Dongjak-guDaily 01:00-06:00 (auction floor, pre-dawn); full market 24 hours
Noryangjin Fish Market operates 24 hours but the pre-dawn hours -- from 01:00 when the auction floor runs -- are when the market is most viscerally alive.
Try: Live seafood: raw abalone, sea cucumber, crab; sashimi sets
Jongno and InsadongDaily 09:00-22:00 (best midday to afternoon)Cash only
The bindaetteok stalls in Gwangjang Market are Seoul's most legitimate street food: mung-bean pancakes fried on cast-iron griddles alongside mayak gimbap.
Try: Bindaetteok (mung bean pancakes) and mayak gimbap
Jung-gu and MyeongdongDaily 11:00-22:00
The Myeongdong pedestrian strip turns into one of the densest street food corridors in Asia after 16:00, with stalls selling tteokbokki (spicy rice.
Try: Tteokbokki, corn dogs, egg bread (gyeran-ppang)
Jung-gu and MyeongdongMon-Sat 06:00-20:00, Sun 08:00-18:00Cash only
Namdaemun Market hotteok stalls fry thick dough discs filled with brown sugar, cinnamon and crushed peanuts on flat irons in the market's main food lane.
Try: Hotteok (sugar-filled fried pancakes) and kalguksu
Jung-gu and MyeongdongDaily 11:00-22:00
Sindang-dong Tteokbokki Town is the origin neighbourhood of the modern spicy tteokbokki -- Ma Bok-rim developed gochujang-seasoned rice cakes here in 1953.
Try: Tteokbokki (various styles: original, cheese, rabokki)
Jongno and InsadongTue-Sun 10:00-17:00, closed MondayCash only
Tongin Market coin lunchbox: buy a tray and brass yeopjeon coins, fill the tray from banchan stalls, then eat in the communal hall at the market back.
Try: DIY coin-currency lunchbox: banchan selections from market stalls