Mina
Food & Neighborhood Editor
“I'd rather send you to the place we'd actually go back to than the one with the best photos.”
18 stories
The Seoul City Wall: Walk One Section, and Make It Naksan
Four sections, rated out of five stars. The easy first walk, the real one, and what changed on the Baegak section in 2026.
Seoul's Winter Bowls: What to Eat When It's Below Zero
A fish-cake skewer at a street cart, a set meal, a bowl of noodles, ox-bone soup. The ladder Seoul climbs when the temperature drops.
Korean Fried Chicken Chains: What to Actually Order
Every big chain made its name on one menu. Soy-garlic, plain crunch, cheese powder or oven-roasted: here's which to order, and why the delivery app can cost more.
Sungsimdang in Daejeon: Which Branch, What Time, and What's Worth the Line
The Daejeon Station store and the main store are not the same stop. Which branch fits your trip, when the line is shortest, and what to buy.
Noryangjin Fish Market: Buy Downstairs, Eat Upstairs, and Know the Bill Before You Sit Down
It's a wholesale market that will cook for you, not a restaurant. How the buy-then-eat system works, what the bill really adds up to, and how to ask about the fees before you sit.
Worth the Detour: Where to Stop Between Seoul and Busan
Everyone plans Seoul, then Busan, and skips what's in between. A garden with a Scottish landscape architect, a coastline lit for night walking, and a streetscape nobody rebuilt — with what to eat at each stop.
Is a Templestay Worth a Night of Your Seoul Trip?
Wake at 4am, hand over your phone, eat in silence. Seven Seoul temples run English programs — the two formats, what you actually do, and who it's for.
Eating Vegetarian or Vegan in Seoul (Without Living on Convenience-Store Salads)
Korean food looks plant-heavy and isn't — kimchi has salted seafood, soups use anchovy stock. Temple food is the safe bet, Itaewon and Haebangchon are the vegan clusters.
How to Eat at a Korean BBQ Restaurant (When You've Never Done It)
The menu only looks hard. Which cut to start with, the two-serving minimum, who grills, the one rule for flipping meat — and why marinated galbi is the exception.
Ramyeon and Gimbap: Korea's Favourite Combo Is a ₩5,000 Meal
Korea's most-loved food pairing isn't a restaurant dish — it's instant ramyeon and a rice triangle. The convenience-store version, the sit-down version, and how to do both properly.
Seoul's Traditional Markets: Which One to Actually Go To
Gwangjang is on every itinerary and it's the most overrated of the four. Which Seoul market to visit for what — spectacle, actual eating, an activity, or one specific dish.
The Starbucks Inside a 1960s Architect's House
Starbucks Korea's 10th 'special store' is a 1960s house by architect Na Sang-jin, kept in its original seven-room layout — mixology bar, blueprint room, fireplace, vinyl. You go for the building, not the coffee.
What Koreans Actually Eat for Breakfast
The rice-soup-and-side-dishes breakfast is fading — down to two-thirds of people by 2024. What replaced it: the convenience store, a cheap coffee, and the gukbap place that's still open at 8am.
How to Eat at a Korean Restaurant (Banchan, the Call Button, and the Scissors)
One mental shift covers most of it: a Korean restaurant isn't somewhere you wait to be served. It's somewhere you call when you need something.
Why Seoul Is Built on Cafes
Seoul has more than 24,000 cafes. They're not just for coffee — they're the city's living rooms, studies, and meeting points, and the reason neighborhoods rise and fall.
Seoul Brunch, the Way People Here Actually Do It
A weekend ritual, not a Korean breakfast — where twenty- and thirty-somethings actually go, when to book, and what ₩20,000–30,000 gets you.
Seoul's Oldest Bakery Is Still Just a Bakery — And That's the Point
Taegeukdang has been open since 1946. It's not trying to look old — it just never stopped.
The ₩1,500 Espresso Bar in Yaksu That's Better Than It Has Any Right to Be
No chairs, no marketing, just one espresso shot at a time — and a slogan that turned out to mean more than expected.