The Traditional Markets of Seoul This post is for superfoodies and those looking to spend the day immersed in the Korean Traditional Markets of Seoul.  With the right planning, you could hit all the markets in the same day to have breakfast, lunch, dinner with drinks, shopping, and snacks between the meals.   In this post I’m going to help you organize a full day Traditional Market Tour. Plus, these markets are all located north of the Han River so you could easily explore each of these markets without wasting a lot of time traveling. The famous markets we are going to look at today are Namdaemun Market, Tongin Market and Gwangjang Market. Namdaemun's King Dumplings hotteok photo by Michelle Min Breakfast at Namdaemun Market Namdaemun Market by Sungnyemun Gate is the place you can get everything and anything except, according to history, “A Cat’s Horn.” It has over 10,000 stores and it is the famous district for children’s clothes, ...

Namdaemun's Famous Handmade King Dumplings If you happen to be walking around Namdaemun, you might notice that many people are carrying around steaming pink boxes. These boxes are most likely from Kamae Yeanal Son Wang Mandu (가메 엣날 손 왕 만두). The name translates as Kame Old Fashioned, Handmade,  King Dumplings. With a name so long, they better be good. The good thing is that they are. Inside the little shop, you'll see scores of people working together to churn out these mandu like elf cobblers making shoes. Every time they bring out new trays of handmade pork and kimchi mandu, crowds pounce- often buying 20 or 30 at a time. What makes this place so popular is the fluffiness of the dumpling wrapper and the flavorful filling- either pork or pork with kimchi. The filling is also fluffy and delicious. They are only open from 8am to 8pm and they are best in winter. Dan                               ...