TacoCat’s Travels #229 (Seoul): Checking into Myeongdong's Tasty Snacks

December 2023 · 8 min read · Seoul

Hey Hive!

If you missed the last few posts, I've been sharing about our first trip to Seoul back in Nov 2022! We were waiting post-covid for everyone to go on their holidays before taking a big one and we finally decided to go on our honeymoon! It's also our first time experiencing Fall so we were double excited!

Last week, we continued our first day in Seoul by going through the underground mall in Myeongdong and exploring the Lotte department store! The department store itself was just full of luxury goods but they also had a food avenue where we got some snacks, after we checked out the attached Lotte Young Plaza which had more fun stuff like a Kakao Friends store!

They also had a nice rooftop garden where we relaxed for a bit while enjoying the nice morning air.

We got some yummy dumplings as a snack and tried Korean sweet pancakes called Hotteok which were a little too sweet for me at some parts but was still yummy!

There's still a little bit to this day so let's finish this!

9 Nov 2022. Wednesday.

It was finally time for us to check into our hotel! We'd arrived fairly early in the morning and since check in time wasn't until after noon we decided to take some time to explore for a bit.

I was quite exhausted after barely getting any sleep on the flight and walking around all morning so it was a relief when it was finally time for us to check in. We were staying at this hotel called ibis styles Ambassador and had ordered a standard room.

It was a nice cozy room with the toilet by the door, queen bed beside the shower and sink, an open closet on the other side with a small desk by the window. There was also an LCD screen hanging on the wall in front of the bed.

It was a pretty small room but still bigger compared to some of the Japanese hotels we've seen. Either way it was comfortable and I needed a nap so we promptly took a break after settling in. By the time we awoke and headed out it was dark!

There was quite a lot of Myeongdong we had yet to explore so we just chose a direction where we thought the restaurants were so we could go get dinner as well.

We saw some interesting steps along the way in the underground mall that resembled a library!

There were some food stalls in the underground mall as well but most of them were closed by that point.

We ended up getting out at this street with the only restaurants we could find that were still open!

I felt like something soupy since it was cold out so we decided to try this restaurant we saw that had soup.

There were still a few other patrons inside and it did look quite nice so we decided to check it out.

The interior looked pretty fancy with big wooden tables. They even had some traditional seating where you sit on raised platforms with flat cushions on them.

The only menu we could find was this on the table and they had some beef dishes like boiled beef and beef sashimi which wasn't very appetising to me.

I guess this was the main menu which was the beef soup, or Seolleongtang.

We ordered the K-style Beef Soup to try and like any Korean restaurant the first thing we're served is kimchi!

Tbh I'm not much of a kimchi fan but before arriving in Seoul I knew we were probably going to have kimchi with every meal. But I was hoping that the fresh kimchi here would change my mind about it.

Soon enough, our soup arrived along with a few other condiments. We were told the condiments and kimchi were free flow and you could take more from one of the counters should you wish.

The beef soup smelled nice and there was even some noodles in it! But upon tasting it it was as plain as water. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to taste that way but in truth both of us found it very plain. Initially we thought it'd be quite flavourful because of the aroma and look but it was literally like drinking slightly savoury water.

We were surprised since there was beef in it but the broth did not have any meat taste at all. We were wondering if we ordered the wrong one but it was the Korean style beef soup and after Googling we found it was the local dish of Seoul made by boiling down ox leg bones for several hours until the broth becomes rich and creamy white. The pictures do look quite similar so I guess it is supposed to taste that way.

Even after adding the condiments it only improved a little bit but the soup was still as plain as ever. I ended up mixing in the kimchi and the spice from the kimchi did make it tastier.

On the plus side I guess this soup is supposed to be very healthy, but we wished there was more flavour to it is all. It baffled us how so many articles on Google said it was very delicious when in truth it felt like water with meat to us.

We were comparing it to our local bak kut teh which is a pork rib soup dish simmered with lots of herbs and spices and a ton more flavourful than this. Nevertheless we did finish what we could. It was kinda disappointing for a first meal here but we move on.

We walked further along the streets of Myeongdong in search of other food to satisfy us, and then we found the famous Myeongdong night market we heard so much about!

There was a long aisle of street stalls on this closed street in the middle of Myeongdong selling all sorts of things from toys and small souvenirs to street snacks!

There were so many stalls we weren't really sure where to begin! So we just decided to pick one direction and walk down and turn back if we need to.

We did see quite a few interesting stalls like this beef barbecue one with steamed corn and very long beef skewers.

There was a stall selling butter garlic shrimp which looked pretty good too, but Sean doesn't like seafood.

There were quite a few meat skewers that smelled so good and was very tempting.

Sean ended up buying a steamed corn to try since that's one of his favourite snacks. But we're not sure if it was the type of corn they used or if it was steamed too long that it was a little mushy rather than crunchy. It also wasn't very sweet so overall not that great.

There were also some taiyaki stalls that sold Japanese fish-shaped cake with different fillings.

There was a whole crowd around this croffle stall that looked and smelled pretty good!

I'd never heard of a croffle before but I guess it was a waffle with the texture of a croissant, probably two of my favourite baked goods! We figured it was definitely worth trying.

They had some interesting flavours but I wanted to taste it without all the fancy fillings first so we chose a maple flavoured one and it blew my mind how good it was!

It was made fresh on the spot for us so it was still hot but it had a nice crisp to it and inside was nice and fluffy just like a croissant! It was probably one of the best things we ate so far!

As the night wore on it got more and more crowded so we tried to navigate the street as best as we could.

We saw this shop selling that looked like egg toast that looked similar to the toast we've seen on videos so we decided to give it a try.

It wasn't as warm as we thought it'd be, and the bread that made up the base was more like a sponge cake of sorts. It was a lot sweeter than I thought it'd be so it was a little disappointing. Still alright but I was expecting it to be warm and savoury and it wasn't.

We came across a cosmetics store that was having a huge sale and they had a ton of different types of facial masks so I bought a couple.

We walked down a few alleys before coming to a supermarket so we could buy some snacks and fruits to bring back to the hotel.

Before going back Sean also wanted to try this stall selling sweet and sour fried chicken!

He likes the sweet and sour pork dish common in Chinese cuisine but we've never seen one with fried chicken or rice cakes so he wanted to give it a try.

I'm not a fan of sweet and sour stuff but it was still pretty yummy! The chicken was nice and crispy and the rice cakes matched the sauce pretty well. It was a little too sweet for me though.