Build-Your-Own Lunch Boxes at Tongin Market
South Korea has a plethora of open-air markets, each one with their own unique features: Dongdaemun Market is known for its fashion and Korean classics like mayak (small) kimbap and sundae (blood sausage), Gwangjang Market for its bindaetteok (Mungbean pancakes), and Myungdong for its cosmetics stores, grilled lobster, and strawberry mochi. Of all these markets however, I’ve never found one as charming as Tongin Market.
Tongin Market occupies a small area of Jongno-gu just north of Gyeongbokgung Station. More than just its food, this market offers a glimpse into Korea’s history, having been built as a place for Japanese residents during the time of Japanese Occupation in June 1941. After the Korean War, many North Koreans flooded into South Korea, leading to a large growth in population. These new residents took over the then abandoned marketplace.
Today, Tongin Market thrives in thanks to its Dosirak Café which launched back in 2012, giving people a fun buffet style lunch experience while continuing to honor the market’s history.
How it works
In the center of Tongin Market you’ll see a sign for the Dosirak Café. Head upstairs and there will be a small eating area and register at the back where you can pay 5,000 won in exchange for a dosirak (lunchbox) tray and coins. The coins themselves add to the historical theme as well, resembling the first ever coins used in Korea during the Goryeo era (918–1392).
Using these coins, you can purchase food from the vendors downstairs and make your own dosirak! You can definitely fill your tray with the coins provided, but if you want to buy extra, they’ll accept cash as well.
Various banchan (side dishes)
veggie kimbap wrapped in beet-based wrapper, egg rolls (gyeran mari) with crab
chicken skewer stand
Tongin Market is a smaller sized market with its stores all packed into a single alleyway. The positive of this is that it doesn’t feel overwhelming choosing what to eat. The most popular items to get at Tongin Market are the japchae (glass noodles) and pan-seared tteokbokki (spicy rice cake). I highly recommend both! While regular tteokbokki is thick and chewy, boiled in a sweet and spicy sauce with other ingredients like fish cake and onion, the pan-seared ones are smaller in size and have a crisper outside while maintaining the chewy rice cake interior. This gave it a tear-away chew, one you can bite through it and pull it apart, rather than having to work through it like with the regular. There are two kinds of tteokbokki available: spicy and non-spicy. As someone who usually prefers spicy flavors, I found the non-spicy ones tasted better as it had a slightly sweeter honey-like undertone.
Japchae
traditional tteokbokki
Pan-seared tteokbokki
The kimchi pajeon (Korean pancake) was also really yummy, having the perfect balance of a soft mashed potato inside and a crunchy outside. The kimchi flavor wasn’t overwhelming, but still present enough that I feel like I was just eating hash browns. For drinks, there’s a small stand near the center that sells citron tea for buy one get one free! As a self-proclaimed citron tea addict this made me extremely happy.
sugar-glazed sweet potato
After building your tray you can head back to the Dosirak café and sit down to enjoy your meal!
Dosirak Cafe
Left tray: fried tofu, miso fish cake soup, japchae, lotus root, rolled egg (Gyeran mari), pan seared tteokbokki
Right tray: Japchae, soy-glazed terriyakki, tteokbokki, kimchi pancake
brown sugar and honey hotteok
I’ve been to Tongin Market several times now and each time I’ve enjoyed it. Besides the entertaining meal, the atmosphere is overall laid back and the people are incredibly friendly, trying their best to get your attention in cute ways. Once a rice cake vendor, upon seeing my friend, shouted in English, “Oh! Beautiful lady!”
As I went to take a picture, one man turned around and struck a pose for the camera!
From the use of old coins and traditional tiger paintings hanging from the ceiling, to old propaganda posters of former President Park Chung Hee plastered inside alleys; entering the marketplace, it’s as if you’ve been transported back in time. Tongin Market offers a nice contrast to the highly modern society Seoul usually exhibits. If you have the time, I highly recommend going to Tongin Market for some good food mixed with historical reflection.
Address: 18, Jahamun-ro 15-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul
서울특별시 종로구 자하문로15길 18 (통인동)
Hours:Open Mon- Sat 11:00am- 5:00pm (coin exchange until 4:00pm)
Market is closed Third Sunday of each month (Dosirak Cafe is closed Mondays)
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Want to make a day of it? Head over to the National Museum of Korea before-hand to really get an appreciation for Korea’s history. Tickets are free and the exhibits are highly impressive!
Address: 198 Sejong-daero, Sejongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Hours: Thurs-Tus 10:00am-6:00pm, Wed 10:00am-9:00pm