Walk into Gwangjang Market, and you will hear the sizzle of oil before you see the food. It opened in 1905, and it’s still a giant maze of stalls packed tightly together.
Start with bindaetteok—the golden mung bean pancakes stacked behind the pans. You eat them hot, usually right on a crowded bench with a cold cup of sweet rice wine. Then grab a paper tray of mayak gimbap, the tiny seaweed rice rolls nicknamed “addictive,” and dunk them in that sweet-spicy mustard sauce until you realize you’ve finished the whole tray.
Many of the stalls are run by older women cooking right in front of you, fast hands moving through steam and noise. Keep some cash in your pocket, point to whatever looks good, and pull up a stool.
