Snack crawl
The Night Market Crawl: Seoul
Start hungry and start early; the best stalls in Seoul sell out long before the guidebooks say they open.
- Stops
- 7
- Walking
- 8 km
- Budget
- Worth it
Before you set off
The owner, Mei, has been folding these by hand for longer than we have been alive and has opinions about capers. Start hungry and start early; the best stalls in Seoul sell out long before the guidebooks say they open. Here the avocado is piled on with abandon and the chilli is not a suggestion. Walk between stops. It is the only reason any of this is physically possible.
Here the ginger is piled on with abandon and the chilli is not a suggestion. Start hungry and start early; the best stalls in Seoul sell out long before the guidebooks say they open. Walk between stops. It is the only reason any of this is physically possible. Order one portion between two at every stop. A crawl is a marathon made of sprints.
Finish somewhere sweet. There is always room; it is a separate stomach. Carry cash, tissues and a bottle of water. Thank us later. Walk between stops. It is the only reason any of this is physically possible.
Stop 1: The late-night window near the bus depot
If you can chop lemon and hold a digital thermometer, you can make this. We promise. Start hungry and start early; the best stalls in Seoul sell out long before the guidebooks say they open. There are snacks you eat standing at the counter, and then there are night market — the kind you clear your evening for.
We like to make the filling the night before, when the kitchen is quiet and nobody is asking what is for dinner. Stop 4 is a hole in the wall with four stools and a queue. Join the queue. The queue knows. The crisp edge is what people remember, so be brave with the heat and generous with the seasoning.
It is weeknight-friendly if you are organised and weekend-worthy if you are not. Finish somewhere sweet. There is always room; it is a separate stomach. It reheats well, travels well, and disappears at parties at a frankly alarming rate.
Stop 2: The corner cart near the cathedral steps
The crisp edge is what people remember, so be brave with the heat and generous with the seasoning. It is weeknight-friendly if you are organised and weekend-worthy if you are not. The trick with night market is patience: let the filling take on proper colour before you even think about moving it.
We like to make the filling the night before, when the kitchen is quiet and nobody is asking what is for dinner. Carry cash, tissues and a bottle of water. Thank us later. It looks like a project, but most of the work is waiting, and waiting pairs beautifully with a drink. Do not skip the cucumber; it is the bright note that stops the whole plate from feeling heavy.
Dev, who runs our test kitchen on Thursdays, calls this “the one that ruins other snacks for you”. We tested this 9 times in the Snack Crawl kitchen, and the version with chipotle in adobo won every single round. Walk between stops. It is the only reason any of this is physically possible. A spoonful of maple syrup does the heavy lifting here, giving the filling a depth that tastes like you cooked all day.
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