Restaurants in Dongdaemun, Seoul - 26 Picks

Rice arrives already warmed in beef-bone broth, the old torryeom method, topped with beef shredded into thin strands, c…

Noodles are made in-house alongside the grilled pork, so spicy clam kalguksu, thick perilla-seed kalguksu, fresh noodle…

Simmered down on the griddle in a fiery sauce, the baby octopus stays springy instead of turning rubbery. Portions of j…

For 50 years this shop near Gyeongdong Market has served only spicy naengmyeon, and the single-dish menu keeps turnover…

For more than 50 years this old shop opposite Cheongnyangni Station has served just two noodle soups: chicken kalguksu…

Built into a 1960s cinema inside Gyeongdong Market, the cafe keeps the old raked floor, so seating climbs in tiers like…

Thick cuts of samgyeopsal (pork belly), moksal (pork neck) and hangjeongsal (jowl) are grilled start to finish by staff…

A brush-written sign on the wall reads 'drink first, noodles later', and the meal follows it: jeyuk (sliced pork) with…

Rice is cooked to order in an aluminum pot, and staff spoon it out at the table before taking the pot back to the kitch…

The meat slides off the bone along its grain because the kitchen soaks 120 kg of short ribs for 12 hours every day befo…

About 60m down from Hoegi Station exit 2, plates arrive with a pork cutlet roughly the size of a face, in the old Korea…

Indian staff run this curry house by Korea University's main gate, and the naan comes out thick and chewy, closer to a…

Staff grill thick-cut pork neck and belly at your table, managing the heat on the heavy slices. The mokban/samban set i…

Big, thick pork intestines (gopchang) stay chewy in a fiery broth, with little of the funk this cut can carry. The pork…

A clear broth of vegetable stock blended with chicken gomtang simmers with potato, rice cake, napa cabbage and about 1.…

In the Yongdu-dong octopus alley, this shop's sauce starts sweet and lets the chili heat climb with every bite. Jjukkum…

Teuk-rosu katsu uses loin with its fat layer and a fatty cap cut called gabeuri still attached, so each slice chews dif…

Despite the name, Cheonho Nakji sits not in Cheonho-dong but on Sagajeong-ro in Dongdaemun-gu. Long-arm octopus is cook…

On a Hoegi-dong side street between Kyung Hee University and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, the shop sells a sin…

Sit down and the whole table fills with small side dishes before the meat arrives. The bossam, boiled pork, comes in la…

A thick red sauce that tastes somewhere between tteokbokki seasoning and Korean glazed-chicken sauce coats the thick-cu…

Rather than thin, the pizza dough here stays moist and springy, with a clear contrast between the baked rim and the sof…

Tucked into a basement near the back gate of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, the room opens up wider than the str…

Starch water poured into the pan as the meat-and-shrimp dumplings fry leaves them joined by a thin, crisp sheet underne…