Where to Eat in Gangneung
Seawater tofu, the city’s own noodle, raw fish and coffee by the sea
Gangneung’s own meal is Chodang sundubu, soft tofu set with seawater and eaten at breakfast in the village where it is made. Its own noodle is jang kalguksu, and its claim to fame is coffee, drunk facing the East Sea. Start at Chodang in the morning, and plan around one thing: the tofu, the market and the coffee are in three different parts of the city.
Our guide to Gangneung covers what to see, and our guide to where to stay in Gangneung compares the areas you might sleep in.
How this page was madeWe have not yet been to South Korea, and this guide is researched rather than eaten. It draws on the city’s tourism sites and the national tourism data for the markets and the tofu village; on Korean news for this year’s festivals; on about a dozen food guides, read on the date below; and on the one business’s own website. Prices come from one recent guide, and we say so. When we go, we will say so here.
Last updated 12 October 2026
First, how Gangneung eats
Gangneung sits where the Taebaek mountains meet the East Sea, and it eats from both. From the mountains come the potatoes and buckwheat of Gangwon, in dumplings and cold noodles. From the sea come squid, pollack and the morning’s fish, eaten raw in iced broth or stuffed and sliced. And from the sea comes something less obvious: the salt water that sets Chodang’s tofu, which is why the village makes it by the shore.
The village is named after a sixteenth-century official, Heo Yeop, whose pen name was Chodang, and local tradition credits him with its tofu. His children were born here: Heo Nanseolheon, one of the few women poets of the Joseon dynasty whose work survives, and Heo Gyun, the author of Hong Gil-dong, the story of a Korean Robin Hood. Their memorial park stands among the tofu houses. The coffee is new by comparison, and it began, the guides say, with vending machines of instant coffee on Anmok beach in the 1980s.
Gangneung and coffee
The story the city tells starts with vending machines. In the 1980s the strip behind Anmok beach was lined with machines selling instant coffee to people come to look at the sea; by the 2000s, the guides say, the first of Korea’s own specialty roasters had come to the coast, and in 2009 the city named the strip Coffee Street and held the first coffee festival. One of those first-generation baristas, Park Yi-chu, opened his first café in Seoul in 1988 and moved his roastery near Gangneung in 2004; in 2022 the government named it a “century shop”, under its scheme for long-standing small businesses. We could not check his café’s hours through a channel of its own, so we do not list it as a place to go.
The 18th Gangneung Coffee Festival runs on Coffee Street and around it from 21 to 25 October 2026. Expect crowds, and expect the coast bus to skip Anmok while it is on.
Go to Chodang early, while the pines are still cold and the car park is empty. Behind the doors the morning’s tofu is already made; notice whether the air smells of boiled beans. Sit down, and the tofu comes white in a bowl, still warm. Press the spoon in and watch how it gives and does not quite hold its shape. Taste it before you add anything. See whether, under the sweetness of the beans, you can taste a trace of salt from the sea that set it, a short walk away through the trees. Eat slowly. How much of what you eat do you ever taste on its own, before you have added yourself to it?
What to eat in Gangneung
Eight things to look for. Most belong to the city or to Gangwon; the cards say where to find them.
Soft tofu set with seawater from the East Sea instead of a bought coagulant, the village’s own way. Eaten white and almost plain, with soy sauce and side dishes, often at breakfast. Find it in Chodang.
The same soft tofu in a hot red broth with seafood, named after the Korean-Chinese noodle soup. The newer, louder version, and the one with the queues. Also in Chodang.
Knife-cut noodles in a thick, hot broth of chilli and soybean paste: the city’s own noodle, with a festival of its own on Wolhwa Street. Look in the lanes round Jungang Market.
Dumplings of grated potato in a plain broth, from the potato country of Gangwon. Soft, chewy and filling, and one of the cheapest meals in town. Found in the city centre.
Cold buckwheat noodles, with a chilled broth or a spicy sauce: the mountains’ noodle, eaten year round but best in summer. In the market and around the tofu village.
Raw fish in an iced, spicy broth, slurped with noodles or rice: a summer meal of the fishing ports. Look for it at Anmok’s little port and at Jumunjin.
