Seoul: Gwangjang Market and Brother's Raw Beef

It had started raining fairly hard as left Myeongdong. But we really weren't through eating. We went back to the apartment, had some tea, showered, and headed back out. This time the target was Gwangjang Market; established in 1905, I read that there were over 5000 shops in the market.

It is indeed quite a beast as we entered and immediately got lost....surrounded by textile shops.

After wandering around for quite a while....almost in a dazed state we found the area that sold food products and some of the "alleys".

Of course there are a ton of food stands.....

Serving every part of the animal.

And then there are the congregations of shops that specialize in specific dishes that have their own "food alleys"; gimbap alley and jeon (pancake alley), where you can watch mung beans being ground to make Bindaetteok (mung bean pancakes).

There was one alley I really wanted to visit. I love yukhoe, the Korean version of beef tartare, so I really wanted to try it during my visit to Seoul. We'd had Yukhoe Bibimbap at Gogung, but I really wanted to try it straight up. So we hunted down Yukhoe Alley, a small collection of shops specializing in the raw beef dish, and chose one that I had read about named "Brother's Raw Beef". The only way I found it was by the cow logo as all the signs were in Hangul.

No English spoken, but the gentleman running the place as well as the woman who served us were very friendly.

And really, all you need to do is put up one finger and say "Cass" and then raise that index finger again and say "yukhoe"......

And in case you wondered about how fresh the meat was; there were three women in the back of the restaurant prepping the beef.

The Missus recalls the beef-daikon soup that came with the raw beef was really tasty.....

But all I remember was how very good the Yukhoe was. Just enough Asian Pear to add crunch and some sweetness, some pine nuts adding another dimension of flavor, the egg yolk lending a richness to the whole dish.

A touch of sesame oil....that's all I really needed.

The beef, while lean was surprisingly tender. This was my favorite dish from our time Seoul.

Brother's Raw Beef (형제육회) - In Gwangjang Market
160-8 Jongno 4-ga (near exit 10 of the market)
Seoul, South Korea

It was still raining when we left the market and headed back in the direction of our apartment. We took a short look around Tapgol Park.

As we were leaving, the Missus decided we needed to head back to Myeongdong.........

Comments

[kat]

glad you got your full of yukhoe

[nhbilly]

Breakfast of champs.
Heck anything with an egg on it is breakfast in my book.

[Kirk]

I sure did Kat!

You are right on the money Billy!

[jack]

that looks great kirk! I've never been to korea but it's been on my list to visit soon

[Junichi]

Looks great! I think beef yukke's still banned in Japan. They do have sakura (horse meat) yukke though.

[Kirk]

This was my favorite meal in Seoul Jack.

We had basashi (again) on our last visit to Kyoto Junichi. Didn't know that about yukke; though I know we couldn't get tori-sashi this time around.