Korea’s beloved, chewy rice cakes are stepping into a new era as makers reimagine the traditional treats with unexpected flavors, playful forms and contemporary recipes designed to win over a younger generation. Among the latest creations is pizza seolgi, a savory take on the traditional steamed rice cake known as seolgi tteok, topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, olives and pepperoni. Young people have flocked to Jeil Tteok at Seoul's Myeonmok Market, after word spread that the viral sn

CHUNCHEON, Gangwon Province — In the 1960s, when beef and pork were hard to come by, people in Chuncheon, a Gangwon city 80 kilometers west of Seoul, sliced chicken, the cheaper option, and grilled it over charcoal. By the 1970s, the dish had moved onto a wide iron griddle. Marinated chicken was stir-fried with cabbage, sweet potato and rice cakes, so a small amount of meat could feed a whole table. The filling, inexpensive meal became a favorite of the many soldiers stationed around the city an

Chuseok box from Lotte Hotels Braised short ribs simmered with jujube, fresh ginseng and chestnut make up a premium to-go Chuseok spread that arrives packed in a three-tier lunch box. The Delight Box, from Lotte Hotels & Resorts, gathers more than 10 holiday staples for households. Alongside the herbal galbijjim comes a five-piece jeon assortment of mung bean, shiitake, shrimp, beef and fish pancakes, plus seafood japchae, yeongyangbap, grilled abalone, poached octopus, soy-marinated conch, gril

South Korea's restaurant reservation platform CatchTable, operated by Wad Co., has exceeded 15 million cumulative users, and the number of registered restaurants on the platform surpassed 30,000 as of Sept. 3, the company said Thursday. CatchTable launched in 2016 as a business-to-business restaurant management solution before introducing its consumer-facing service in 2020. Since then, it has expanded its services to include restaurant searches, deposit-free reservations, remote waitlisting and

At lunchtime in southern Seoul's Gangnam, the line for a burrito bowl stretched down the block. Nearly a week after Chipotle opened its first Asian location in Seoul on Sept. 2, customers were still being told to expect waits of up to two or three hours. On Sunday, some 150 people were counted in line by 11 a.m., stretching more than 50 meters. For some of those waiting, however, the food was only part of the point. "We've got to keep up with what's trending," said university student Kim Min-ju,

Andaz Seoul Gangnam pours 7,000-won cocktails for three days Cocktails, wine and beer drop to 7,000 won a glass at Andaz Seoul Gangnam through Sunday, as the hotel marks its seventh anniversary. The happy hour runs from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Bites & Wine on the second floor, where snacks are also 7,000 won each, down from the usual 12,000 won. Arts Cafe on the first floor serves coffee and cafe lattes at 7,000 won over the same three days. Through September, Jogakbo Kitchen and Meat & Co. St

The most popular way to drink Korea's best-known flavored milk was not invented by a cafe. Foreign tourists figured it out while standing at convenience store counters. The drink combines Binggrae Banana Flavored Milk with a pouch-style hazelnut black coffee over a cup of ice, and it costs less than a cafe latte. Foreign visitors turned it into a recipe, working it out at convenience store counters, filming it and posting it on social media. It reached most Korean shoppers only after that, under

Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, will stage its signature food festival as a five-day event this year, expanding the program beyond the festival grounds. The 2026 Chuncheon Makguksu & Dakgalbi Festival runs Oct. 14-18 at Gongjicheon. Admission is free, though food is sold separately, with dakgalbi priced at 9,900 won and makguksu at 6,900 won. The festival drew more than 300,000 visitors over four days last year, its first at the Gongjicheon site. Organizers have added a day to the run and increased

The Hanok Heritage completes Raonjae wellness wing The Hanok Heritage in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province, has completed Raonjae, a wellness complex. Raonjae occupies about 895 square meters of land. Its ground floor holds an outdoor hanok infinity pool, a kids' pool, a private spa, a lounge and Monto, a Korean fine dining restaurant. A basement level houses a dry sauna, an indoor pool and locker rooms, open year-round. It has introduced five wellness programs including a tea ceremony class, a floatin

Dinner at Crab 52 starts with clam chowder and a plate of steamed snow crab, but for the next half-hour it's all about the raw bar. That 30-minute window matters. The main dishes begin circulating roughly 30 to 40 minutes after service begins, and once the butter and chili sauces arrive, the appetite for raw fish tends not to return. The restaurant, billed as the most expensive buffet in the country, occupies the 52nd floor of Trade Tower in Gangnam, Seoul, with sightlines running to the Han Riv

The rose, lychee and raspberry combination known as Ispahan has spread across Seoul patisserie counters in recent years. At the 63 Building in Yeouido, western Seoul, it is now available from the chef who invented it. Pierre Herme Paris opened its first cafe-style flagship in Korea earlier this month, moving the French maison beyond the department store counters where it has operated here since its debut pop-up at The Hyundai Seoul. The store sits in the same building as Centre Pompidou Hanwha,

Chuseok gift season is arriving early — and at the high end, a bottle of wine comes with a 10 million-won price tag. Department stores and hotels are rolling out premium gift sets ahead of Chuseok, which falls Sept. 25. The holiday comes 11 days earlier than last year, prompting retailers and hotels to move up their gift-set preorders. Among them, Josun Hotels & Resorts is offering a 10 million-won ($7,200) wine set pairing a Meo Camuzet bottling from Vosne-Romanee with a magnum of Salon 2015. G

Three bakery brands are running a Big Bang pop-up at Lotte World Mall in Songpa-gu, Seoul, selling limited-edition piano-themed confections for the group's 20th anniversary. The pop-up is part of a wider project Lotte Department Store is running with YG Entertainment through Sunday, which also includes nighttime lighting at nearby Seokchon Lake and a media art exhibition at Avenuel Jamsil. Big Bang debuted on Aug. 19, 2006. What A Bread, a premium bakery brand led by Kim Ho-gyeom, a former chef

Paradise City serves seasonal restorative dishes through Aug. 31 Paradise City in Incheon is offering restorative summer dishes made with seasonal ingredients through Aug. 31. The Japanese restaurant Raku serves a lunch set called Natsu Special for 98,000 won, featuring Wando abalone shabu-shabu, sea eel and freshwater eel temaki, and cold zaru udon with sea urchin and cuttlefish. Seasonal single dishes include grunt sashimi tataki and grilled wild eel. The buffet restaurant On the Plate offers

The ttukbaegi earthenware pot came to the table still boiling, and the broth inside was so white it looked closer to porridge than soup. That was dinner on a recent weekday at 3dae Samgyejangin in Seocho-gu, Seoul, one of the restaurants where Seoulites will be queuing on Friday. Aug. 14 is malbok, the last of the three hottest days of summer that Koreans call boknal. The three days are determined by the traditional 60-day cycle rather than the lunar calendar. Chobok, the first, landed on July 1