Squid stuffed with rice, noodles and vegetables, steamed, sliced and often pan-fried in egg. An east-coast dish of the squid ports, sold in Jungang Market.
Beans roasted locally and brewed by hand, cup by cup. Gangneung claims a large part in the start of Korea’s specialty coffee; drink it looking at the sea, at Anmok.
Where to eat: the most useful neighbourhoods
Four places, from the centre out. The market and the noodle houses are on foot from the station; the tofu village and Coffee Street are on the coast; Jumunjin is a ride north.
| Area | Best for | Best time | Main catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| City centre | Noodles, the market | Lunch; summer weekend nights | Stall hours vary |
| Gyeongpo | Chodang’s tofu | Breakfast | Queues and coaches by midday |
| Anmok | Coffee, mulhoe | Morning or sunset | Seafront prices; busy at weekends |
| Jumunjin | Fish from the boats | Late morning | A ride north; priced by weight |
The city centre is inland, around the station. Gyeongpo’s tofu village is about four kilometres north-east, behind the beach, and Anmok is the stretch of coast just south of it; bus 202 links the station with Chodang, and the SEA TEA coast bus links Anmok, Gyeongpo and Jumunjin, about sixteen kilometres north.
City centre — the market and the noodle houses
₩7,000–15,000The city centre is where Gangneung eats day to day. Jungang Market, opened in 1980 and now more than three hundred stalls, is its heart, with Seongnam Market beside it, and the lanes around them hold the noodle and potato-dumpling houses. Wolhwa Street, the walk built along the old railway line, runs past, and on summer weekends it becomes a night market. This is the cheapest eating in the city and the best place to try its own noodle.
Eat here for: jang kalguksu, a bowl of potato dumplings, stuffed squid from the market, and the night market in summer.
Gyeongpo — the tofu houses of Chodang
₩9,000–12,000Behind the beaches of Gyeongpo and Gangmun, among old pines, the village of Chodang is a lane of tofu houses. They make soft tofu each morning, setting the soybean milk with seawater, and serve it as a simple set: the white tofu in a bowl, rice and side dishes. Some open as early as seven. The newer jjamppong sundubu, in a red seafood broth, draws the queues. Come for breakfast, before the coaches, and walk it off by the lake.
Eat here for: Chodang sundubu at breakfast, jjamppong sundubu at lunch, and a tofu dessert after.
Anmok — Coffee Street, and the roasteries behind it
₩5,000–18,000Anmok is the short beach at the river mouth, and its front is Coffee Street: more than thirty cafés along the sand, by the city’s count, built tall so that every table faces the sea. Coffee here costs a little more than in town, and you are paying for the view. The small port at the end of the beach has raw-fish restaurants, where mulhoe is the summer order. Gangneung’s best-known roastery is not on the beach at all, but in the country south of the city.
Eat here for: a hand-drip coffee facing the sea, mulhoe at the port, and a drive inland to the roastery.
Jumunjin — the harbour and its fish market
no dated priceJumunjin is the fishing port about sixteen kilometres north of the city, and it is the place to eat fish that was in the sea that morning. At the harbour market you choose from the stalls, raw fish, crab and shellfish, and have it cut or cooked on the spot. It is a half-day out rather than a dinner, and the SEA TEA coast bus ends here. Prices are by weight and by the day’s catch, so ask before anything is cut.
Eat here for: raw fish chosen at the stall, seafood cooked on the spot, and salted seafood to take home.
How much does it cost to eat in Gangneung?
