Not Bulgogi. What Seoul's Taxi Drivers Actually Eat
7-minute video · EpicKor
Ask the world what Koreans eat and you hear bulgogi and bibimbap. Ask a Seoul taxi driver at noon and you get spicy stir-fried pork, pork-bone stew, blood-sausage soup and a pork cutlet the government once tried to rename. This is Korea's other menu: the food of drivers' diners, 3 a.m. hangover shops and old "light Western" restaurants — read from Korean sources, with every price in won and dollars.
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Read the full guide
Chapters
- 0:00Not bulgogi, not bibimbap
- 0:28Noon: the drivers' diner
- 0:54Meat for one
- 1:22Jeyuk-bokkeum means "pork"
- 1:47A heritage street, gone in a year
- 2:05The price list our four dishes aren't on
- 2:363 a.m.: haejang
- 3:02Gamja-tang and the "potato bone"
- 3:47Why soup became "tang"
- 4:22Sundae-guk (not ice cream)
- 5:007 p.m.: a knife and fork
- 5:31"Pork, broad, fried": the 1995 rename
- 5:56Namsan and the rest stops
- 6:18Korea's other menu
Sources
- Bizhankook, 20 Sep 2016 (Seongbuk-dong drivers' diner, 1970; "there was no one-portion meat")
- Seoul Metropolitan Government, 2016 Seoul Future Heritage list (Yeonnam-dong drivers' diner street); Dailian (closures a year later)
- Yonhap, 4 Jan 2026, citing the Korea Transportation Safety Authority and the taxi federation (company taxi drivers, Dec 2019 and Dec 2022)
- Korea Consumer Agency, Chamgagyeok dining prices (kimchi-stew set meal, Seoul, Aug 2026)
- Standard Korean Language Dictionary, National Institute of Korean Language (jeyuk / jeoyuk, gamja-tang, no entry for "gamja-ppyeo", sundaet-guk, dongaseu, haejang)
- Rural Development Administration webzine, Mar 2025 (haejang from haejeong; the Joseon hangover-soup delivery)
- Seoul Shinmun, 16 Nov 2015 (gamja-tang origin stories); 28 Dec 1990, 9 Jan 1995, 10 Jun 1998 (business-hour limits on bars, 1990–1998)
- Seoul Metropolitan Government Media Hub, 11 Nov 2021 (Taejo Gamjaguk, 1958) and 6 Dec 2022 (Eungam-dong gamjaguk alley, "put tang on it")
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture: sundae (Siuijeonseo), dongaseu (1924 Joseon Musang Sinsik Yorijebeop, "gasseulnaeseu"), Yi Yong-gi
- Hankyung, 8 Apr 2011 (1995 Ministry of Culture and Sports list of 702 Japanese-style words)
- Weekly Kyunghyang, 17 May 2021 (Namsan donkkaseu, 1992 — one owner's account)
- Korea Expressway Corporation data via SBS Biz and Dailian, 21 Sep 2026 (rest-stop cutlet, Aug 2026 and Aug 2021)
- Exchange rates: 1,360 won per dollar (FRED DEXKOUS, 25 Sep 2026: 1,356.51); 1985 average 872 won per dollar (FRED AEXKOUS)
