Itaewon was a beautiful place & if I could, I would’ve wished to stay there longer but we had more things to do. ..
I honestly don’t recall which subway station this was; we went from Itaewon Station to Jonggak Station, stopped at Ssamgakji Station & Seoul Station to switch subway lines.
Likely Jonggak, I would say. Very interesting artwork along the pedways.
& this one. A depiction of ppl riding the subway, each doing their own thing (or zoning out).
So now the question is: why are we at Jonggak Station? Well, I’ll give you 2 hints!
Hint #1: we saw this at our next ‘destination’ (reason why we went to Jonggak Station). Isn’t this a beautiful painting? It’s an art print but still. .. wished the real deal was displayed somewhere.
These were actually real - they were acrylic paintings.
Hint #2: It’s 3:30pm on our last full day in Seoul. What did I NOT have yet, in terms of food???
Ok, I’ll tell you the answer now. We came back to Insadong lol. It’s really not a surprise. .. it’s close to our hotel & we both liked Insaong a lot! The true reason for this visit was: to eat jjambbong & jjajangmyeon! I basically told you the answer in the title of this post. Did you read the title?
For the 2 times we came to Insadong, we always entered from “this” end, the end closest to Jonggak Station. At the “entrance”, there was a little corner tucked behind the art stall (where I took the 2 photos from earlier). We saw this food stall/”restaurant” twice (& that sign twice) haha we have not had jjambbong nor jjajangmyeon yet!!! This was the cheapest booth we’ve found. Besides the price catching our attention, the booth inside was very “familiar” to us - it’s the type of place that ppl in dramas go to after work when it’s dark out, have a beer & slurp some noodles with a close bunch of friends. The last time we walked by, they even had several foldable tables & plastic stools outside their door, meaning the inside was full. Can’t go wrong with a place like this, right?!
We sat down; surprisingly not too busy. It is 3:30pm, after all. Most ppl are still at work, & it’s not morning/lunch time.
Their menu was simple. 3 noodles (jjajangmyeon/black bean noodles for 2500w; haemul jjambbong/spicy seafood noodles in soup for 3000w; udon for 3000w), sweet & sour pork for 3000w, & 6 drinks (soju, makgeolli, beers, Coca Cola, & soda/cider).
The kitchen, a fridge, cashier counter (with storage space underneath), & self-serve station of the yellow pickled radish. The lady there was the cook, the server, & the cashier (& maybe even the owner)! Talk about multi-tasking! She was so quick at it all too. Must’ve been doing it for yrs.
Self-serve water station; cups are on top of the fridge, which contained plastic bottles of water.
Waiting for our noodles.. . We were pretty hungry at the time. The seafood brunch we had wasn’t that filling haha
Jjajangmyeon. I liked it, while my brother loved it. For 2500w, they gave a good amount of thinly-sliced pork pieces. I honestly wasn’t expecting any meat in here at all. There was also some potato slices in there. I especially liked the noodles! Soft but chewy, not soggy. I saw how the lady did it: she had raw noodles kicking around on a tray (organized per serving so it was like balls of noodles), she threw a ball into the pot of boiling water (in a strainer), then after like 2 minutes, she took it out & put it inside a bowl. She had a separate pot that contained the pre-made black bean sauce only. Hence this bowl of noodles took less than 5 minutes! So good!
Similar idea with the seafood jjambbong. It was another type of noodle (this was slightly thicker). Threw in a ball of noodle into boiling water, & put the noodle inside a bowl when ready. Except, while she’s cooking the noodles, she also put in seafood into another pot, then later some bean sprouts. I’m sure the pot contained the soup & veggies bcos from the texture of the cabbage & carrot, I could tell the veggies have been in the soup for a while (so soft!). This was also done in less than 5 minutes.
Everything was just so. ..streamlined & quick! I was amazed by her skill, & looking forward to eating the noodles that were prepared/cooked in front of my eyes.
Let’s eat! If you know a place that has cheap jjajangmyeon & jjambbong, pls let me know! I obviously LOVE jjambbong. This jjambbong made me sweat so much bcos it was so spicy~ Spiciest one I’ve eaten my whole life thus far lol. & look at that insane amount of mussels for 3000w?!
There was about a dozen of mussels in my bowl of jjambbong, minus the shrimp & squid rings. Bang for your buck, or what?
I highly recommend this place, except I don’t know their name. If it what I think it is, they’re literally called “if you come to Insadong, ‘Here’,” 인사동에 오면 “여기”.
After eating our afternoon meal, I did some last minute souvenir shopping just in the beginning part of Insadong (from this end of the street). Then, we went back to our hotel, where we did some packing. We also needed to charge our devices & rest a bit. I’ve walked for a longer period of time during my trip but somehow it felt more tiring today. Maybe it was bcos I know the end of near. .. or maybe it was bcos we spend a lot of time taking the subway (both transferring & the ride itself). In any case, we spent maybe 3 hrs or so at the hotel. We got info regarding the shuttle bus from the hotel manager so that we are ready for tomorrow. The last thing we did before heading back out was calling our parents to confirm our arrival time back home~ That took us till almost 8pm by the time we were back on the street again. For more food.
