The Seoul subway system is jinjja daebak and we’ve been relying exclusively on it to get around the sprawling city.
Like any massive subway system, it takes a while to get familiarised with the numerous lines and interchanges. But once you finally get the hang of it, getting around is a breeze.
So when we were planning to head down to Mangwon Market for some Korean street food, my first instinct was to figure out how to get there via subway.
Since we would be leaving from the Ryse Hotel in nearby Hongdae, I assumed it would be quite fast and relatively straightforward.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
Despite the short distance, Naver Maps said that it would require a change of trains and involve 14 minutes of walking, for a total travel time of 22 minutes.
If we were open to taking a bus, we could reach there in just 14 minutes with considerably less walking. The bus stop was just down the block from our hotel, and the direct Mapo09 route would drop us off right in front of the market.
It was a no-brainer, but still, I hesitated.
We use the bus system extensively in Singapore, but it would be our first time taking one in Seoul. I guess it’s human nature to fear the unknown. even for something this trivial.
In the spirit of adventure, I decided that we should give it a go. After all, what could go wrong? It wasn’t like we were going to accidently end up in Pyongyang. Right?
An added benefit of taking the bus was that I could avoid climbing subway station stairs. Many stations are built deep underground, and while there are escalators and lifts, stairs are sometimes inevitable.
Which isn’t an issue if you have sturdy knees. But sadly, I am no longer the spring chicken that I used to be.
I clicked into the bus route details and Naver Maps helpfully provided walking directions, indicated specific bus stop numbers and listed the names of all the intermediate stops. It even shows the expected arrival time for the next bus, and the one after that.
One potential mistake when taking a public bus is to board one going in the wrong direction, taking you further away from where you actually want to go. We’ve seen enough episodes of Running Man to know that it can happen to anyone, even locals.
This can be easily avoided by checking that the bus stop ID matches the one indicated in Naver Maps. In our case, the ID of our stop was 14-284, same as the 14284 shown in the app.
After we boarded Mapo09, I kept my app open and tracked the real-time location of our bus on the map, making sure that it stayed on route. The LED display in the bus also reassuringly flashed the name of each stop as it approached.
I know that it sounds terribly paranoid, like I’ve never taken the bus before in my entire life, but I really didn’t want to end up in Pyongyang.
Despite my initial trepidation, the entire journey was really quite easy and painless.
Travelling overland also meant that we could enjoy the scenery along the way, and allowed us to see how different parts of the city were connected. Something we couldn’t experience when using the mostly below ground subway system.
In no time at all, we reached bus stop 14-956 Mangwondong World Cup Market.
I was intrigued by the reference to the World Cup and turned to ChatGPT for insights.
“The market attracted many visitors and fans during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, leading to its association with the event. The name stuck as a way to highlight its connection to the World Cup and its role as a vibrant and bustling market in the area.”
Mystery solved.
After we crossed the road, the first thing we encountered was an extremely crowded stall selling the classic Korean street food combo of tteokbokki, eomuk and sundae.
Business was brisk as customers stood in front of the huge trays of freshly-made spicy rice cakes and enjoyed their piping hot snack.
It was very tempting, but we decided to make a complete circuit of the market first, before deciding what to get.
I had assumed that the market was quite big, but it was surprisingly compact. We walked past stalls selling street food of all stripes and made a mental note of what we wanted to try.
Upon reaching the end of the cooked food section, we continued onward into the fresh groceries area. It was already past noon, so some of the vendors had already packed up and left, but there were still plenty of shops open.
Including seafood stalls featuring all kinds of aquatic produce, like the super long and shiny hairtail fish and tray-after-tray of abalone and other shellfish.
Fresh vegetables were displayed out in the open, with plump red tomatoes and generous bunches of spring onions being particular attractive.
Surprisingly, there weren’t that many meat stalls but we managed to find some attractive hunks of jokbal, or braised pig trotters. They were sold whole or pre-sliced in enticingly thick pieces.
What was abundant though, were shops selling every kind of banchan we could think of, and many we haven’t even come across.
Even though we didn’t end up buy anything, it was quite interesting to see what was available for sale in a traditional Korean market. Young people probably get their groceries from airconditioned supermarkets, but these markets must still be popular with the older folks.
It was finally time to get down to business. We were here for street food, and after our initial reconnaissance, we knew exactly what we wanted.
First up, hotteok. Specifically, seed hotteok.
It’s not your usual version that’s cooked by drowning it in hot oil. Instead, it was effectively pan-roasted with a minimal layer of oil. Which made it seem healthier, even though it probably wasn’t.
Besides the obligatory molten lava made from brown sugar, it was filled with nuts and seeds (hence its name). Knowing how hot the insides were, we carefully took a small bite and let the heat escape before finishing our ₩1,500 appetiser.
Next up, fried chicken and shrimp.
There was a whole lineup of choices, ranging from plain to garlic or honey soy sauce to spicy. A printed menu at the cashier’s listed the different pricing permutations.
It was, of course, written in Korean but that was easily countered by firing up the trusty Papago app. I pointed to the ₩14,000 medium-sized chicken & shrimp combo and requested for the spicy version.
The takeaway box was filled to the brim with only a lone rubber band struggling to keep it closed. In addition to the protein, the combo also came with chewy deep-fried tteok.
I had high expectations, but unfortunately, they were dashed. The batter was too thick and the sauce wasn’t spicy enough.
It wouldn’t have been too bad if the chicken itself was juicy, but it was disappointingly dry. The shrimp and tteok were alright though, but I should have stuck with Kyochon, bhc and bb.q instead.
We were quite full by then, but as they say: “There’s always room for dessert.”
And dessert was in the form of spicy eomuk skewers, from the very first stall we saw when entering the market. Just look at that fiery and luscious sauce!
Papago, again, came to our rescue and we had three for ₩2,000. The Wife and I shared one stick of the plain, and had one stick each of the spicy.
When I picked up the skewer, I made sure it was fully coated with the devilishly red sauce. It tasted exactly how it looked, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
On hindsight, we should have just camped ourselves at the store when we first set eyes on it. The crowd that we saw there earlier clearly knew something that we didn’t.
To complete the experience, we scooped up the cooking liquid, poured it into a paper cup and drank it as a digestif. We probably shouldn’t have done it, because it was super salty.
There were many many more things to eat, but we had limited capacity. If Korean street food is your thing, then I’d highly recommend a visit to Mangwon Market. Preferably on an empty stomach.
And if you do decide to go there, you might want to give the Seoul public bus system a try. As long as you have Naver Maps installed on your mobile, it’s not as difficult or scary as you might think.
