분식 So Simple. So Good.
Updated: Jan 1, 2022
Recommended time to visit: all year!
Recommended for solo travelers
A big motivator for choosing to come to Korea was food. Korean food is SO GOOD. It can also be super cheap. Places like 김밥천국, 김가네, and 싸다 김밥 are places I frequent because of the simple easy "snack foods"-분식.
Because the menus are relatively the same, I decided to write about a relatively newer big chain: 싸다 김밥 (Ssa-da Gim-bab).
This 24-hour chain is great because not only is it always open (only delivery at night), but also you don't need to interact with humans to get food! You do need a little bit of beginner Korean, however, to place an order on their kiosk. Good news, though, I found an English menu on the store front so you could just find what you want in English and match up the Korean on the kiosk. As an extra fail safe, there are pictures for each item. Low anxiety ordering!
You might want to know your Sino-Korean numbers, they could either display the number, or yell it out for you to pick it up. If you're paying attention, however, it should be easy to figure out which order is yours.
My go to is always 소고기김밥 "Beef Gimbab." It can vary from place to place as to what the fillings are. So, I will say I prefer 김밥천국's ham over 싸다 김밥's fish cake. Today, I got not only the gimbab but also some plain curry with vegetables. The portions were hefty and I could only finish the gimbab.
There you have it, just one of many places I like to frequent. Unfortunately, I can only go at night or the weekends because where I work doesn't really have this food in the surrounding area. I hope you enjoyed this little slice of my life.