Seoul Day 0.5 – Gwangjang market 首爾半天

23rd September 2019 0 By livinguktaiwan

This is the first part of my recent trip to Seoul and my visit to Gwangjang Market.

My first day in Seoul didn’t start off too well. I went to bed at 3am the previous night as I forgot to adjust the time on my watch by an hour forward. I lazed in bed till 10am the next morning and hubby had to literally drag me out of bed. Plus he was still a bit annoyed with me for losing one of our mobile power bank on the coach the previous day. I thought I put it in my handbag. Not my fault the power bank is so stupid and doesn’t know to follow me off the coach!!!

很久沒有去首爾旅行。第一天早上，老公說要到廣藏市場吃早餐。其實我不太餓，但老公對我之前一天不見了行動電源還有點不爽，我唯有乖乖做個好老婆順他意 ? 廣藏市場是韓國最大的傳統市場。有超過100年歷史。裏面的食物攤檔大都由打扮得漂漂亮亮的阿珠媽經營。而他們賣的小吃都大同小異，我相信是傳統韓式早餐。另外有些攤檔賣綠豆煎餅，綠豆蓉是現磨綠的。原本我也有興趣試，但早上吃炸的小吃實有點受不了。

我們在市場裏繞了幾個圈，發現其實攤檔是沒差，就隨便坐下其中一家。阿珠媽不斷遊說我們吃餐牌上最貴的小吃，八爪魚刺身。其實價錢不是重點，而是早上吃會吸著舌頭的八爪魚似乎有點太刺烈。結果我點了一些較大眾化的小吃。

吃過早餐後已將近中午，原來著名的清溪川就在廣藏市場旁邊。清溪川真是名不虛傳真的很清！

Ajummas at Gwangjang Market

Anyway, our first stop in the morning was to Gwangjang Market. This is one of Korea’s largest traditional market and dates back to over 100 years. The market has has tonnes of food stalls and hubby was keen to go there for breakfast. To be honest, I wasn’t to keen on a heavy breakfast at the market as I was still quite full from the previous night’s dinner. However, given he was still a bit annoyed over me losing the power bank not following me off the coach, I thought I’d better play the good wide card and oblige. By the time we arrived at Gwangjang Market it was past 11am and approaching brunch time, I didn’t mind food by that time. Also, all the food at the market looked so tempting. Most of the stalls were selling similar products and were all run by ajummmas (aunties) who looked immaculate in their lovely make up. It really makes me look so sloppy as I’m really lazy in taking care of myself nowadays.

Fried bean cakes

Some of the other stalls were selling fried green bean cakes. They had a grinder and were grinding the green beans to make the batter. Different ingredients were added to the batter, but I’m not sure what as I didn’t try them. Although I was starting to get a bit hungry by now, fried food was still a bit too early for me. Obviously other visitors thought different. Every stall I walked pass, they were frying stack loads of these green bean cakes.

Sliced raw octupus for breakfast anyone?

After wandering around for a while trying to decide which stall to eat at, we finally figured out it didn’t matter at all. All the stalls were indifferent. In the end we just sat down when the next ajumma shoved a menu in front of our face. The food certainly looked good.

As we were trying to figure out what to order, ajumma kept on selling us the most expensive item on the menu, sliced raw octopus. I’ve had that before and it’s really weird as the octopus sucks onto your tongue as you chew, not something I was ready for in the morning. Someone else was keen though, and here’s ajumma holding the octopus for photo shots before she chops it up.

Breakfast at Gwangjang Market

My brunch was less dramatic. I ordered some mayak gimbap (seaweed rolls) because I saw another ajumma making them fresh on a tray placed on the ground outside shop by the stall. I also ordered some glass noodle which were blanched and then mixed with vegetables and seasoned with some really yummy sesame sauce. And the third item we ordered… let’s just say its beef offal of some sort. I’ll leave at that. Anyway, that was mega spicy hot, one piece was more than enough for me.

Stroll along Cheong Gye Cheon

Hubby was now happy that he’d got what he wanted, which doesn’t happen often in our househd, and was in a much better mood. Turns out Gwangjang Market is just by Cheong Gye Cheon, a rather popular stream that runs through parts of Seoul, so we went for a stroll. I think Cheong Gye Cheon is a regeneration project and a popular landmark. Actually I saw quite a lot of locals as well, so perhaps it’s not just us tourist who comes. Wow!! It’s been a busy morning and that’s only my 0.5 day in Seoul!