Namdaemun Market · Hand-Cut Noodle Alley
Namdaemun Kalguksu
🍜
Photo coming soon
The alley's entrance is so unassuming — tucked behind a plain eyeglasses shop near Hoehyeon Station — that first-time visitors often walk right past it without realizing dozens of noodle stalls are packed inside.
Wide, hand-cut wheat noodles are boiled in a simple anchovy-and-kelp broth and topped with fried tofu, crumbled seaweed, and sesame seeds, served at long shared tables in a narrow indoor alley. Namdaemun Market, Korea's oldest and largest traditional market, has run this dedicated kalguksu row for decades.
Why it's made this way: Namdaemun's kalguksu alley grew out of the market's postwar food stalls that fed traders and shoppers quickly and cheaply, and its insistence on hand-cut rather than machine-cut noodles has kept it a defining, still-thriving corner of the market.
More from South Korea
Makgeolli
Tteokbokki (Spicy Rice Cakes)
Hotteok (Sweet Filled Pancake)
Eomuk / Odeng (어묵)
Korean Corn Dog (핫도그)
Ssiat Hotteok (Seed Hotteok)
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo credits.