Seoul Dongdaemun Dakhanmari Alley

Dongdaemun, lined with buildings packed with clothing malls, is now an area that can be called Asia's largest clothing district. Behind its current appearance were the Dongdaemun Fabric Market, Pyeonghwa Market, and the market people who settled nearby. About 30 years ago, the place that soothed their hunger and warmed their hearts was what is now Dakhanmari Alley. Exit subway Line 4 Dongdaemun Station exits 8 and 9, go straight, then turn left around the Industrial Bank of Korea building onto a one-way street. On the right side of that street, delivery motorcycles carrying goods to and from Dongdaemun General Market and nearby markets are lined up. About halfway down that street on the right, you'll see a Chinese restaurant called Deokseonggak; enter that alley, and you'll find the dakhanmari restaurants. These alley dakhanmari restaurants have been in their spots for as little as 5 years to as long as over 30 years. However, tracing back to the days when chicken kalguksu was sold from private homes before the current restaurants, the history of this alley's dakhanmari restaurants goes back much further than 30 years. According to the story of a restaurant owner who took over a grandmother's chicken kalguksu business 28 years ago and has been selling dakhanmari ever since, the grandmother did not cook the current style of dakhanmari but boiled kalguksu with chicken. She received guests on the wooden floor and in the rooms of a tiled-roof hanok house. The current owner took over that house as is, built a hall where the yard used to be, and set up tables. Among the remaining restaurants, the oldest is 'Jinokhwa Dakhanmari'. However, that restaurant had a fire and was rebuilt in February 2009. This restaurant also originally sold chicken kalguksu, not the current dakhanmari style. So, the origin of Dongdaemun Dakhanmari Alley's dish is chicken kalguksu. Even now, the word 'chicken kalguksu' remains on the signs, entrances, and glass windows of the alley's restaurants. Also, the fact that kalguksu noodles remain as a side dish to eat with dakhanmari is evidence of this. In a way, it's a dish where the main and side have been reversed: from kalguksu with chicken, it became a chicken dish boiled in broth with kalguksu as a subsidiary ingredient. The dakhanmari dish is almost the same at each restaurant. What differs are the taste of the dipping sauce for the chicken, the broth, and the optional side ingredients. So, each restaurant in this alley only half-reveals the recipe for its sauce and broth. The rest is a secret. The main ingredient of the sauce, gochugaru (red pepper powder), must be good. It should not just be spicy but also have a rich flavor and umami. Also, the ingredients in the broth, such as prickly ash and ginseng, vary by restaurant. A large pot is filled with broth, and a whole chicken is boiled in it. The chicken is lightly boiled before serving, but it's better to let it boil thoroughly on the portable gas stove on the table. This is because the flavors of side ingredients like potatoes, rice cakes, ginseng, jujubes, and mushrooms need to meld together to create a single taste. After boiling, you eat the meat and side ingredients, then add kalguksu noodles to the remaining broth and boil them to finish the dakhanmari feast. Even now, more than half of this alley's regulars are people from the markets around Dongdaemun. Word has spread to Japan, so quite a few Japanese travelers visit as well. Also, young couples who love food alleys get information online and come to this alley. In their tastes, the dakhanmari dish from 30 years ago is being reborn.