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Andong Jjimdak
The jjimdak (minimum two people) is laced with red chilli so it's hotter than August. Chicken without bones is around ₩2000 extra and Bokbunja (wildberry wine) costs around ₩15000 . Although the restaurant is spread over three floors, you may have to queue.
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Anjip
Sit on embroidered cushions in your own traditional-style private room and order siksa (budget-priced banquet) , which includes 20 dishes at a budget price. The bulgogi, spicy cockles and steamed egg are particularly goodand fruit and cinnamon tea finish the feast off nicely.
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Baekje Samgyetang
Famous for its brusque, brisk service and samgyetang (chicken and ginseng soup), which costs around ₩11000 and includes insamju (ginseng liqueur). The adventurous can try the more expensive ogolgyetang (black chicken cooked in ginseng), which also has medicinal qualities, or the dull can opt for roast chicken (around ₩9000 ). It's on the 2nd floor but has no English or hangeul (Korean phonetic alphabet) sign - look for the red Chinese characters.
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Baengnyeon Samgyetang
This well-known rough-and-ready restaurant only serves chicken and ginseng soup and in summer you will probably have to queue because locals think it's the best in the area.
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Beer Oak
Always popular and noisy, Beer Oak serves delicious barbecue chicken roasted on a spit over a wood fire along with cheap beer (around ₩2000 for a big glass). Order sogeumgui for a whole chicken on its own or modeumgui for a whole chicken cut up and served on a platter with pasta, pressed rice cakes, corn and raisins, covered in a sweet chilli sauce.
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Bonjuk
Big bowls of tasty and healthy rice porridge feature in this chain of small, neat restaurants - try ginseng and chicken, mushroom and oyster, seafood, sweet pumpkin, or red bean.
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Bsd Dubu House
Fourteen varieties of spicy sundubu are on offer in this neat and clean basement restaurant decorated with collectables, but the traditional beef one is hard to beat. Add a raw egg to the sundubu, and empty the rice into a bowl, adding boiling water from the kettle to the rice that's left behind to make burnt-rice tea. Side dishes include freshly fried fish and odeng (processed seafood cakes in broth).
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Chilgapsan
The specialty in this convivial restaurant is the excellent neobiani , a beef patty the size of a small pizza, which is meant for sharing and comes with a dressed green salad and crunchy side dishes. You could try pajeon (green onion pancake) with it or doenjang bibimbap - salad with rice and soybean paste sauce. The décor is rustic/artsy and you sit on the floor at a log table. It has no English signs - look for a white frontage covered with ivy.
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Chuncheonjip
This large and cheerful restaurant with music, a tiled floor and paper lanterns never closes. Try their hot and spicy fusion dakgalbi (pan-fried chicken) with cheese and sweet potatoes or noodles that are cooked at your table. You serve yourself side dishes from a buffet - a great idea that reduces waste.
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Dolkemaeul Tofu House
The star of the show is the excellent sundubu , uncurdled tofu, which is cooked in a stone pot, and served with hotpot rice, soup and six side dishes including grilled fish. Add egg to the sundubu , spoon the rice into the small ceramic bowls provided, and pour the hot water from the kettle into the rice hotpot to make scorched-rice tea.
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Familia Buffet
This restaurant in the plush and pukka Imperial Palace Hotel provides a superb buffet banquet. Some of the food is freshly cooked by a squad of cooks who work in the dining area and are dressed in ninja outfits.
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Gimbapgwamandusai
This simple and neat budget eatery specialises in gimbap, including nude gimbap, but also serves up big bowls of bibimbap as well as noodles, homemade dumplings and sujebi .
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Gio
The ladies in this shack serve up unique cheap food. There is no need to order as they only do two dishes that are both cooked at your table. First is a bowl of mushrooms and homemade noodles, which are the widest in Seoul. Remove some of the red pepper sauce if you want to make it less fiery and cook for 15 minutes. Next up is the pre-cooked rice, dried seaweed and herbs, which is mixed together in the same pot.
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Gogung
In the basement of Ssamziegil is this unusually smart and stylish restaurant, with live gayageum (12-stringed zither) and drum music (no microphones) on week nights. It specialises in Jeonju bibimbap , which is fresh and garnished with nuts, but contains raw minced beef. If that puts you off, choose the dolsot bibimbap (served in a stone hotpot). Side dishes include bean-sprout soup and a sesame and rice-cake gruel. Another Jeonju speciality is moju, a sweet and very thick cinnamon alcoholic drink. Also on the menu is an 11-dish royal banquet.
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Hoejeonchobap
Squeeze yourself into this tiny conveyor-belt sushi joint to enjoy Japanese-style raw fish items. It's expensive but this is downtown and not a student area.
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Hotteok Stalls
Two types of hotteok can be found at these stalls - a fat, flat one with a cinnamon and honey paste inside and a ball-shaped one with red-bean paste inside.
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Hwedra Ramyeon
This tiny, dark cell of an eatery serves up the hottest ramyeon in Seoul and the ajumma (a women who runs a hotel, restaurant or other business) in charge adds chillies with a large ladle. Said to cure even the worst hangover, you can take up this fear-factor challenge for just around ₩3000 .
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Hyangnamusegeuru
No English is spoken but if you dig pig then just say moksalsogeumgui! . This is pork barbecued at your table, wrapped in lettuce with sauces and side dishes; you can cut some of the fat off the pork with the scissors provided. It's a good deal, as is the doenjang jjigae (soy-bean paste stew). The restaurant is recently renovated and surrounded by trees.
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Insadong Sujebi
Famous for sujebi, big dough flakes in a potato, seaweed and seafood broth, this rustic barn also serves up naengkongguksu, chewy noodles in cold soya milk, a popular summer dish, and oyster pajeon . Kimchi lovers can enjoy helping themselves from a large pot.
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Itaewon Galbi
Up on the 2nd floor is this long-established and well-known eatery with helpful staff and traditional genre paintings on the wall. Grab a window seat and enjoy galbi , galbitang (beef ribs stew), mushroom bulgogi , bulgogi on a hotplate, or for something more exotic, try cow's tongue.
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Jilsiru Tteok Café
Pop in to enjoy small gourmet rice cakes with unusual flavours such as pear blossom or chocolate, unique rice cakes that look like cheesecakes, and even a rice cake sandwich. Five bite-sized tteok (rice cake) and tea costs around ₩5000 .
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Jilsiru Tteok Café
The gourmet rice cakes are small but lovingly made and delicious - try the apple flower and chocolate ones. Traditional teas are around ₩5000 . Upstairs from the smart café is a museum (admission around ₩3000 ; ; - Mon-Sat, - Sun) with displays of 50 types of rice cakes with all their different colours, flavourings, shapes and sizes and the utensils to make them.
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Jongno Bindaetteok
Don't let the scruffy décor put you off - the crispy seafood (haemul) and meat (gogi) (mung bean pancake) are both great, and made from freshly-ground mung beans.
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Juk 1001 Iyagi
The plain, unpretentious surroundings reflect the food. A large bowl of excellent chicken and ginseng rice porridge is served with four side dishes and is flavoured with plenty of varied ingredients. There are 19 other options packed with healthy, natural ingredients.
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Kijoam
Food fashions in Seoul come and go faster than the KTX train but the non-spicy Japanese noodles, cutlets and tempura sets at this chain restaurant never lose their appeal.
