Seoul food guide: how to eat your way around South Korea’s capital
- Seoul’s colourful food scene is one of the world’s best, offering everything from street food to ancient tea-houses to Michelin-star restaurants
- Eat the best dalgona at stalls near the N Seoul Tower, hearty comfort food dishes down narrow side streets, and kimbap at the chaotic Gwangjang Market
Twenty-four hours after boarding my flight to Seoul, I’m feasting not on the mountains of kimchi I had been looking forward to, but on a hot dog.
It’s not just any hot dog – it’s a thick, meaty sausage encased in batter and panko (a type of breadcrumb), filled with Mozzarella cheese and sprinkled with sugar. Heart attack, here we come.
It turns out that corn dogs are one of the most popular street foods in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, and are sold at the city’s food stalls, bars and fast-food restaurants.
Corn dogs appeared in South Korea in the early 1980s, but their popularity exploded in 2016, when the first Myungrang Hotdog store opened near the city of Busan.
Known for the Insta-friendly takes on what had become a South Korean staple, the chain expanded and transformed the humble corn dog; Myungrang’s most popular versions include one dipped in squid ink.
This evolution is one of the most visible examples of Seoul’s new-found culinary ingenuity.
