6 Korean Snacks, Drinks & Treats I Tried in Korea
Meow meow everyone, welcome back! It’s me, Mydondon, and today we’re back to share more of what I saw and ate in Korea~ This time I want to tell you about the snacks, treats, and special drinks I tried in Korea. Basically, all the little foods that were too short to get their own full post!
1. Korean Spicy Stir-Fried Rice Cakes (Tteokbokki)
I’m pretty sure this is one of the first foods that pops into everyone’s head when they think of Korea, right!? Honestly, I’d already had a taste of this dish back in Taiwan, and in my mind it was always like a firm, cylindrical chunk of mochi, a little chewy, and sometimes it sticks to your teeth.
So how was it eating it in Korea? Actually, I found it pretty similar. The main difference from what I had in Taiwan was that they gave you a ton of sauce, and it was really flavorful. I’m guessing it’s meant for you to keep dipping again and again… It’s a bit odd, but there was so much dipping sauce you could practically drink it. The sauce itself was super moreish, sweet with a little kick of spice, and the heat slowly builds up on you.
On top of that, the shop gave you free refills of a light broth to drink alongside it, so it never got too heavy.
2. Tempura
We ordered the shrimp, green chili pepper, and squid tempura. The tempura wasn’t crispy. I’m not sure if that was on purpose or if it had just been sitting around a while after frying, but it was more like a soft, oily shrimp coating draped over everything. At first I thought it was a shame it wasn’t crispy, but once I dipped it in the sauce I realized it was actually pretty good. None of the three ingredients had any special prep before being deep-fried, yet with the dipping sauce they somehow turned out tasty. Same with the green chili: at first I thought it was just a green onion, and only after asking the owner did I learn it was a chili pepper. I braced myself for it to be really spicy, but biting in, it was juicy juicy just like a green onion and barely spicy at all.
Items 1 and 2 above came from the same stall inside Bujeon Market. Everything they sell is cheap and delicious, so if any of you happen to be heading to Bujeon Market, go give it a try!
월구떡볶이 부전동점 (Wolgu Tteokbokki, Bujeon-dong branch) on Google Maps:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/LYznvAamPFPxtauT6
3. Strawberry Milk & Banana Milk
The reason I went out of my way to try the strawberry milk and banana milk is that a friend kept telling me how delicious Korean strawberry milk is and how badly they wanted to try it. So I went to the supermarket to see if there was any strawberry milk I could bring back to Taiwan, but all I found was this kind of flavored milk that comes in packs of 6 bottles. The thing is, it wasn’t shelf-stable UHT milk in a can but a fresh product, so there was no way to bring it home. Even if I had, it would’ve gone sour long before then (￣ヘ￣;)
In a moment of weakness, I also got curious about whether they were really that good. So I grabbed a pack to take back to the dorm and try, and in the end I found it was actually pretty nice. The strawberry flavor isn’t overpowering. There’s still that artificial taste, but the milkiness is way stronger than what you’d get in Taiwan, so overall it doesn’t feel too cloying. The banana flavor tastes about the same, but it really doesn’t taste much like banana, so I still think the strawberry one is better.
You can basically find this strawberry milk at any Korean supermarket! Each pack of 6 comes in 3 flavors. I didn’t really like the other flavor (the one in the blue packaging), so I won’t be mentioning it here.
4. Korean Fried Chicken
The fried chicken I had in Korea was from a chain called mom’s touch, which you can spot all over the place in pretty much every part of Korea, which is why I picked it to order a serving of Korean fried chicken. Honestly, after eating it I realized the version I get in Taiwan isn’t bad at all. It’s about 80% the same, and I might even prefer the Taiwanese version 😅, because the Taiwanese one comes loaded with sauce.
The flavor was that very sweet, slightly spicy fried chicken, with the sauce evenly coating the whole skin. Take one bite and the chicken juices and sauce burst in your mouth, every bite plump and tender. So good! But I’m genuinely curious why even the “original” flavor still came out a little spicy. Is there chili powder floating in the air in Korea, making a truly plain flavor impossible?
It turns out their burgers are actually the more famous item, so if I’d known I would’ve ordered a burger to try too.
The one I went to was this branch in Busan: https://maps.app.goo.gl/CK789BoWQKhybKDCA
5. Hamburger Steak (Patties)
Honestly, I’m not sure whether this counts as an iconic Korean food, but I seemed to see these hamburger patties all over Korea, which made me want to find out what they actually taste like. It seems like you can either eat them right away or take them home to pan-fry yourself. If you choose to eat them on the spot, the shop pops them into an oven to give them a little roast, so they’re a bit less greasy and the outside firms up a touch more.
Take one bite of the patty and the juices burst right out. Every mouthful is full of juicy meat, with a flavor that’s a little sweet and has a nice pork aroma. It looks really fatty, yet you somehow end up polishing it off bite by bite without noticing. I was actually already pretty full at that point, so I saved some for later, which led me to an accidental discovery: cold hamburger patty is also really easy to eat. It doesn’t get that greasy, off-putting smell from going cold.
The hamburger patty I had was probably from the shop below, which is also in Bujeon Market. If you’re in the area, go give it a try:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/wLoDEWn8fpNH9JHU7
6. Bonus Round: An Adorable Little Snack ~ Squid Peanut Balls
For a bonus, here’s a special little snack I stumbled across. The outside is super cute, stamped with all sorts of different faces, and inside it’s filled with peanuts. Even better, it’s hollow, which means if you give it a little shake you can feel the peanut bouncing around inside! So cool. I kept eating and wondering how on earth they make a cookie like this~
As for the flavor, it tasted a lot like one of the similarly colored beans you’d find in that assorted bean mix you can buy at Costco, just with a thinner shell. It was a pretty novel experience.
Alright, thanks so much for reading! If you enjoy these Korea travel posts, I’ve actually built a dedicated website just for them, packed with all kinds of content you might be interested in, from pre-trip prep and sightseeing guides to local food! Feel free to head over and take a look!
And don’t forget to follow along ❤️