Soondubu jjigae is a signature dish of South Korea; we have verified places to eat it in Seoul. A blistering hot stone pot of barely-set silken tofu in red gochugaru broth with clams, mushrooms or pork, finished with a raw egg cracked into the centre at the table. Start with where to eat Soondubu jjigae in Seoul.
Soondubu jjigae · Seoul
A blistering hot stone pot of barely-set silken tofu in red gochugaru broth with clams, mushrooms or pork, finished with a raw egg cracked into the centre at the table. Seoul lunch counters serve nothing else.
Soondubu jjigae (순두부찌개) is one of Korea's three canonical stews alongside kimchi jjigae and doenjang jjigae. The silken-soft tofu (sundubu) tradition traces to the village of Chodang in Gangneung, where the 16th-century Joseon civil official Heo Yeop made tofu using seawater instead of brine, giving the silkier set. Seoul absorbed soondubu through Gangneung migrant cooks in the 1960s. The stone-bowl ddukbaegi serving format keeps the stew at a rolling boil for the full meal; the table-cracked raw egg poaches in the residual heat.
Where to eat Soondubu jjigae in Seoul: the editor picks