Paying for Food with Traditional Coins, Tongin Market

Went to Seoul over the weekend to meet up with Sophia and her mum for a meal and some walking/phototaking. Had a wonderful time checking out a place in Seoul that I would otherwise have not known if not for Sophia. Funny how I'm the one living in Korea, but whenever she comes here, she's the one bringing me to places which I wouldn't have known existed.

Tongin Market

Tongin Market (통인시장) is a place where it used to be an old market, then got refurbished a little bit and turned into a tourist attraction. The place is a long street with shops on both sides that you can purchase from, much like any other ordinary wet market that you might see in your own countries or even in the many parts of Seoul. However, the extraordinary touch to this place is that they have a lunchbox (도시락) system where you buy food with old Korean coins (동전), but do note these coins are specifically made for this tourist attraction and isn't any way a real old coin of Korea.

Getting to Tongin Market

To get to Tongin Market, you need to take the subway to Gyeongbokgung Station (Subway Line 3), come out at exit 2 and walk straight for around 700m/15 minutes. On your left, you will see a dark market street and hopefully the sign below to let you know that you've arrived.

     

How to Use the Lunchbox System

The lunchbox costs a total of 5,000W and comes with 10 coins in a bundle with a black lunchbox (pictures below) and then you use these coins to purchase food from stalls that have a pink/blue sign that says [도시락 Cafe]. The sign is not big, but a small one usually placed near or amidst their choices of food for easy vision so do not worry.

5,000W for 10 coins, essentially 500W per coin

Black lunch box

Lunchbox cafe!

Where to Purchase the Lunchbox

The place where you can buy these coins and lunchboxes are located on the 2nd floor. Firstly, you need to go into the middle of the market where you will see stairs on your right (next to the toilets). It is indeed a little confusing because some Koreans ended up asking me where it's at. Once you go up to the 2nd floor, the office where you purchase this from is located at the corner on the right, next to the place where the ladies are serving rice. Once you've made your purchase you can begin your journey walking around and getting food for your lunchbox!

Types of Food Available

There is a wide variety of food that you can get, ranging from side dishes to main dishes, some examples being korean glass noodles (잡채), korean pancakes (파전), fishcakes (어묵), fried food (튀김), sweet and sour chicken (닭강정), egg rolls (계란), pork cutlet (돈까스) etc. Take some time to walk around and find out.

Each dish costs between 1-2 coins, some even going to 3, so it's roughly 500W-1000W each, just taking into account that each coin costs 500W. It isn't that expensive if you think about it, and usually you'll have leftover coins. Even I, a big eater, used up only 8 coins and couldn't finish my meal. There're also drinks available but I was fine with water.

     

     

Dining

Once you're done picking out your food, you go back to that place where you bought your coins, however this time you can go to the 3rd floor (or 2nd if there's space to sit) and you can go get water (that's free) or even get a bowl of rice (at the cost of 1,000W) and it's not just normal rice, they served black rice (healthier version) so I guess it's good. Utensils are also available at the 2nd floor. Now the thing about this place is that sometimes the food gets cold fast because you walk around too long, or sometimes the food has just been left at the stalls too long....

But worry not, because there's a MICROWAVE!!! (At the 2nd floor)

After you're all settled, it's time to dig in! (Yum yum)

This place is pretty popular with kids (and I say that because they're in uniform, means under 18) and it's really really packed, even when we went there at 2pm (way past lunchtime if you ask me) and we had trouble getting seats too. However, I think if you go at other timings, the food may not be as fresh so it's kinda worth squeezing in with the Koreans and listening to them talk I guess.

Clean Up After Yourself!

Something else to note: you're required to clean up after yourself (as per all places in Korea) so please bring down your lunchbox together with your utensils and place them in their respective bins. Even though the words are in Korean, there're pictures available so please help them help you!