Busan Sikdang

Busan Sikdang is a long-time favorite of Insadong locals, and has a well-known history for having supported struggling artists back in the day by taking works of art as payment as well as providing meals on credit. But it’s not just their warm-heartedness; it’s also hard to find a restaurant with such refreshing and spicy pollock maeuntang (peppery fish soup) or Pacific cod maeuntang. The bracing, refreshing flavor of the soup also makes it an excellent companion to rice. It also makes an excellent companion to alcohol; it’s not uncommon for a customer to order the soup as a hangover cure, then feel inspired to drink again after tasting the soup. The restaurant is also famed for only serving freshly-cooked rice. They begin to cook the rice after receiving the order, so there’s a wait of about 20 minutes, and then five minutes more for the pollock maeuntang to finish cooking. But 20 minutes is no long wait for such fresh rice, cooked with such care!