Sundae-guk – A Not So Good Looking Yet Super Delicious Traditional Korean Food

No doubts Sundae-guk is one of the less good-looking Korean food and then one of the less popular among foreigners. However Koreans love it so much I decided to experience it myself despite the appearance. This is my story!

What about the first impression?

Lot of green onion and not sausage visible…

Sundae-guk (???) is a variant for the very popular Korean dish Sundae. It is one of the oldest and then one of the most traditional Korean food. Its history and aspect make it a must for any person interested in Korean culture. However by looks is not very attractive (at least for foreigners) so probably most of the people try to avoid it. On the other side Koreans love it so much and it turns to be so cheap that I started to feel curious about. Even if I did avoid it for almost 3 years so far… not anymore! It’s time to try Sundae-guk!

Byeongcheon Sundae Street is not like the city…

Translation, “Sundae-guk without smell”

Sundae-guk restaurants everywhere

Sundae-guk is a soup of Korean sausage (usually stuffed with blood of pork and rice or some vegetables maybe). It’s surprisingly not spicy and the taste is not strong as I thought it will be. In fact it’s pretty enjoyable! However the smell is very strong… probably that will make any foreign suspicious about trying this dish, but I’m sure you can find places without smell (I did). The rest of the ingredients are green onion and some pork meat. About side dishes kimchi is a must for accompanying this Korean food and some small shrimp spicy sauce (that’s very salty and you suppose to mix in the soup to add more taste). And the rice of always.

Byeongcheon Sundae Street

Countryside kind of…

Byeongcheon Market

I got off in Byeongcheon Market (bus number 401)

The famous Byeongcheon Sundae

I went to Byeongcheon Sundae street (??????) in Cheonan (??), a famous place with a long street full of Sundae restaurants. As I know is the perfect place to try the traditional taste of Sundae, the history of the place says that some decades ago ham factories gave the opportunity to create many Sundae restaurants. Indeed the place is very far from the city (very countryside kind), from the train station (Cheonan Station) you have to ride a bus for more than one hour to reach the place. When I reached, since was my first time trying Sundae-guk, I had no idea where to eat… so many options!

Menu for one person

Small shrimp sauce

Two kind of kimchi

Salt and spicies

Now the sausages are visible

How does it look?

Blood and some rice

I finally decided for a restaurant an ordered the traditional Sundae-guk (there is a spicy version as well). When I got the dish in my table I was kind of hesitating… yes Sundae-guk doesn’t look like something I’ll feel appetite with. My first spoon trying the soup was a surprise! The taste of the soup is really good, like all Korean soups though. But I kept leaving the sausage for the end, then I decided to go for it and… it was totally ok. The taste is nothing bad, I won’t say neither that this is now my favorite food but it’s not as terrible as I thought.

Sausages for the end

Taste better with rice

not really good-looking

I can say now that I’ve tried some very traditional Korean food and I survived! I’ll totally list Sundae-guk as one of the weirdest food I’ve tried in Korea but not one of my favorites. Even though I recommend you to try the experience of this traditional dish and see by yourself… who knows maybe it can turn to be one of your favorites.

Price: W7.000 for one person

Place: Byeongcheon Sundae Street in Cheonan
To go there you need to take bus number 401 from Cheonan Station