Tongin Market

Tongin Market is a small neighbourhood market near Gyeongbokgung that offers one of the most fun food experiences in Seoul — the DIY lunchbox programme, where you buy a tray of old-fashioned Korean brass coins (yeopjeon) at the market entrance and use them to purchase individual side dishes, rice, and mains from the stalls, assembling your own custom dosirak (lunchbox) that you take upstairs to a communal eating area.

The market was established in 1941 to serve the Japanese residential area nearby, and after the war it evolved into a Korean neighbourhood market. The lunchbox programme, introduced in 2012 to boost foot traffic, has become its identity — over 70 stalls participate, and the choices range from traditional banchan (side dishes like kimchi, japchae, and pickled radish) to freshly fried dishes (tteok-galbi, jeon, and fried shrimp) that are made when you order. The coins add a theatrical element that makes the experience feel more like a game than a meal.

Tongin's location, a five-minute walk west of Gyeongbokgung Palace, makes it an ideal lunch stop after a morning at the palace. The market is tiny compared to Gwangjang or Namdaemun — about 75 stalls in a covered corridor — which makes it manageable and unhurried. The vendors, many of whom have been working the market for decades, are patient with tourists navigating the coin system and will help you choose if you point and smile. Come before noon to beat the lunch rush, and bring a sense of adventure about what ends up in your lunchbox.