Dish guide · Pancakes and market food
Tteokbokki
떡볶이
Spicy simmered rice cakes
Chewy cylinders of rice cake simmered in a sweet and fiery red sauce, usually with fish cake. It's Korea's best-loved street snack.
What it is
- The red sauce is based on gochujang (red chili paste). Fish cake, green onions and boiled eggs are the usual additions.
- Sindang-dong in Seoul is known for a hot-pot style cooked at the table, with add-ins such as ramen noodles.
- Gungjung-tteokbokki is the older, non-spicy kind: rice cake stir-fried with beef and vegetables in soy sauce.
How to eat it
- 1Stalls serve it on a plate or in a cup with a toothpick or skewer. Ask for less spicy if you can't handle much heat.
- 2Dip fried snacks, gimbap or boiled egg into the sauce.
History
- A soy sauce version was a royal court dish long before chili peppers reached Korea.
- The red version is usually credited to Ma Bok-rim of Sindang-dong, around 1953. The popular story says a rice cake fell into a bowl of black bean noodles, but it isn't documented, and details vary between sources.
Allergies and diet
Usually contains
- Fish cake is standard, and the sauce is often made with anchovy stock, so it's rarely vegetarian as served.
- Some rice cakes are made from wheat rather than rice.
Recipes differ between restaurants. If you have an allergy, always ask the staff before you order.
🗣️ Allergy card for the staff
Pick your allergy to see the sentence in Korean.
📍 Where to try it
- 🍢
Mabokrim Halmeoni Jip 마복림할머니집
Street snacks · Dongdaemun · Since 1953
The shop that started Sindang-dong's famous tteokbokki alley. A big pan of rice cakes, fish cakes, ramyeon, chewy jjolmyeon noodles and dumplings is set on a burner at your table and simmers in a sweet, mild sauce of chili paste and black bean paste. Finish by frying rice in what's left.
Try: Jeukseok tteokbokki set (for 2, 3 or 4)
Short wait 
Monyeo Gimbap 모녀김밥
Market food · Jongno
The Gwangjang Market stall credited with making mayak gimbap famous: finger-sized seaweed rolls of rice, carrot and pickled radish, dipped in a sharp mustard sauce. The nickname "mayak" ("narcotic") is a joke about how hard they are to stop eating.
Try: Mayak gimbap
Short wait- 🌶️
Wooirak Mangwon 우이락 망원본점
Market food · Hongdae
The original shop of the Mangwon Market stall famous for gochu-twigim: giant mild green chilies stuffed with seasoned meat and deep-fried until crisp. Inside it is a Korean-style pub, with soupy tteokbokki, pancakes and creamy makgeolli to go with them, and many people take the fried chilies to the Han River park nearby.
Try: Gochu-twigim (stuffed fried chili)
Short wait - 🍢
Wow Sinnae-tteok (Noryangjin) 와우신내떡 노량진점
Street snacks · Noryangjin
A Blue Ribbon tteokbokki shop loved by Noryangjin's students, known for its heavily cheese-topped rice cakes. You choose your spice level, so it's good for anyone who wants to work up to Korea's fiery street food.
Try: Cheese tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes with cheese)
Locals' pickShort wait
Sources
We check every fact against at least two sources and write it in our own words. Last checked: 2026-10-31.