Lunch & Coffee in Seoul: Tong-in Market (Part 1)

The traditional markets in Seoul are the most interesting bunch. This is where you can feel the 'real Korea', where household items needed for Korean living are sold and bought, the best-cooked Korean dishes are served (except for restaurants in Namdaemun!), and the atmosphere of old traditions can still be experienced.

And there's the most popular of all, especially with tourists - Namdaemun Market! That's where you get the cheapest souvenirs tourists bring home.

There's the Gwangjang Market where you can get binddaetteok, a pancake made of ground mung beans.

And in my new neighborhood, right in the middle of the must-visit Cheongnyangni Fruit and Vegetable Market, there's the kamja-tang restaurant! 

(Tourists heading to Tong-in Market!

The Market is right behind them!)

But this day, for my friends' lunch and coffee, we headed to Tong-in Market to enjoy its yummy Korean dishes and experience the market's unique way of using tokens to buy lunch!

I have been to Tong-in Market several times already, and I find this place to be the most enjoyable in terms of the quality of Korean dishes and the uniqueness of experience! Now, I wanted my friends to have this experience as well!

This is the only place in Seoul where I can get all my favorite assortment of Korean viands in one place! For example, I like soondae; I also like that side dish, kyeran-mari; and that spicy fried pork, too! And add to that, chap-jjae! And I can have all that on my lunch plate at one time!

(Everyone's got their lunch box!)

After meeting up at Exit 3 of Gyeongbukgung Palace, we all walked towards Tong-in Market just about 500 meters away. 

And at the entrance of the market, we bought our tokens and were given empty, plastic lunch boxes. We then walked around and checked out the dishes we wanted to have for lunch!

The ajummas from whom we bought simply put the food on our lunch box. And once we were done, we went up to the lunch area where we bought rice, got our utensils, picked a seat, and enjoyed our yummy lunch!

My perfect lunch box with kyeran-mari 

(rolled egg omelet with veggies, soondae 

(spicy blood sausage), & spicy marinated 

pork! I'm ready to eat!

For KRW5,000 worth of tokens, my three viands cost me KRW3,000; my rice KRW 1,000; and my syeke, or sweet rice drink another KRW 1,000!

The yummiest and cheapest Korean lunch evah! 

(With tummies full, they're ready to have 

coffee at Sanmotoonge, a café made famous 
by the Korean drama, Coffee Prince!)

(That's Part 2 of this blog)
*  *  *  *  *

TONG-IN MARKET is in the Jongno District in Seoul, along the Jahamun Road. It's about 518 meters from Exit 2 of Gyeongbukgung Station (Line 3, Orange Line).

'A' For Amigos, 'B' For Blue House, 'C' For Cafe Jass

After enjoying our unique lunch experience at the Tong-in Market's Dosirak Cafe, Junho, Hyunsung and I walked off our lunch to have coffee near the Insa-dong area. Hyunsung's cousin, Woong-cheol has a cafe around that area.

From Tongin-dong in the Jongno District, we headed to the Insa-dong area by walking behind the Gyeongbuk Palace. At the back of the Palace is actually the Blue House, the official residence of the president of South Korea, and as expected, this area is tightly guarded. I remember passing through this Cheonghwadae area a couple of autumns ago after coming from Michael and Sara's home near the Jahamun area, where I had lunch. And today, coincidentally, after another lunch, I was passing through this area again.

              (Tourists taking pictures of the Blue House)

As we entered the guarded area, we were stopped by the policemen on duty, who asked to check our bags and the reason why we were walking towards the Blue House. Sadly, they forgot to ask how our lunch was. Or what we ate. Ha-ha-ha!

When we got to the 'photo spot' in front of the Blue House, there were a lot of tourists already busy posing and clicking away. We joined them for a few minutes and noticed that the three of us were the only Seoulites in the pack. The rest were tourists! Junho said that locals don't usually venture into this tightly guarded area in Cheonghwadae to take pictures. But today, three strayed from the main road. Ha-ha-ha!

               (Pink flowers and a house colored blue)

We wandered through the alleys of Samcheong-dong before ending up across the northern end of Insa-dong on our quest to find Hyunsung's cousin's coffee shop. To find it, we simply crossed the street and walked towards that street behind Jogyesa Temple. And when we got there, the coffee shop looked familiar. I have been here before!

Cafe Jass is right behind Somerset Palace Seoul, a hotel where friends JK and Ruth used to live. Our friends used to have parties there and one occasion when I visited Ruth, she took me to Cafe Jass. 

And as we were enjoying our coffee (and the cheese cake on the house!), Woong-cheol, the owner of Cafe Jass,  started roasting his coffee beans and the delightful aroma of the beans filled the coffee shop, which then seemed to have awakened the senses of everyone in the room. It was already mid-afternoon by the time we were able to rest our legs from walking off our Dosirak Cafe lunch at Tong-In Market, passing behind Gyeongbukgung and in front of the Blue House, and ending at a coffee shop next to Jogyesa Temple.

What started off just as a hungry quest to experience the Dosirak Cafe ended up as a day-tour around the Jongno District and, well,...a blog! And thanks to my good amigos, Junho and Hyunsung, the Blue House and Cafe Jass were indeed worth the stroll. 

