South Korea Day 2: Lunch at Ddokbokki Town

Mommy had heard about this little area so famous for its traditional Korean rice cake (Ddokbokki) dishes that the area was named after it. Located at Sindang, which was on the same subway line as Jamsil, where the marathon ended, we decided that it would make a great place for a recovery meal.

We alighted at Sindang Station and although we noted that we should exit at Exit 7, we followed a sign  that says Exit 7 but ended up walking out of Exit 4 instead. We found ourselves lost and spent quite a while navigating the streets and asking for directions before finally arriving at the place. If you want to visit the Sindang Ddokbokki Town, make sure you look for Exit 7, and once you are on the main road, make an about-turn and walk straight till you see the big sign that says Ddokbokki Town (in Korean though). It is not too far from Exit 7 and if you find yourself walking for more than 15 minutes, you would most likely have passed it.



Asking the owner of a roadside snack shop for directions.

Navigating the streets of Sindang.

 

 

The big over hanging arch says we're here!

 

 

Long queues outside this restaurant 

There were a few restaurants, all claiming to be the best with big bold signages and proudly displayed enlarged newspaper cuttings and photographs and signatures of celebrities to show for it. At about 2pm, we were late for lunch, but impressed that the restaurants still sported long queues of people waiting to get a seat even at this hour. We opted for the restaurant with the shortest queue as the kids were letting us know that they were hungry and needed to eat.



Look! No queue over here...




It's a full house at "I Love Sindang Restaurant" on a Sunday after lunch hour?

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We ordered a typical version with hard boiled eggs, tofu, fish cakes, red sauce, noodles and shredded vegetables served over the gas fire and tossed it up as the sauce began to boil. The main dish was served with packets of preserved pickles and we added in three bowls of white rice.

 

Before mixing...

Mixing it up as the sauce begins to bubble,...

That's less than S$4 a person. Nice.

Down to the last Ddokbokki...

"Washing" it all down with a vanilla ice-cream.

 

The rice cakes were very filling and because the kids stuck to their non-spicy preferences, the two adults were very fulfilled with the high carbohydrate content. Even the sauce and pickles were dutifully consumed. We shared two ice cream cones after the meal from the same restaurant and made our way back to the apartment to pack our belongings before heading out again to see the Teddy Bear Museum and have dinner with friends.

 

Wait... didn't we just have lunch?