Translator
Here we go.. the first guest post of the year on Cumi & Ciki. She is Juno from Seoul, Korea and she will share her travel tip on street food in Korea.
Guest Writer : Juno
Country: Korea
Twitter: @RunawayJuno
Website: Runaway Juno
Eating is really important factor in many countries. Korea is definitely one of them. In the big holiday season everyone in Korea makes tons of foods for neighbors, friends and family. Having a big meal is really important to us Koreans. Every season we eat differently, everyone has specific memories about food they eat while growing up. Even if those were junk food, we still love ’em! There are lots of stories about food and we do have great foods. Now I would like to introduce some of the great street snacks you can find in Seoul.
1. Dak-ggo-chi: Chicken on a stick.
It is a basically barbecued chicken on a stick with sweet barbeque sauce. (Sounds similar to Satay, the Malaysian counterpart, but is totally different in taste) Vendors are barbecuing it right in front of you. Hot, sweet, just so delicious! You should try it. Some sauces can be spicy (Koreans use hot ingredients a lot) but normally it’s quite sweet. I find lots of foreign friends love ’em. 1000 won for one stick. (about $1 USD)
2. Man-doo: Dumpling
A bun stuffed with meet, pork and vegetables. It’s sold more during fall and winter than in summer. Because mandoo is steamed food it is ideal for the colder climate. Mandoo tastes very fresh and feels like country food. The procedure of making this Mandoo is totally fascinating. First prepare the stuffing. Then make the mandoo skin – a little circle, flat dough. Put a right amount of stuffing on the dough then wrapped around it while making the shape. You will see then make it when you eat it. And there is wang-mandoo means very big mandoo. Twice the size of the plain mandoo. Taste your mandoo with a little bit of soy sauce. There is no way you won’t love them! 1000won for 5~7 mandoo.($1 USD )
Piping hot, Wangmandoo
3. Tteok-bok-i: Rice cakes in hot sauce
If you dare, taste the most popular street food of all time! It called Tteokbokki. Cylinder shaped rice cakes cooked with Korean hot pepper sauce as a main ingredient. A lot of malt is in it, so we can taste the sweetness. But for people who are not familier with spicy food, it can be just too damn hot! Usually these stores are located infront of schools as they are cheap, school kids love it and can afford it. Actually one can find these vendors on every corner. Another popular food along with tteok-bok-I is Umuk. Umuk is a fish cake in different shapes. These are usually sold with tteokboki and dipped in hot tasty soup. Eaten with a little bit of soy sauce they are delicious. These two foods sell throughout all seasons of the year, but in the winter with a cup of Umuk soup, the tteokboki couldn’t be better. 2000 won for a plate of Teokboki. ($2 USD) 500 won for a stick of Umuk.($0.5 USD)
Tteok-bok-i, spicy baby!
4. Ho-teok
These look like pancakes but are different in terms of ingredients and how it is made. The Ho-teok are hot pancakes with brown suger based filling. First you make the dough with filling and toast it on the pan. In the mean time you have to gently press the dough with a spatula. That is the key.. the technique of pressing it just right! 500 won for one Ho-teok ($0.5 USD)
Ho-teok, check out the spatula!
5. bung-u-bbang
A bun that looks like a fish: carp. The Bung-u-bbang is filled with sweet red bean paste and is another winter snack. There are molds for fish shaped buns that you can buy. When I was a kid, I went to the vendor and watched how he made these for a long time. He filled the molds with dough (there are 10~15 molds all connected) and put in the stuffing, and then he covered it with a little more dough then shuts in the ingredients. Every so often, flip the mold on its other side and cook some more. It just looked so cool! 1000 won for 4 buns($1 USD)
Fish Bun, Bung-u-bbang
These food travel tips are literally everywhere in Seoul. If you want some recommendations, I would say go to Jong-ro and Shin-chon, and check out the towns which have got a university. These are the best for food. There are so many more delicious foods out there. Try it when you visit Seoul.
Books on Seoul and Korean Food:
About this week’s guest writer
Jiyeon Juno Kim or affectionately knows as JUNO, is an avid traveler and writes a travel blog entitled “Runaway Juno” describing her love for traveling, food and seeing the world. Her favourite quotation that pretty much sums up her life’s motto – “Travel is not New. People have never been happy to stay in one place .. – on the wall of Chch, NZ Museum. ” Juno is based in Seoul, Korea.
Follow Juno on twitter.
*all photos above are credited to the guest writer, Juno
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those lil fishies look so cute. hi juno, when you visiting malaysia?
hey fatboybakes !
