Impress your local friends with your knowledge of the best Korean locals restaurants. They’re the straight-up best Korean locals restaurants in Seoul that even locals drool over. Trust us, this is not your chain kimbap store. From hot bubbling stews served with steaming, sticky rice to the best cold noodles to more traditional Korean dishes like Samgaetyang. These Korean locals restaurants are the ones that make ahjusshis confess their mothers aren’t the best cooks in town. Bring your Korean friends and their parents, even!
Bogio(Restaurants, Korean Locals)
Bogio handles various subspecies of puffer fish, including brown-backed toadfish, yellowfin puffer fish, and live puffer fish; both farmed and wild puffer fish are used and the menu comprises a wide price range.
Bogio originally started as a branch of the famous Haeundae Geumsubokguk in Sinsa-dong, but it later parted ways with Geumsubokguk and reopened under its own name, Bogio. They may no longer be related to the original restaurant, but it is still frequented by drinkers looking to soothe their stomachs after a hangover. Most of the dishes and service are also still the same—the oldest entrée of Geumsuboguk, hot pot boiled bokguk (boiled puffer fish soup) is as good as ever. As it is open 24 hours, many young people from nearby clubs, bars, and street cart bars visit to soothe their stomachs after a long night of drinking.
Saembat Makguksu(Restaurants, Traditional Korean)
Seocho is lucky to have its very own branch of Saembat Makguksu, one of the three best loved makguksu (buckwheat noodles in icy broth) restaurants in Chuncheon, where the dish originates. Makguksu is often seen as a side dish to Chuncheon’s other famous food, dakgalbi (spicy stirfried chicken). Makguksu’s supporting cast on the menu includes bossam (steamed meat), savory pancakes, rice wine and more. After getting your bowl of makguksu, add a dash of mustard and soy sauce according to your preferences, or even some dongchimi (radish water kimchi) juice for a saltier, more sour taste. Once you’ve mixed it all up, it’s time to move: Makguksu has a high percentage of buckwheat, meaning the noodles will become soggy if not eaten quickly. A side dish of nokdu-jeon, mung bean pancakes, complements the meal very nicely.
Gung (Gaeseong-style dumplings)
In appearance, these dumplings are so prettily and elegantly shaped that it’s almost enough to make you feel bad as you bite into them.
Koong is the top Seoul eatery for Gaeseong mandu (Gaeseong-style dumplings). The sight of the cooks shaping the dumplings by hand in the restaurant recalls the studio of a master craftsman. The current proprietor follows in the footsteps of the mother and grandmother, who was the original founder. It’s frequently the case that the original taste changes as the business is handed down. But not so with Koong—the taste of their dumplings remains exactly as it was years ago.
Moomyung Sikdang(Restaurants, Traditional Korean)
Clean meals made with quality ingredients and a lot of heart. This is the sort of place that makes you feel as though you might easily live to be 100. If only you could have their food three times a day.
This is the sort of place you seek out when you’re in need of some comforting. Also, When you want to reward yourself after some tough struggle. “To share the happiness felt when cooking” is the idea behind Moomyung Sikdang, which serves healthy and basic Korean locals food. The dishes, just like the soul of the proprietor, are all neat and wholesome. They’re dishes that you don’t easily tire of, dishes that won’t sit unpleasantly heavy in the gut. At this restaurant, the ingredients take the lead. With the rice and side dishes changing every day. Learning about and selecting the seasonal ingredients ahead of time is necessary to bring the food to table. Their makgeolli (rice ale) list is also one of the most original in Seoul.
