period: October 2012
Destination: Insa-dong – Jongno-gu (Seoul Old City Centre), South Korea

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