There are days when cooking feels like too much. On those days, I just go get something good instead.
This one came from my cousin — he sent a YouTube link asking if it was near me. It wasn’t, but I was curious enough to go anyway.
Myeongdong Gimbap is inside Kkachisan Market in Gangseo-gu. It’s been around for 35 years, got featured on the Korean TV show Masters of Living, and has shown up in print more than once. The kind of place that doesn’t need to advertise.
Getting There
Kkachisan Station, Line 2 and Line 5. Come out of Exit 2, walk about 10 meters, and you’ll see the market entrance. Turn left at the first alley — the one between the fruit stall and the vegetable stand. Walk straight and you’ll spot the gimbap sign at the far end. Two signs come into view — 김밥 on the left, 명동김밥 on the right. You want the right one.
One heads up: the station is really deep. The escalator goes down forever. Just mentally prepare for that on the way back.
What to Order
The dish that made this place famous is the buchu gyeran (chive and egg) gimbap. It sells out. I got there too late and missed it.
So I went with the chichi gimbap — officially 치치치, which stands for chamchi (tuna), chijeu (cheese), and myeolchi (anchovy). By the time I visited, someone had rubbed a character off the sign, so it just said 치치. I ordered it by the full name anyway.
The roll is thick — noticeably bigger than a regular gimbap, somewhere between a standard roll and a futomaki. I brought it home, opened it right away, and grabbed a coffee mix packet to show the size in the photo because that was literally the first thing I could reach.
Tuna, anchovy, and cheese sounds like it could be too much, but it isn’t. Everything stays in balance. The anchovy adds depth without making it salty. It just works. ₩5,000.
I’m already thinking about going back for the buchu gyeran. And the double cheese with chili while I’m at it.
Good to Know
Closed Sundays and Mondays. Open until 7:30 PM, so it works as an early dinner pickup too. I went on a hot summer afternoon and there were customers the whole time — when the weather cools down, expect a line.
The person rolling the gimbap was young and fast. Every single roll looked like the filling was going to spill out. Every single time it didn’t. Watching that was genuinely satisfying.
35 years doing this in an outdoor market. That’s worth something.
A Local Stop Worth Making
There’s no single famous thing to chase here — it’s just a good local market that has been doing the same thing for a long time. For a solo subway day with no fixed plan, it’s exactly the kind of stop that makes the day feel like something.
The market is right at the exit, so finding it takes no effort. And if you want to extend the afternoon, here’s a route that works well: get back on Line 5 at Kkachisan and ride a few stops to Magok Station. Pick up a coffee from one of the cafés in the neighborhood and walk to Magok Lake Park — about 10 to 15 minutes on foot.
Eat the gimbap on a bench by the water. Walk through the botanical garden if you have time. I usually do a loop around the lake — about an hour — and then find one of the swing benches and just sit for a while.
Worth knowing: it’s a newer park, so the trees are still growing in. Not much shade, so avoid going in the middle of the day when the sun is strong. If you want a view without the heat, the terrace café on the second floor of LG Arts Center sits right on the edge of the park and looks out over the whole thing. Try to get a seat there if you can.
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