Gwangjang Night Market

Gwangjang Market in Seoul offers a variety of traditional Korean street foods at night. Even on a cold evening, the covered arcade was bustling with both locals and tourists. There seems to be a few staple street foods on offer at Gwangjang.

One kind, which we did not try, is a type of big thick fried pancake, made with a flour or egg batter. It is filled with a variety of different foods like vegetables, meat, and seafood.

At Gwangjang, each shop has stools right on the street so people can sit, eat, and watch their food being cooked. There isn't as much grab-and-go as you'll find at a Taiwanese night market.

At an intersection within the market, the crowds were dense, and there were so many vendors placed together, creating a thick cloud of steam with their cooking. The whole place smelled delicious and was warmed up by the steam.

Some of the most popular vendors had all their seats filled, but so many places sell the same foods so you will have no trouble finding something to eat.

We found a slightly quieter and emptier part of the market, where a long line of vendors were all selling noodles and steamed Korean dumplings called mandu. We decided to go for some dumplings, which looked plump and fresh. The seats were heated, a nice touch on this wintry night.

There were two types of dumplings, meat and kimchi. One order of each was $5 USD, and the owner recommended that we split a plate of half of each kind of dumpling.

On the plate below, the rounded moon-like dumplings are pork, and the other kind is kimchi. They were really good! I especially liked the pork dumplings - thick and meaty.

We also decided to try a dish that sounds very strange but we saw lots of people eating - "sundae." It's a plate of various types of meats and offal, including pig stomach, liver, and intestines stuffed with glutinous rice. A big plate of this meat was $10 USD, and included some soup and side dishes.

It wasn't too bad! The meat had interesting textures. A whole plate of it would be too much for one person though, in my opinion.

There were also various traditional shops lining the arcade, though most of them appeared closed for the night. It was a fun night market experience, very different from the Taiwan night markets though. I would go back for the dumplings!

Ziqiang Night Market and Ye Xiang Dumplings

Like all Taiwanese cities, Hualien has a few night markets. I got a recommendation to go to Ziqiang Night Market, located in the middle of the city on Ziqiang Street. It's relatively small, but has a few lanes of densely packed food vendors.

As I was coming from the long bike ride, I was really thirsty and wanted something hydrating. Thankfully there are three or four highly affordable fruit juice vendors in the market. I asked for a fresh carrot juice with nothing else added. I saw the man juicing up five enormous carrots just for one small cup of sweet juice. It was only 40 TWD, a little more than $1 USD.  

There were some other interesting stands, such as this one selling marshmallow toast. We also saw a pizza place with a real brick oven!

The market is most famous for its BBQ, and there are numerous stalls selling the same product. A variety of foods (chicken, beef, tofu, vegetables) are all skewered on long sticks. You pick what you want, and then put it into a container to take to the checkout. Then all the food gets grilled in the back, and smothered in a thick and sweet sauce. The wait time is incredible - up to two hours, I've heard, for the most popular stall. We had to wait forty minutes. Fortunately, there is an updated queue sign which flashes the number of the order when it is ready.

Sorry for the terrible lighting in these photos! There was a bright red glow over the food from the lights overhead. As you can see, all the prices are clearly marked on each food. I got a stick of beef strips wrapped around green onion, and a skewer of green bell peppers. The sauce was way too thick and sweet - I don't think it's worth it to wait for so long!

Hualien is also famous for its wontons. We went to one of the oldest and most famous establishments called Ye Xiang Dumplings, open for sixty years. Like many restaurants that are famous for one thing, they only serve one item on the menu, and they are fast and efficient.

You order at the front counter, right across from where the experts wrap up the wontons. It's an easy process to order - there is no choice. The only menu item is a bowl of pork wontons. You specify how many bowls you want, and each bowl is $65 TWD (about $2 USD). Then you wait until the server brings it over to your table.

There were plenty of locals and tourists at this restaurant! These people were probably wondering why I was taking a photo of them. Even though a lot of people come here, the turnover rate is so fast that there seemed to be plenty of seating on a weekend lunch.

The wontons arrive in a matter of minutes. My bowl had nine plump wontons. They are so delicious! The meat is tender and flavorful, and lacks those fatty and chewy bits that some dumplings have. The wonton skin is smooth, silky, and really thin. Ye Xiang really has perfected their process over six decades.

We wanted to try their competitor shop, but unfortunately we ran out of time on this trip. Next time! I am still thinking about those wontons. You must try them if you go to Hualien. 

Wufenpu and Raohe Night Market

Yesterday I decided to pay a visit to the Wufenpu Wholesale District. This area is comprised of blocks upon blocks of clothing wholesalers, selling everything from men's suits to fancy gowns and cute ribboned headbands. Stores are laid out like a market, and the little boutiques face open to the street. There is a dizzying array of goods, and seemingly endless alleys and turns that lead to evermore stores. If you really wanted to carefully shop and find the best deals, you might need at least an entire day to explore!

Wufenpu is located a few minutes walk away from the Houshanpi MRT station. You'll know it when you see it! It's not for the weak hearted. I started feeling almost dizzy after wandering the streets, with the limitless options, bright lights, trendy fashions, and welcoming storekeepers. The selection here is great, though I don't think the prices differ too much from your standard night market. Perhaps the deals are better if you are a wholesale buyer.

In order to get some fresh air, we wandered to a nearby riverside park by Keelung River. Taipei has a lot of great public parks, and they usually are well-maintained and popular with residents. There are basketball and tennis courts, benches, playgrounds, and bike lanes. In the cool of the early evening people were riding bikes and jogging alongside the water.

It was quite a picturesque place to watch the sunset, and we saw a few photographers setting up tripods near a bridge to patiently capture the gorgeous but fleeting view.

The parkway is thoughtfully separated from the main throughway by a high wall. This wall probably provides some soundproofing, and it also preserves the natural feel of the riverside from the feel of the busy city. You can see in the below photo the difference between the two sides of the wall.

After the sun set, we walked to the nearby Raohe Night Market to grab some food to eat. Raohe is especially famous for its panfried pork buns. They are toasty on the outside without being fried and oily. This vendor is right at the entrance of the market, near the large temple. There are usually long lines that have to be cordoned off with tape.

The pale buns sitting outside the large pan are uncooked, and the ones inside are ready to be served to the next lucky person in line.

Another interesting snack that we stumbled across were these little egg pancakes. Now, they look like the round pancakes that are normally sold on streets that contain red bean or peanut paste. However, these were special! They each contain an entire egg that is cracked into the middle of the pancake before it is capped during the cooking process.

I wish I managed to take a photo of the inside of the pancake. The egg yolks are a brilliant shade of orange, which means that the egg is really fresh and good quality. You could also add additional flavors like cheese and chocolate.

Lastly, we had dessert! This was an unplanned dessert - the best kind. We were walking out of the night market when we came across a girl handing out samples of snow ice. The sample was good enough that we decided to stop for a mango snow ice. We were confused by why this cafe was so empty - the desserts were fantastic!

The mango snow ice is a complex and layered dessert. At the bottom is a huge mound of snow ice (a light, milky, creamy version of ice cream. The snow ice is topped with fresh cubed mango, a scoop of rich vanilla ice cream, sugary cornflakes, and a biscuit. It was really fun to eat, and the size was made for sharing. This big bowl was $160 TWD (about 5 USD).

This was a fun little excursion - a little shopping, a little nature, and delicious food!