Seoul Market Food Map: Slightly Sweet Korean Fried Chicken & Savory-Sweet Veggie Rice Cakes

Text & Photos byLittle Dot Paine

I often seek out attractions based on food, and Teukseom Market is one such example. Normally, I’d visit Gwangjang Market, but it’s gotten really crowded lately, so I’ve stopped including it in my market routes on some trips (since I’ve been there so many times anyway). But this time, Teukseom Market was recommended on a food show for having an amazing fried chicken spot, plus there’s supposedly a very cheap supermarket inside. Also, a friend of mine who lives nearby in Korea highly recommended Teukseom Market and suggested coming around noon, since Korean markets don’t open as early as those in Taiwan—they usually don’t fully set up until around 9 or 10 AM.

The entrance to Teukseom Market is down the alley to the right of Exit 2 at Teukseom Station. Since it leads to the market, there’s also an elevator available (handy for elderly visitors or those carrying heavy items).

It doesn’t look much like a market yet—you’ll need to walk a few more minutes—but there are plenty of shops along the way selling things like fruit and clothes.

This fruit shop seems to be doing pretty well in business.

At the intersection, I spotted a rice cake shop with a sign that read “Namdaemun Vegetable Fried Rice Cakes.” It looked similar to the ones I had at Namdaemun before.

They also offer black sugar and vegetable flavors.

One costs 1,000 KRW, but they’re pretty big.

You just toss the money into the white bucket yourself—the vendor doesn’t handle cash directly.

I got the vegetable flavor for 1,000 KRW.

It’s greasy, but much better than the ones at Namdaemun—the ones there are seriously oily. These are more tolerable, and the cake itself doesn’t soak up too much oil.

Huh, the flavor is a bit different, but it still follows the savory-sweet style. It’s pretty good and not as oily.

I happened to see a newly opened shop selling stylish casual pants for just 5,000 KRW. The material feels nice, and there were also lots of discounted hiking gear being sold—lots of aunties were shopping there.

Keep walking down...

After about three to five minutes, you’ll see the red arrow pointing to the right in the photo above.

This is the actual entrance to Teukseom Market.

Teukseom Market is small but lively—not as packed as Gwangjang Market. My first impression was that it’s quite neat. It’s just a long stretch going straight down, with not too many side alleys, making it easy to explore without getting lost.

The Korean beef looks super fresh and is priced affordably.

There are lots of discount supermarkets inside Teukseom Market—there are about three or four along the whole stretch. I took a closer look, and the prices seemed pretty similar across them, so it’s worth checking out.

But I don’t get it—how is it okay to sell milk like this, not even refrigerated? But it’s really cheap.

Instant noodles are also on discount.

This knife-cut noodle shop is super popular.

This shop is also quite well-liked.

Back in the day, I used to buy side dishes at Gwangjang Market. Since Teukseom Market is a traditional market, of course, it has those too.

This supermarket has even more stuff. And just like the others, they display items right at the storefront.

Ice cream is 20% off.

I know a lot of people love this one.

This Mom's Hand supermarket is highly recommended by many people online. Like the previous supermarkets, it has an overwhelming variety of items—it’s almost dazzling how much stuff they have here. Anyway, these stores are all close to each other, so you can just shop around and compare prices yourself!

One can for 1,000 won—when GS25 isn’t offering buy-one-get-one-free deals, this is a good deal, but I just don’t like this color.

I really enjoy drinking soy milk.

Today’s goal: QS Fried Chicken, right over there~

There are so many different flavors of fried chicken here—each one comes with a unique sauce (varying in spice level and taste). But honestly, to me, the sauces all look pretty similar. This must be the secret of Korean chili sauce—it may look alike, but it definitely tastes different.

This Gwanchae flavor is what I asked the staff to recommend as their top pick—they suggested this one to me. It’s “mildly spicy.”

The Jjajang flavor is super spicy, hot!!! ??? is sweet and sour chicken, which should be non-spicy. On the other side, there are three more flavors.

Even one person can easily finish a whole serving—there’s also a cup version available.

I got the Gwanchae mildly spicy cup version—perfect for one person (and still quite a lot)!

There’s also a small rice cake on top.

Delicious!! The fried chicken is yummy!! Really tender.

And it’s boneless—I ate it super clean~ The mild spice really isn’t that hot, it’s more on the sweet side, not sour (so the other sweet and sour one is probably sour). The breading has some bigger chunks here and there, but I personally love flour-based coatings. The breading is a yellowish, slightly thick and chewy batter—some parts are almost like Taiwanese salty crispy chicken, barely coated at all.

After buying the fried chicken, I kept walking and turned right—there’s another TV-advertised shop selling korokke (potato croquettes). But I didn’t get any, I’d had too many fried foods already.

Next, you’ll need to cross a big road!! On the other side, it’s still the market.

This area is also bustling, but the goods sold here are even more local.

You’ve got to walk to the back to get sweet rice drink (or maybe it’s called something else?), it’s super cheap here—like, a huge bottle for just 3,000 won. Anytime I see these big bottles, I usually buy them. Before this, I bought one in Daegu for 5,000 won and thought that was already cheap, because normally a cup costs 2,000 won. Getting the big bottle is way more cost-effective!

They also sell cheap bread!

By the time I was leaving, I had already bought a pair of pants, a bottle of sweet rice drink, eaten fried chicken, and seafood fried tteokbokki!

I didn’t buy anything at the supermarket this time, but next time I go on a big shopping trip, I’ll come here to buy things~ I really recommend the Telescopic Market, everyone should come check it out!

Entrance to Telescopic Market
Korean Naver Map
Address: ?聘夜寄萝 谷屿? 圃窜熙杠13? 64 (next to)
Coordinates: 37.555236, 126.906451
QS Fried Chicken on Hangangchi??
Korean Naver Map
?聘夜寄萝 谷屿? 馆菩杠8? 27
02-3143-5577
Coordinates: 37.556267, 126.906129
 

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