허덕 ‘Hodok’

Korean street food is a must try. Once you get past the wondering what that is and actually pay the KRW900-1,000 for it, you may find that it actually tastes quite good. There are plenty of street vendors selling food especially in the popular shopping streets like Insadong, Myeungdong and even around Dongdaemun area.

One of the best street food that I have tried is called 허덕 ‘Hodok’ (not sure if I have written it accurately in Korean). It’s a fried glutinous pancake with a caramel & crushed pine nut filling. It comes in plain or green tea flavour. Not being a fan of green tea, I have not tried it but I see plenty of people queuing to buy them anyway.

The best 2 hodok vendors I have found is in Insadong and Myeundong. The one in Insadong is manned by two ajumma’s and their stall is situated at the crossroads of the backstreet of Fraser Suites and Insadong-gil (main street). That’s about ¾ the distance if you were to start at the top of the street closest to the memorial. They sell them for KRW900 each and if you go in the evening the queues almost encircle their stall!

The other really nice one is near the top end of the street where Migliore in Myeungdong is. After you get out of Migliore turn left and you will see a line of vendors going down the middle of that pedestrian street. It’s about 20m away from the entrance. I am sure these vendors move around a bit but every time I find them there and there’s a queue at least 6 deep each time.

Be careful when eating hodok. The filling’s hot so when you bit into it, the caramel might spill out onto your for eg. Clean white coat. Yes it has happened. If that happens in winter, just let the caramel freeze then pick it off. Do NOT attempt to wipe it off as my clever Mom informed me just in time!

Unfortunately I do not have a picture to upload yet but will do when I go pass another stall. If anyone knows other nice hodok vendors, please let me know.