Seoul 11.12 - Namdaemun ham hocks

It was just about time for lunch while John and I were browsing through Namdaemun Market. I had read about these delicious ham hocks in an old shop inside Namdaemun, so I had my mind set on having ham hocks for lunch!

The ham hock shop was located inside Namdaemun Market, off and near exit 5 of Hoehyeon Station.

When we got close to where the shop was supposed to be I realized there were two ham hock shops couple door away from each other.



Which was the one that I read about? I couldn't read Korean so I had no idea what I was looking at on the signs. Both of the shops looked fine to me.

So we ended up walking into the one that had more people in it. As I think back now I still can't remember which one we picked!

Anyhow, I don't think you could go wrong with either of these shops. It's ham hocks, baby!

We walked into the shop. It was busy, and we were seated by a small table by the door. A lady came by and started saying things. I replied in Korean that I couldn't understand Korean, so she started using both Japanese and Mandarin Chinese to talk to me. I replied in Mandarin, and it worked!

She asked what size ham hocks we wanted, and if we wanted anything else with it.

We figured we would order a small one so we would have room left to have other yummy food later on.

And then the soups and side dishes came.


The lettuce and sides were for wrapping up the ham hock pieces, or simply for eating on their own. I tried all of them and they were delicious.

And then the ham hock came. The lady told us she brought us the "smallest one."


Yes she said it was the "smallest one."


Oh my. These ham hocks and sides were yummy! The meat and skin were soft and chewy (or as us Taiwanese people say it, "QQ") and when wrapped in the lettuce with various kimchi and spicy miso (?) it was simply amazing.


John and I ate and it didn't seem to dent the pile of ham hock slices much. Remember how it was the "smallest one"? We would take the rest to go if we were heading back to the hotel right away, but since our next stop was Myeongdong, we left the slightly-dented-pile-of-slices-of-the-smallest ham hock where they were. We thank the ladies at the shop and told the lady that spoke Mandarin it was delicious. They were happy, too.

Oh boy. I think I'm craving some soft and QQ ham hocks right now!