Gangneung is cheap to eat in, as long as you eat what it is known for. A tofu breakfast or a bowl of potato dumplings costs about twice a coffee on the beach, and only the seafood climbs much higher.
| Meal | Typical spend | What that buys |
|---|---|---|
| Coffee on the seafront | ₩5,000–6,000 | An americano facing the sea; about ₩4,500 in town |
| Market lunch | ₩7,000–9,000 | A meal at the stalls of Jungang Market |
| Gamja ongsimi | ₩8,000–10,000 | A bowl of potato dumplings |
| Chodang sundubu | ₩9,000–12,000 | The tofu set, with rice and side dishes |
| Hand-drip coffee | ₩7,000–9,000 | A single-origin cup at the roastery |
| Ojingeo sundae | ₩12,000–15,000 | A plate of stuffed squid |
| Mulhoe | ₩13,000–18,000 | A bowl of raw fish in iced broth |
Prices are in South Korean won, per person, from one guide published in March 2026 and updated in April (Korea Insider), read on 12 October 2026. We found no second recent source for most of them, so treat them as a guide to the order of things rather than to the won. We found no dated price for jang kalguksu. There is no official schedule of meal prices. There is no tipping. Our guide to the cost of visiting South Korea covers a whole trip.
Does Gangneung have street food?
Yes, in the markets and, on summer weekends, on Wolhwa Street. Jungang Market’s stalls sell stuffed squid, fried snacks and potato pancakes to eat standing up, and one food writer this summer found squid sundae pressed on a griddle until crisp. From May to October, on Fridays and Saturdays from 6 to 11 pm, Wolhwa Street holds a night market of stalls: skewers, steak, potato waffles, shrimp tacos and pork trotters, Seoul Shinmun reported in May 2026. Last year it closed when it rained.
October is the city’s food month. In 2026 a bread festival was held at the Ojuk hanok village from 9 to 11 October, and there is a noodle festival on Wolhwa Street from 15 to 18 October, a day of the tofu village’s food on 17 October, and the coffee festival to finish. Danoje, the old festival by the river, follows the lunar calendar, so check its dates for the year you travel.
Building food into one day
This day works best on a Friday or Saturday between May and October, when the night market is on, and it needs only buses and a taxi. Avoid Wednesday, when the tofu houses we looked up close.
Breakfast — Chodang
Take bus 202 or a taxi to the tofu village, and be there by eight. Order the plain white set first; come back another day for the red one.
Mid-morning — Gyeongpo Lake, then the coast
Walk off breakfast round the lake and past the memorial park, then take a bus or a short taxi south to Anmok.
Late morning — coffee at Anmok
Climb to an upper floor on Coffee Street and drink a hand-drip coffee facing the sea. If the port’s raw-fish restaurants are open, note one for another day.
Lunch — Jungang Market
Back in the centre, eat at the market’s stalls: stuffed squid, fried snacks, and a bowl of potato dumplings in one of the lanes nearby.
Afternoon — Terarosa
Take a taxi into the country for a cup at the roastery, open every day. Allow a couple of hours there and back.
Evening — jang kalguksu and Wolhwa Street
Eat the city’s noodle in the lanes around the market, then walk Wolhwa Street for the night market’s stalls.
Out of season, keep the day and end it at the market’s noodle houses instead of the night market.
Practical advice for eating in Gangneung
The tofu houses we looked up in Chodang close on Wednesdays. The Jumunjin market closes on the first Wednesday of the month. The night market runs only on Fridays and Saturdays, May to October, and not in the rain.
Raw fish: ask first
At the harbour markets fish is sold by weight and by the day’s catch. Agree the price, and the charge for cutting or cooking, before anything is prepared.
If you do not eat meat or fish
Gangneung is easier than most of the coast. The plain Chodang tofu set is the place to start, and potato dumplings and buckwheat noodles can be meatless; but broths and side dishes often contain fish or meat, so ask. Our guide to what to eat in Korea gives the phrases.
Paying
Cards are widely taken in Korea, but carry some cash for market stalls and the night market. There is no tipping.
A final word on eating in Gangneung
Eat tofu in Chodang in the morning and noodles in the centre at night. Drink your coffee facing the sea, and go north to Jumunjin once for fish that came in that day. It is a cheap city to eat well in, if you eat what it makes.
Andrew + Margaret
- Gangneung Overview
- Where to stay in Gangneung Decide
- What to eat in Korea Culture
- Korean etiquette Culture
- South Korea itineraries Journeys
- Visit Gangneung, the city’s tourism site Official
- Terarosa Official
- Gangneung bus information Official