Where the Flavors of Gangneung Come Together
With more than a century of history, Gangneung Jungang Market sits in the heart of the city’s old downtown. It is where fresh ingredients from Gangneung’s mountains and sea come together. There are big supermarkets nearby, but this old traditional market is always bustling with shoppers, because this is where you can taste the many flavors of Gangneung. It has become an essential stop for anyone visiting the city. Flavors that span the generations are all here in one place, from traditional foods that Gangneung locals have long enjoyed to trendy treats that have won over today’s younger generation.
Time-Honored Flavors
of the Market Alleys
A savory aroma greets you at the market entrance. The alley where chicken was once the main item for sale is now a dakgangjeong alley, and the sweet and spicy dakgangjeong (bite-sized crispy fried chicken coated in a glaze) stops passersby in their tracks.
The crisp, bite-sized pieces of fried chicken are tossed in a sauce that is both sweet and spicy, and it is hard to stop at one piece. You can taste before you order and choose between regular and spicy. Each shop’s dakgangjeong tastes a little different. Sample a few and pick the one that suits you best.
Head deeper into Jungang Market and you come to an alley of long-established gukbap (soup with rice) restaurants. At every shop, rich, long-simmered broth bubbles away without pause in big iron cauldrons. It is quite a sight.
Someori gukbap (beef head-meat soup with rice), with its rich broth and tender meat, sundae gukbap (Korean blood-sausage soup with rice), and dak gukbap (chicken soup with rice) all make a satisfying meal. This gukbap alley, where Gangneung locals once never failed to stop for a filling bowl on a trip to the market, looks just as it did in the old days. Every shop here has kept the same flavors for decades, including one restaurant that has been part of Gangneung Jungang Market for 70 years.
There is another scene just as endearing as the gukbap alley: shops with griddles set up at their entrances, cooking memiljeon (buckwheat pancakes) and memiljeonbyeong (filled buckwheat crepe rolls) to order. For memiljeon, napa cabbage and scallions are laid on the griddle and a thin layer of buckwheat batter is poured over them, and the result is light and nutty. Memiljeonbyeong, filled with finely chopped spicy kimchi and glass noodles, is also rolled on the spot, and the chewy buckwheat wrapper and crunchy kimchi make a delicious contrast. Watching them being made is part of the fun.
All Kinds of Unusual Market Eats
Head down to the basement of the Jungang Market building and you will find a fish market brimming with fresh seafood. Every kind of ingredient the east coast produces is here: fish of all kinds, fresh hoe (sliced raw fish) cut to order straight from the tank, and fish and seafood dried in the sea breeze.
At Jungang Market, even mulhoe (cold raw fish soup) becomes a trendy dish you can hold in one hand. Enjoy the fresh taste of the sea in a single cup.
Ojingeo sundae (stuffed squid) is another specialty: squid, a signature catch of the east coast, is stuffed with glutinous rice and assorted vegetables, cut into bite-sized slices, coated in beaten egg, and pan-fried. It is best eaten with a side of salty ojingeo jeotgal (salted, fermented squid).
Step into the market’s food alley and unusual snacks that appeal to every sense catch your eye. Fish cake croquettes, made with fish paste in place of a flour-based dough, are a Gangneung Jungang Market specialty. They come with fillings such as sweet potato, cheese, and kimchi, so you can pick your favorite. The most popular, the cheese croquette, is best eaten warm, and the long, melty cheese pull makes it taste all the better.
All of Gangneung’s Gastronomy
in One Place
Samgyeopsal (pork belly), a Korean comfort-food favorite, meets kimchi. The pork belly, wrapped around kimchi, brings a rich savoriness that pairs well with the clean, spicy taste of the kimchi. It is popular even with foreign visitors trying kimchi for the first time. The ingredients often run out after 3 p.m., so plan to come before then. Freshly grilled on a hot griddle, the kimchi-filled pork belly rolls taste even better dipped in the sweet sauce.
Sizzling hot hotteok (sweet filled pancakes) and ice cream may not sound like a match, but “ice cream hotteok,” a surprisingly good pairing, is another market specialty. Freshly griddled hotteok is cut into bite-sized pieces; dip them generously in the sweet ice cream and you will find it strangely hard to stop.
Here, ingredients from the mountains and the sea are transformed: squid is stuffed with vegetables for ojingeo sundae, coarse buckwheat becomes a soft pancake with napa cabbage, and fish from the sea becomes fish cake croquettes. A place where Gangneung’s old flavors and new, fashionable ones live side by side, Gangneung Jungang Market is where the city’s creative food culture gathers in one place.
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