采访报道Delicious Gyeongju Seongdong Market Offers Delicacies Worth Waiting in Line for and Generous Hospita2025.09.23
Seongdong Market, located in the heart of downtown Gyeongju, is a traditional market where travelers can experience the “real Gyeongju.” The merchants' dialect heard between the old alleys is charming, and the market is filled with heartwarming moments of locals doing grocery shopping and travelers taking photos. As you enjoy browsing through the market, its representative foods will catch your eye. Hearty Korean buffet with dishes to choose from according to taste, seasoned fried chicken that the millennials and Gen Z fall for, tasty sweet-and-salty burdock root gimbap, and the market's representative snacks, including sundae and red bean porridge, are delicious enough to captivate your eyes, mouth, and even heart.
Heartwarming Meal in the Korean Buffet Alley
Seongdong Market's representative attraction is definitely the Korean Buffet Alley. The side dishes piled up high and arranged in long rows like a feast will captivate your eyes. As many as thirty dishes are offered, including mackerel and plaice boiled down in soy sauce, spicy stir-fried pork, various vegetable side dishes, and even japchae and pancakes. You will get to enjoy the ecstasy of holding a plate and choosing “what to savor first.”
What's more enticing is the price. For just KRW 9,000, you can savor side dishes to your heart's content. After putting the desired side dishes on your plate, the restaurant owner will serve you a bowl of warm rice and soup. The hearty side dishes accompanied by steaming soup will complete a market-style course meal. The side dishes are prepared with fresh ingredients purchased at dawn each day, making them all the more tasty and full of care. This is why each bite will remind you of highly cherished home cooking.
Since buffet restaurants are cozily gathered in a spacious indoor space, you can choose to taste the food and enjoy the meal comfortably even on rainy days. It welcomes customers year-round and offers a cool environment in the summer and a warm environment in the winter.
Popular Market Delicacies Worth Waiting in Line for
It's not just a Korean buffet. Seongdong Market has delicacies that travelers will find worth waiting in line for. The top choice among them is definitely burdock root gimbap. Although there are several shops in the market selling gimbap, there's always a long line in front of Bobae Gimbap, which is considered the original. Their only menu is burdock root gimbap. Glossy burdock roots boiled down in soy sauce piled up high like a mountain is what makes this restaurant's gimbap so special.
This restaurant’s gimbap stands out for putting gimbap in a lunch box and generously adding a handful of the boiled-down burdock roots on top. The moment you bite into the gimbap full of burdock roots with some more on top, the crispy and sweet burdock roots will make this gimbap all the more exquisitely savory.
A little farther into the market, the savory smell of fried whole chicken will make you stop. It's Cheonbuk Seasoned Whole Chicken, introduced on the popular TV program Master of Living. Crisply chicken fried in a large cauldron is evenly mixed with secret seasoning made with over ten ingredients. The sweet yet subtly spicy seasoning will make everyone lick their fingers. Because the owner insists on using only fresh Korean chicken, it has earned the nickname of “chicken holy land,” and customers visit the restaurant from all over Korea.
Other Simple Yet Unforgettable Culinary Delights
Seongdong Market's culinary delights don't end here. Familiar snacks like tteokbokki, fish cake, and fried foods are found in every alley for travelers to enjoy. Especially, sweet rice sundae with steam rising from large pots is always popular. The moment you dip a freshly sliced sundae in salt and take a bite, its chewy yet nutty flavor will water your mouth.
Just a few steps away, red bean porridge will then entice you. Red bean porridge carefully cooked for a long time in a large pot will lure anyone with its light and subtle sweetness. The snacks offered at the market change with each season, adding to the market's charm. Warm roasted sweet potatoes and steamed buns in the winter, and cool bean soup and sweet rice punch in the summer make the market even more enjoyable.
Address: 12 Dongmun-ro 24beon-gil, Gyeongju-si
Contact: +82-54-772-4226