Written by Caroline Wong
The best way to eat great food in a new city is first to pick the right city. Rome springs to mind. I rambled around those streets for a week and never had a bad meal.
But dining well in Seoul, South Korea? That takes a bit of purpose. This I discovered when I joined my husband on a business trip to Seoul, known for its rich history, pop-culture pedigree and impressively innovative automobiles (I’m looking at you, Kia.)
Our dinners were first-class affairs requiring business attire, but by day it was all street food and sneakers. Over my three days there, I learned to explore unmarked back alleys and enlist a few locals as guides in pursuit of gourmet delights.
While each was different, these five spots share the spirit of innovation that defines modern Seoul’s diverse urban dining scene. They’re spread throughout the city, but getting there is half the fun in Kia’s sleek and spacious EV9.
1. Bukchon Village Brunch
On our first day in Seoul we woke at 8 a.m. It was Friday, and we made the most of the day together and took in a few tourist sites. First stop was Gyeongbokgung Palace. Originally built in 1395 and nearly destroyed during the Japanese occupation of the early 1900s, the South Korean government is well into a 40-year renovation project to return the decorative halls to the height of their Joseon splendor. Allow for two hours to explore the imposing pavilions.
A Korean friend explained that the trend is for young ladies to rent traditional Korean clothing called hanbok and pose for selfies in front of Gyeongbokgung’s colorful buildings. On the day we visited, girls were out en masse, enjoying the billowing, colorful skirts and attention from the tourists.
After taking in Gyeongbokgung’s changing of the guard, it was time for lunch, but where to go? Wandering around is a great way to find food, so after a few hours on the palace grounds, we headed east to Bukchon Hanok Village to roam the quiet streets of traditional Korean houses called hanok and find brunch.
The changing of the guard at Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, South Korea. (Caroline Wong)
Bukchon Village is an easy walk from Gyeongbokgung Palace. My advice: start with the historic neighborhood on the top of the hill then wander south down any pedestrian-friendly street. Let the vibrant colors, sounds and smells guide your journey.
Exploring the alleys filled with plentiful stores, art galleries and cafes, we happened on Tea House Whitebirch Story (Yulgok-ro 1gil 74-15, Samcheong-dong.) In a serene setting away from the crowds, Whitebirch featuring waffles with fresh fruit and whipped cream drizzled with chocolate, plus coffees and teas.
Tea House Whitebirch Story in Bukchon Village specializes in coffees and teas, as well as waffles with fresh fruit and whipped cream. (Caroline Wong)
There are plenty of tiny dessert shops serving refreshing green tea ice flakes and purple sweet potato ice cream, and holes-in-the-wall offering tasty snacks. Simply toss the map aside, choose a street and follow your own culinary rabbit hole.
2. Dinner in Gangnam-gu
Gangnam literally means “south of the river.” This is modern Seoul, boasting expensive real estate, upmarket shopping and, yes, that Asian rapper who nearly broke YouTube. Our destination was Korean fusion bistro Joo.ok, an inspired, Michelin-reviewed, foray into modern Korean cooking.
Chef Changho Shin’s artfully plated multi-course dinner belied his tenure at NOBU, Miami. And while his work in western-style restaurants in Korea influenced his choices, each dish was authentically Korean in a fresh, surprising way.
“Modern Korean dining such as Mingles (ranked among Asia’s best restaurants), are more popular than French or Italian recently in Korea,” explained Jooyong Kim, a spokesperson for Joo.ok.
In other words, imitation is out; innovation is in. (Unsurprisingly, Kia’s all-electric EV9 fits perfectly with that vibe.)
Chef Shin’s menu also featured farm-to-table items, a new concept for Korean dining best embodied in a single wild prawn from the West Sea, which was quartered and cooked four different ways, from tail to head.
“The most important thing in Joo.ok is finding and serving the best ingredients for customers when it is in the best season,” said Kim. I’ll simply call that prawn four little bites of heaven, which was followed by the most remarkably lean duck entrée I have ever eaten.
Want a bite of Shin’s Michelin-starred food stateside? The restaurant has pulled up stakes and is coming to Manhattan with a planned 2024 spring opening in New York’s Koreatown.
3. A Lotte Desserts
On Saturday, my guide was a Southern Californian friend, Joon You, a biotech entrepreneur who splits his time between Seoul and Irvine.
A nice guy with a sweet tooth, You decided desserts were in order. “If you’re out traveling and you have limited time it’s hard to sample all the great food, but it’s a lot easier to sample all the desserts,” he rationalized.
A few hours eating dessert? Sure, sign me up.
We headed to the Lotte Department Store in Jamsil (240 Olympic-ro, Jamsil 3(sam)-dong, Songpa-gu.) Lotte is synonymous with multiple hotels and shopping centers in Seoul. Our destination was the “bakery zone,” part of a large, European-style food hall on the lower level, below the hotel and department store. Make sure to pick the Lotte Hotel and Department Store in Jasmil by Lotte World, a children’s theme park featuring a castle with blue spires that will ring familiar to Orange County families.
Our first stop was Gyodong, a small shop selling traditional Korean delicacies packaged in fancy gift boxes or purchased a la carte.
The barley-based sweetness was mild; less sweet compared to western desserts. Among the colorful offerings was Gosibowl, a fermented Korean snack of ripen soft sticky rice, dried fruit and grain. With choices like black sesame, cactus and kumquat, don’t expect the flavor to match the color, just dive in and sample.
A worker serves customers at Gyodong, a small shop selling traditional Korean delicacies at the Lotte Department Store in Jamsil, Seoul, South Korea. (Caroline Wong)
There were pastry shops aplenty at Lotte as well. Departing from tradition, young Korean bakers trained in France and Germany have opened a succession of small bakeries that have given rise to independent bread shops and the ubiquitous Paris Baguette chain.
