The shopping districts along Cheonggyecheon, such as Gwangjang Market, Bangsan Market, and Sewoon Shopping Street, exude the rustic atmosphere of Euljiro. However, the depth and depth of its flavor should never be ignored. The restaurants here serve as a strong support for the lives of local merchants and office workers for as little as a few years to as many as 5 to 60 years. In the evening, simple tables are spread out one by one in the storefront, and the alley is bustling with three to five people who seem to have been waiting. This season, when the sun sets and the cool wind blows, is an opportunity to fully enjoy Euljiro. This week is the taste of the common people. Let’s take a quick trip to Euljiro.
1. Kimchi stew restaurant where you can stand in line <ì주ì > (link)
Kimchi stew is easy to eat at home or at a nearby restaurant, so you don’t have to go a long way or wait in line. However, if that place is Eunjujeong, the story is different. Eunjujeong, a long-standing kimchi stew restaurant located near Bangsan Market, is famous for serving kimchi stew full of pork and hearty wrapped vegetables. The way to eat kimchi stew wrapped in a wrap is a bit unfamiliar, but once you try it, it’s a combination that goes well together. The taste of eating rice mixed with simmered stew soup is also good. They sell only one menu for lunch, kimchi stew wrapped in a wrap (7,000 won), and for dinner, samgyeopsal and kimchi stew (10,000 won). Recently, due to internal expansion, the store has expanded and waiting times have been shortened, so it’s probably not difficult to visit during peak hours.
Image source: Umi’s Naver blog
â²Shikigin Xuper review: Kimchi stew is tasty, but it also has a lot of quantity… Wrapped in a wrap, it’s even more delicious~ â²Business hours: 11:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. â²Price range: 7,000 won to 10,000 won â²Location: 32 Changgyeonggung-ro 8-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul (43-23 Jugyo-dong)
2. Chogye-tang, the health food I ate at the <íëì¥> palace (link)
Pyeongraeok, named after coming down from Pyeongan-do, is an North Korean cuisine specialty restaurant that has continued its 62-year tradition for the 3rd generation. The advantages of this restaurant are the clean and refreshing flavors unique to Pyeongan-do, a cold region. Chogye-tang, fish-bok tray, and Pyongyang cold noodles are popular. The restaurant’s signature dish, Chogye-tang (11,000 won), is a dish eaten with vegetables and soba noodles in a rich, cold chicken broth mixed with sweet and sour sauce, and is a cold health food eaten in a palace in the old days. Because of this, customers who want to cool off with a bowl of chogye-tang are often seen surrounding the outside of the store in the summer. The chicken sauce that comes as a side dish is made from leftover chicken meat after adding broth, and the flavor is sharp yet sweet and sour, so I keep getting my hands on my hands. Tasting a bite of the chicken sauce before the main dish is served makes you look forward to the delicious soup Chogye-tang.
â²Since it’s summer, it’s famous for eating chogye noodles, so I went looking for it because it was summer, and it was so nice to eat it delicious~ The chicken was also big, and I couldn’t order 1 serving, so I was able to order 2 servings, but the downside was that I was able to order from 2 servings, but I’ve been eating it deliciously! ~hehehe â²Business hours: 11:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. â²Price range: 7,000 won to 17,000 won â²Location: 21-1 Mareunnae-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul (18-1, Jeo-dong 2-ga)
3. Warm mung bean paste full of human smell <ìì¡°ë¹ë> (link)
The back side of Euljiro Tool Shopping District is shabby, but there are many restaurants that have guarded this alley for a long time. Among them, the original mung doo shop, a bedae-mochi specialty store with a nostalgic signature that colors the alley with a savory smell, is full of office workers who relieve the stress of everyday life with a thick bowl of mung bean paste and makgeolli. In early summer weather like these days, the simple table outside the store is more popular, and I love the chatter of the three or five office workers sitting around. It’s fun to see the white-haired old man taking it himself when his grey-haired grandfather pulls it out, and the guests are also cleaning up the table they’ve eaten. Popular items include mung bean paste (8,000 won), seafood chanjeon with plenty of squid (9,000 won), and meatballs that look like they’ve eaten in a lunch box that mom packed with them (9,000 won).
Image source: Wifree Scenery’s Naver blog
â²Shikigami Heejin e review: A sign that makes you feel the years have passed.. When it’s raining and I think of a cup of rice cake and a cup of makgeolli, I want to go to a place I want to go to… My grandmother and grandfather, who are tired, work on their own and come out well for the price. â²Business hours: 11:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. â²Price range: 8,000 won to 10,000 won â²Location: 26-2 Eulji-ro 11-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul (272-8 Ipjeong-dong)
4. A bowl of Seolleungtang filled with sincerity <문íì¥> (link)
Bunka Ok is a Seolleungtang restaurant that has maintained its place in Euljiro for a long time from 1952 to the present. When you enter the impressive interior with old tables, chairs, and paintings on the walls, where you can feel the time of 60 years, you can see some old looking guests eating. The popular menu here is definitely Seolleungtang (8,000 won), which is made by adding light brisket to immaculate broth from a deep country. Like Seoul-style Seolleungtang, the soup’s clean and light style is impressive. If you eat fresh cabbage kimchi and sour kakuteki together, it’s very hearty. The crucible bath (13,000 won), foot bath (17,000 won), and suyuku (35,000 won) are famous.
â² Shikigami Crepica review: A place that maintains the same flavor of Seolleungtang even after many years, with a white, clear color and a savory flavor. It always reminds me of the hearty topped meat and the hot soup… I also always appreciate the owner’s consideration for customers â²Business hours: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. â²Price range: 8,000 won to 55,000 won â²Location: 62-5 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul (118-3 Jugyo-dong)
5. The light broth and savory soba are just right! <ìì§ë©´ì¥> (Shortcut)
After passing through the entrance sign, which tells the story of many years, old customers sit in a row in a narrow aisle on green plastic chairs that look like those seen in the waiting room of a bus terminal in the old days. There are waits in the summer due to the large number of customers, but it’s not that long. When you sit down and enjoy the savory noodles served to you, you quickly get the Pyongyang cold noodles (10,000 won) that you ordered. The cool yet boring Pyongyang cold noodle soup can be a bit embarrassing for people who are usually used to the sweet and sour taste of cold noodles. However, when you enjoy it slowly, there comes a time when you realize the true flavor of the harmony between the mildly flavored broth and savory soba noodles. If you want to experience the essence of the deep flavor hidden in the light and simple flavors, this is the place to go.
Image source: Soaoaekd’s Naver blog
â²Shikigami Mojito ” review: I quenched my hunger with boiled pork and filled my stomach with Pyongyang cold noodles… there’s nothing to envy in the world lol â²Business hours: 11:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. â²Price range: 80,000 won to 44,000 won â²Location: 72-1 Chungmuro, Jung-gu, Seoul (177-1 Ipjeong-dong)