I visited Malaysia few years ago. early 2006. loved Melaka!! charming little city. and yes Satay was hm~ absolute favorite!! actually i have a article about Satay in my blog too if you are interested
thanks for your interest!
juno! you need to try FBB’s cakes. he’s a good friend and he bakes amazingly well.. from home! come to KL one day and you will see:)
hi mr. FBB, why .. are you going to invite her to one of your legendary parties so she can see “how it’s done in Malaysia? ” LOL
Helo Juno!! The ho-teok does look like some roti canai… Hmm… nice!
hey eiling! i don’t know what that is.. but im guessing a delicious treat!
lots of my foreign friends like Ho teok
hi juno. it’s a type of flatbread. Like roti phrata? (gee, i don’t even know if you know that one;) haha ) Anyway the folded dough is grilled with oil and can be either savory (eaten with dhall and curry) or sweet (sugar added during the grilling of the roti or sprinkled after)
ooh this looks more interesting than the bbq meats and bibimbap that we’re used to here in kl… hopefully someone will open a korean snack outlet in msia eventually. those fishie buns look yummy =)
bbq and bibilbap are sure great but street food has their charm
fish buns look so cute, dont they?:)
sean, we don’t have enough choices in KL hor? why don’t u open shop?
The smiling fish buns look (almost) too cute to be eaten!
Thanks for the peek into some yummy Korean snacks, Juno.
(Do come to Malaysia again! There’s so much more than just Malacca n Satay)
i know… they are too cute. always made me thinking should i eat head or tail first? then i always choose tail…
so nice of you to invite her J!
Ho teok with brown sugar filling? So it’s consider a dessert cause it taste sweet.. ?
yes you might say.
really delicious treat!
yea its a dessert
wow, this cumi and ciki expanding to international waters..
been wanting to visit seoul again from the time my friend started national service till he finished..
they are doing so great. inspiring really
have you been Seoul before? yes come visit!
Time to visit then! Last time I went I wasn’t blogging seriously yet. it’s a shame otherwise I would have paid attention and taken better photos!
i know.. feel the same way. but hey, it’s a good thing that something inspires you and makes you keep moving!!:)
As one of the tummies is Korean, this post will make him extremely homesick!
oh who is it? LOL
Thanks cumi&ciki + Juno, tried all these snacks during my seoul trip .. Especially love the red bean fish bun .. Perfect for the chilly seoul winter, and goes well with the hot bottled Soy milk
wow glad you loved Seoul!
are you in Korea right now?
No, I’m in KL! Only been to Seoul once and love it
Enjoyed the food in Seoul, unfortunately couldn’t find the likes of ‘andong’ jjimdak in KL. Another interesting dish for me is a chicken/octopus dish pan fried with rice cake, potatoes, sausage, noodles, vegie in very spicy sauce, right in front of the customers .. something called ‘cun cuan’ spicy chicken
hi love seoul! appreciate your many comments! looks like i left u in the capable hands of juno to answer then all, LOL
Juno- i don’t know how to bake or cook but i can bring you clubbing if you ever come to KL (in return for a bung-u-bbang)
LOL
try to make it
lol
Oh goodie I’ve tried Tteokbokki and the fish shaped red bean snacks!
ur better than me! i have not tried the tteokbokki
did you? how was it?
It’s the best snack of all time. for sure
You did good!
Great to know that there’s some affordable food in Korea too. So tempting.. I thought it would be really expensive to eat there.
not really- it’s actually cheaper than say, Japan?
eh eh, a great way to know other place punya food lei~
great start great start..
Juno, come to kl, see all the warm hospitality u receiving~ its gonna be good~
taufulou .. how nice of u hor.. ru going to lend her ur place to sleep in?!
I can be your couch potato! haha tanks for the offer @taufulou.
yeah definitely. when i was in Malaysia, i didn’t have much time so i just visit Melaka , Johobaru and KL. but now i have this many friends in KL, so. Someday!
Ooh! Korean food! More specifically, Korean food that isn’t just kimchi or ginseng chicken soup, hehe.
The bung-u-bbang looks like a Japanese snack I had in Macau though… Any relation?
hehe.. i gotta ask Juno.. i think she’s sleeping in her bed. in her country.
I don’t think so.. but maybe. you know we all share many cultures together in the whole world. sometimes you never know what came from where.
great food
suprise you know Kimchi and chicken soup!
Juno.
I used to have a classmate in Primary school, a Korean exchange student, and the funny thing is, when you’re that young, you don’t really notice the differences in culture but accept everything the way they are. Because of her, my first experience with Korean food was over 30 years ago, a time way before Winter Sonata.
LOL , wow… that’s really cool. For me, the first time i set foot in Korea was just maybe 5 years ago? still a novice. also, it’s normally for work so I miss a lot of the streetside goodies and the off the beaten path ‘hidden gems’. I need to go back on a proper holiday.. on my own! (wanna come?!)
@Ciki Twit me when you come Ciki
@Lyrical Lemongrass : your experience is so cool! that’s the best part. just absorve in :
Everything looks so delicious! Now I’m craving for these delicious snacks and I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to find them in Berlin… I need to get to Seoul somehow