“The whole idea of having bread for breakfast is a western concept,” You explained, “Traditional people would actually have soup or rice as a meal in the morning.”
Lotte’s bakery zone included faithful recreations of buttery French croissants along with unconventional treats like soft, spongy rectangular cakes filled with green tea custard.
“These new chefs are looking to Korea for inspiration and also international influences. It’s a little bit of both. The younger chefs see what’s trending in Paris now and then they come back to Seoul and try to develop a fusion,” You mused.
Leaving the food hall, we headed upstairs and outside to Sulbing Korean Dessert Café, a casual dessert spot with multiple locations through Seoul.
Sulbing’s signature dish is “snowflakes” sherbets topped with fresh fruit or traditional Asian flavors like black sesame or sweet red beans.
‘Snowflakes,’ a sherbet topped with fresh fruit or Asian flavors like black sesame, is the signature dish at Sulbing Korean Dessert Café, which has multiple locations in Seoul. (Caroline Wong)
At 11,500 KRW ($8.78 in U.S. dollars), Sulbing’s desserts are meant to share. You and I split a snowflakes sherbet topped with perfectly ripe mangoes and strawberries with sweetened condensed milk on the side.
What better way to end the day than with a sweet ride back to the hotel? Once again, a shout out to Kia for redefining the comfort zone with power leg rests, heated and ventilated seats and power extendable footrests in the EV9.
After a day of gorging on desserts, I donned a simple black wrap dress to join my husband for an early dinner. The buffet was quite good, but I ate just enough to be polite, picking at my food and hoping I wouldn’t burst my Spanx.
4. Cosmopolitan Cocktails at Charles H.
After dinner, we got a second wind. After all, it was “6 a.m. in Los Angeles,” my husband reminded me. We hailed a cab and snaked our way through Seoul traffic, navigating between the posh private drivers in their Kia Tellurides, headed to the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul for drinks at Charles H. (97 Saemunan-ro, Dangju-dong, Jongno-gu.)
Charles H. Baker, Jr. was a bon vivant who traveled the globe from the 1930s to 1950s. He hung with Hemmingway and wrote the first serious book on craft cocktails.
When the Four Seasons joined with Singapore creative team Proof & Company to flesh out the bar’s speakeasy concept, “Baker’s name kept coming up,” the Four Seasons director of food and beverage recalled. “He was the only person talking about cocktails and championing an international cocktail culture.”
Cutting a striking silhouette in the Jongno-gu skyline on the north side of the river, the new Four Seasons Seoul tower was easy to spot, but it took some doing to locate the hidden bar within.
We asked the front desk how to find the Charles H., then were escorted down a flight of stairs and taken to an inconspicuous, unmarked door that looked like it held wash buckets and brooms. “Have fun,” the concierge smiled.
Walking through the hidden entrance, we were transported to something totally different, feeling as if we were in the 1920s with Jay Gatsby, or perhaps at least Jay Z.
The lighting and conversation were congenial but subdued, and while the bar offered seating for communal imbibing and chatting with the exuberant head bartender Lorenzo, there were plenty of intimate tables, sofas and discrete corners for tête-à-têtes.
Shown to a table flanked with comfy Chesterfield chairs, we were greeted with champagne coupes and a complimentary starter garnished with caviar. After the apertif, the Charles H. menu invited, “And now, if you’ve finished with your champagne, won’t you join us for another drink?” We tried the Southside Fizz made with French dry gin, lemon, mint and seltzer. It was garnished with mint leaves loosely shaped into a blossom, so each sip smelled and tasted refreshing.
The Charles H. is not a straight send-up to Jazz Age glamour. The décor subtly involves Korean touches, like royal colors turquoise and purple, and signature drinks include nods to Korean flavors.
5. Street Food in Hongdae
Sunday was our final day in Seoul and I was on my own. For company, Joon You recruited his niece, 20-year-old UC Berkley student Hee Seaon Kim, to show me around.
Kim took me to Hongdae, a neighborhood known for underground culture and kitschy K-pop shops. There are unique cafes, galleries, and, close to Hongik University, it’s a popular hangout for local kids.
The streets were semi-crowded Sunday afternoon; the place really gets popping at night when the bars open. Hongdae is a web of side streets and it’s easy to get disoriented without a guide. Like Bukchon, the best bet is to pick a main north to south thoroughfare and explore.
I asked Kim to show me what she and her friends enjoy eating.
On our first stop, we tried duck bokki, or topokki, which combines fish cakes with rice or wheat noodles, red pepper paste, garlic, sugar and onion. Easy to make and cheap to purchase, this spicy staple is the godfather of Korean snacking.
Next, I tried gyeranbbang, a fried egg in a sweet muffin pastry. At 2,500 KRW (about $1.91U.S.) imagine an Egg McMuffin but better, with fresh ingredients hot off a street cart vendor.
Last, Kim and I stopped for ice cream at Sobok (408-7 Seokyo-dong, Mapo-gu.) Here, we shared ice cream and ice balls (sticky rice cakes surrounded by ice cream and dusted with soybean powder.) I quizzed Kim on the food she missed most from California (“Cheeseburgers.”) and what she and her Korean friends gossip about over ice cream, “T.V. shows, careers and boys, always boys,” she said with a conspiratorial laugh.
As the laughter and chatter heightened around us, it was the final touch on three days of incredible cuisine and diverse dishes that challenged the palate and lifted the spirit.
It might not all be Korean. But it is authentically Seoul.