I love hunting for street food in every Korean city I visit. However, it was not easy finding it during my Jeju trip because it was winter and no one wanted to be freezing out on the streets.
The good news, however, is that the markets in Korea are full of street food & snack stalls!
Just like Dongmun Market in Jeju City and Gwangjang Market in Seoul, Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market in Seowgipo is a traditional market where many locals go to buy wares, groceries, and of course food!
I initially didn’t know about this market until I scoured some travel guides and Naver Maps for Jeju recommendations, and was very glad we took the time to come here! It is the largest market in Seogwipo and was formed in the early 1960s.
What to eat at Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market
We went on a weekday afternoon when we assumed it would not be too crowded. Based on personal experience, these markets tends to be crowded in the mornings, so we thought we would be pretty safe…
We were feeling a bit peckish so we got around to filling our bellies first!
The first thing we ate at Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market was this hallabong soft-serve. It was refreshingly sweet without being overly sour, and topped with the cutest slice of dried hallabong.
We also chanced upon this shop called Jeju Bellmi selling black pork jerky! It’s a bit similar to the ‘bak-gwa’ that we eat in Singapore and Malaysia.
The main difference is that this shop uses black pork, which is a Jeju specialty. The pork jerky comes in a variety of unique flavours, including Jeju Gamgyul (tangerine!), cheongyang red pepper, sweet almond, and garlic. My personal favourites were the original and garlic flavours!
We bought a few packs to try but unfortunately had to finish all of them before we flew back, as Singapore has strict import rules for poultry and meat products. They were very flavourful and not too tough to bite into, which I really liked.
We obviously weren’t full yet, so we continued looking for more food deep within the market.
We saw a few food stalls lined up in a particular part of the market. Similar to Dongmun Market, a lot of the food stalls here appeared to be helmed by young people. Everything looked and smelled really good. But what really caught our eye was this stall called Jeseong Bakery that was selling BUNS:
This was the only stall that attracted constant crowds of customers. Being typical Singaporeans, we naturally went up to check out what these people were queueing for.
They sold hot buns in so many appetising flavours, including gourmet butter red bean, black pork, green onion cream cheese, and black pork octopus?!
I honestly wanted to buy one of every flavour just to try. Unfortunately there were just 2 of us and there was no way we could finish everything ):
We struggled for a while thinking about what to order but eventually settled on Cheese and Black Pork. We knew we couldn’t run away from trying Black Pork in Jeju. The cheese one was because I saw another customer eating it and the cheese pull looked SO AMAZING.
Unfortunately we had to wait a while for these flavours to be ready as they were quickly snapped up. But was the wait worth it? ABSOLUTELY!
The bun itself was the right amount of hot and chewy, but the real highlight was the filling!! The pulled cheese was so, so good that I went back to buy a 2nd one (oops). The black pork was also very tasty! I also really liked that they gave a generous portion of chilli sauce to dip our buns in.
I sometimes still dream about this cheese pull bun from the Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market. Priced at KRW4000, it’s a bit pricey. But I do think the quality of the buns and the ingredients used justify the price point.
We spent a good deal of time waiting and eating our buns, and that was when we realised that the market was getting crowded. It seemed that people came here after work as well to buy street food!
I was also a bit surprised to see that there were stalls still selling items like homemade tofu in the late afternoon/early evening time period. I assumed most of them would have closed shop after the morning.
However, they still remain in business throughout the day.
If you’re keen to buy some cheap Korean cookware, Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market is a fantastic place to do so. It’s much cheaper here than in departmental stores and, of course, in your home country.
We seriously considered buying some stone pots back so that we could always piping hot stews at home!
As with most places in Jeju, you’d also find a lot of shops selling lots of Jeju souvenirs, hallabongs, hallabong chocolate etc. I personally find that the prices are quite inflated, hence we didn’t buy much from Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market.
If you do want to try buying some hallabongs to eat, I actually recommend going to the farms directly to pick your own hallabongs. It’s much cheaper, AND you get the additional fun experience of being hallabong farmers!
I still really enjoyed coming to Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market for the eyeopening and mouthwatering street food though! I know some other travel bloggers prefer the variety in Dongmun Market as it’s bigger with a lot more stalls.
However, quality and flavour-wise, I really think this market in Seogwipo wins hands-down. The food here is more unique and offers a lot more bang for your buck!
DIRECTIONS
Address: 18, Jungang-ro 62beon-gil, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do
Related Posts:
- Jeju Food Guide 2024 – Cafes, Restaurants, Markets
- Jeju Teseum: family-friendly Teddy Bear Museum
- Jeju Roe Deer Observation Center: view & learn about roe deers
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