If you ask anyone in Daejeon where to get dak-bokkeumtang (닭볶음탕), the spicy braised chicken stew, this place comes up almost every time. Hanyeong Sikdang (한영식당) sits right at the mouth of the Oryu-dong food alley in Jung-gu. It’s a red-brick, two-story building, and you’ll spot it by the wall of Blue Ribbon awards near the door. There is exactly one thing on the menu, and yet the tables never seem to empty out. Here’s why. ...
There’s a restaurant in Busan that has sold exactly one dish for decades and still draws lines out the door: Haeundae Giwajip Daegutang (해운대기와집대구탕). The dish is daegu-tang (대구탕), a clear cod soup. No spicy version, no side menu, no combos. One soup, one price, and a dining room full of locals who have been coming here for twenty-plus years. If you’re staying anywhere near Haeundae Beach, this is one of the easiest “real local breakfast” experiences you can have in Busan. ...
Ask around Haeundae for one meal that isn’t pork soup rice, and Haemok (해목) comes up almost every time. It’s a Japanese restaurant built around hitsumabushi — the Nagoya-style grilled eel rice bowl — and it has held a spot in the Michelin Guide Busan every year from 2024 through 2026, plus several years of Korea’s Blue Ribbon award. You can’t really miss the place. It sits in the middle of Gunam-ro, the main pedestrian street running down to Haeundae Beach, behind a blue-painted wall with a wooden facade that looks lifted straight out of an old Japanese alley. After sunset the warm bulb lighting comes on and the entrance turns into a photo spot of its own. ...
There’s a certain kind of restaurant every Korean town has: one dish, no frills, and a dining room full of regulars. In Seogwipo, that place is Yong-ee Sikdang (용이식당). The menu is a single item — duruchigi (두루치기), Jeju’s own take on spicy stir-fried pork. It has been running for decades on that one dish alone, and locals still outnumber tourists at lunchtime. The basics Address: 9 Jungang-ro 79beon-gil, 1F, Seogwipo-si, Jeju Hours: 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. daily Closed: the first and third Wednesday of each month Menu: duruchigi, 10,000 won per person / takeout 9,000 won No alcohol or soft drinks sold — but you can bring your own 📍 View Yong-ee Sikdang (용이식당) on Google Maps → ...
Daejeon calls itself the noodle city of Korea, and it earned the title honestly. After the Korean War, flour poured into this railway hub where two main train lines cross, and the west coast nearby kept clams cheap and fresh. Out of that history came kalguksu - hand-cut wheat noodles in broth - and out of Daejeon’s many kalguksu houses, one name comes up before all others: OC Kalguksu (오씨칼국수) in Samseong-dong. ...
Drive along the eastern coast of Jeju and a red sign eventually catches your eye. This is Chonchon Haenyeochon (촌촌해녀촌), the place credited with inventing hoe-guksu - noodles tossed with fresh raw fish. The name has changed over the years. It used to be called Dongbok-ri Haenyeochon, and locals still slip between the two. It’s run by the haenyeo (women divers) association of Dongbok village, so it has deep roots here. ...
There’s an old Chinese restaurant tucked into a Seochon alley, right by the west entrance of Tongin Market, that usually has a line out front. That’s Yeonghwaru (영화루). It opened back in 1966. Sixty years, three generations, and a reputation as the place that once delivered jjajangmyeon to the Blue House. The faded sign alone tells you how long it’s been here. ...
If you’re anywhere near Byeollae and the word “eel” comes up, this is the name people land on. Jangeoui Kkum (장어의 꿈) sits a short walk from Byeollae-Byeolgaram Station in Namyangju, just northeast of Seoul. The short version: it’s a Korean freshwater eel place where you pick your own eel from a refrigerated case and grill it yourself, for roughly half what a normal eel restaurant charges. The catch is that everyone already knows this, so waiting in line is basically part of the experience. Below is the food and the price, yes, but also how to actually dodge the queue, and the parts that genuinely fall short. ...
If you only eat black pork once on Jeju, this is one of the names that keeps coming up. Haeoreum sits right in front of the Jeju Folk Five-Day Market, about ten minutes by car from the airport. That location does a lot of work. It lands neatly on the route to and from the rental car lots, which makes it an easy first or last meal of a trip. And it built its reputation with locals first, before tourists found it, which tells you something. ...
If you land in Jeju and want a first meal that actually tastes like Jeju, this old place near the airport comes up again and again. Not black pork barbecue, not pork noodle soup. The thing to get here is hanchi jumeokmuk (한치주물럭), Jeju squid tossed in a sweet-spicy sauce and grilled at your table. It’s hard to find this exact dish anywhere else, which is half the reason people make the trip. ...