A Unique Korean 'Lunch In A Box' At Tong-In Market 통인시장도시락카페

                        (Tong-in Market's entrance)

This is for Seoulites, and for local or international tourists who want to experience an interesting way of having lunch in Seoul.

                         (The bus stop a few meters out of  the 
                  Exit 3 of Gyeongbuk Palace station)

Have you heard about the Dosirak Cafe at the Tong-in Market 통인시장도시락카페?  Tong-in Market is in Tongin-dong in the Jongno District in Seoul, where getting your lunch is unique. I actually haven't been here before and trying out new things to do in Seoul is always in my priority list.

                         (The main alley of the market)

So, when my friend Junho wanted to go somewhere for lunch, I suggested this place. He hasn't been here, too, and also wanted to find out why it's popular among tourists.

And one hot summer day, Junho, Hyunsung and I met up at the bus stop near Exit 3 of the Gyeongbuk Palace Station (Line 3). Tong-In Market is actually one bus stop away from Exit 3, but we decided to walk for a couple of hundred meters down; the market was just close by after all.

Tong-in Market is just like any other local market, where everyone can buy fruits, vegetables, cooking ingredients, and a lot more. But it's this market's Dosirak Cafe lunch box that makes this market popular and unique. Here's how (and why!):

1. At the Dosirak Cafe (2nd floor), you buy these tokens called yeopjeon. A yeopjeon is an ancient Korean coin with a hole in the middle. (But the yeopjeons being used here are new and recently manufactured.)  Each token is KRW500 and they are usually bundled together in ten's. So, one bundle is KRW5,000.

                                              (Junho's yeopjeon)

     (The ajussi's box full of yeopjeon that you need to buy)

2. After buying your yeopjeon from the ajussi or ajumma at the 2nd floor (they called the 2nd floor the 'Delivery Center'), you are also given an empty, black plastic lunch box.

3. Now, this is the fun part: With your tokens, you roam around the Tong-in Market (at the ground floor) and buy your food from any vendor with the Dosirak Cafe signage. 

                   (Hyunsung and Junho buying food items 
                                  using their yeopjeon)

4. The food items range from mandu (dumplings), bulgogki (beef), kimbap, korean sausages and other side dishes. I could not possibly enumerate everything that's available for lunch here. It's the whole market, remember? Ha-ha-ha!

                     (Buying some Korean sausages)

5. Each store displays the prices for each food item (usually 1 or 2 tokens as the price). When buying, the vendor puts the food you order into your lunch box and in exchange, you surrender your token to her.

                      (Tourists also trying out the Dosirak Cafe
                              and buying their lunch)

6. If you want to buy rice in a bowl, they sell it at the 2nd floor where you bought your tokens. Each bowl and a cup of hot soup cost 2 tokens. So, you might want to save 2 tokens for your rice and soup. But if you ran out, I think you can pay for the rice and soup in cash. 

            (The Dosirak Cafe signage next to the big container 
                       of cold sik-hye, a sweet rice beverage 
                        that's popular during the hot summer)

             (I bought a cup of cold sik-hye for 2 tokens)

A suggestion: before you go up the 2nd floor to buy your tokens, do roam around the market first (it's just an alley), and check out the food that interests you. This way, after buying your tokens and getting your empty lunch box, you now know which store you want to head to, instead of walking the entire alley with your lunch box while tummy is already grumbling.

                            (Finally, my lunch box!)
 7. After filling up your lunch box, you go back to the 'Delivery Center', where you can sit down to properly enjoy your lunch and chat about your unique Dosirak Cafe experience.

       (The area on the 2nd floor where you enjoy your lunch.
 There's also the 3rd floor if you can't find space on the 2nd.)

While we were filling up our lunch box at the alley, we noticed that there were a lot international tourists also roaming around picking up their lunch.  The whole alley seemed like a huge buffet table with a lot of choices. The only difference is that food is a lot cheaper!  You can, of course, buy more if you have more tokens, but the three of us just shared food that wasn't in another's lunch box. 

                               (A 'before' picture)

            (And this how it looked like 'after'. Ha-ha-ha!)

For KRW 5,000 (the worth of our individual bundle of tokens), this Dosirak Cafe experience was worth visiting. Even Junho and Hyungsung found our visit to this corner of Seoul fun! By the way, Dosirak Cafe is open from 11AM to 5PM, but you have to buy your yeopjeon by 4PM to give you time to 'shop' and enjoy your food. They're closed on Sundays. 

Just a bus ride from the Tong-in Market is the Buam-dong area which is also popular with its own local restaurants and cafes, not to mention its unique location, where on this neighborhood's mountainside, picturesque views of Pug-ak-san can be enjoyed. Perhaps, on my next visit to his corner of the city, that would be my next target.

As we were full from our lunch, the three of us decided to walk it off and stroll towards the Insa-dong area while chatting about the experience. And since we needed some coffee, Hyungsung suggested we head to his cousin's coffee shop next the Jogyesa Temple and the Somerset Palace Seoul. coffee. 

I'll share our interesting 'presidential' stroll on another blog...Burp!