Dongmun Market Jeju – a traditional market on Jeju Island

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Jeju Island is famous for its beautiful beaches and volcanic landscapes but Dongmun Market should also join the list.

Dongmun Market on Jeju Island (also known as Jeju Dongmun Traditional Market) is a foodie heaven, with incredible traditional dishes and South Korean street food to enjoy.

One of the best spots on Jeju Island to try famous Jeju food and fruit like black pork or hallabong tangerines, Jeju Dongmun Market is both a traditional wet market selling fresh fish and meat, plus souvenirs, street food and Jeju fruits.

Dongmun Market on Jeju Island is renowned for all its street food vendors that cook their oh so hot dishes with blow torches – flaming fantastic. It is also the largest and oldest permanent market on the whole of Jeju Island.

From opening times to what types of food you can eat, here is our ultimate guide to visit the Dongmun Market Jeju:

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Table of Contents

How to get to Dongmun Market Jeju

Dongmun Market is within walking distance of many of the tourist hotels in Jeju’s New Town District – alternatively, Dongmun Rotary bus station is just across from Dongmun Market.

Note there are is no train or Subway on Jeju Island so the only way to get to Dongmun Market is by bus or taxi (if not walking) – be sure to use the Naver app when looking for directions in South Korea.

Taxis for small distances on Jeju Island are relatively inexpensive (expect to pay 10,000 Won for a 15 minute journey) but larger distances between coasts can be costly.

Parking is also available at Dongmun Market if you want to drive there.

Yeha Tours offer to drop off travellers at Dongmun market at the end of their Eastern Jeju Island tours.

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Dongmun Traditional Market Jeju opening times

Dongmun Market opens early every day from around 8am every day until approximately 11pm. However, many of the street food stalls are part of the night market at Dongmun Jeju so these don’t start to open until around 5pm.

During the day, Dongmun Traditional Market mainly sells traditional goods plus fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and fish. As such, if you want to try lots of street food at the market, we’d recommend visiting Dongmun Market Jeju between 5pm and 10pm.

street food Dongmun Market Jeju Island South Korea

pancakes Dongmun Market Jeju Island South Korea

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Dongmun Market Jeju History

Dongmun Market Jeju is the largest and oldest traditional market on the island, having begun in 1945.

It is said the market began when a series of street traders set up to sell items to serving members of the National Defence Guard in the mid 1940s.

Alas, tragedy struck in 1954 when the market burnt down and so it was relocated to the current site keeping the same name. The market also underwent a huge modernisation programme in the early 2000s.

Popular with locals and tourists, Dongmun Market has served many generations of Jeju Island citizens and is still bustling to this day.

Based on our own experience, several Jeju Island tours also offer to drop off travellers at the market at the end of their day trips – so definitely take up this opportunity to visit Dongmun Market Jeju after a day of island sightseeing if you are offered it.

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Snacks and Foods at Dongmun Market Jeju

There is a lot of Jeju Island food to try at Dongmun Market – perhaps the busiest and best place to try at Dongmun is the street food sellers area towards the rear of the market.

Always hustling and bustling with big lines of hungry visitors, this area of Dongmun Market Jeju is where you’ll see lots of blow-torch action – feel the burning heat of the blow torches as you walk on by and smell the sizzling meats – nom!

Some of the food you can buy and eat at Dongmun Market Jeju Island includes:

Jeju Island Black Pork

Jeju Island’s most famous food, Jeju’s Black Pork dishes can be found at many stalls here (usually flamed grilled).

Jeju Island black pork is said to have a flavourful and unique taste although the pork itself isn’t black in colour; it refers to the black hair of the Jeju Island pigs that is bred to produce this dish.

Korean style blow-torched scotch egg

This is the Dongmun Market dish we tried first – essentially a boiled egg wrapped in Jeju black pork then covered in bacon and flame torched! We had ours with a garlic sauce.

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Jeonbuk Ttukbaegi

A seafood hot pot served up with abalone; bubbling hot when given to you, you may need to wait a moment for your Jeonbuk Ttukbaegi to cool down before slurping it.

Jeju Island fresh tangerine / orange juice

Lots of stalls sell fresh hallabong tangerine juice, often in clear plastic bottles shaped like the famous Dol hareubang statues – expect to pay between 3,000 to 5,000 Won per bottle.

When the K-Pop band Blackpink visited Jeju, they tried green tangerine juice at the market.

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Dweji Bulbaek

We tried this dish as part of the Yeha Jeju Island east tour and it was delicious.

Dweji Bulbaek is widely available at Dongmun Market and is grilled pork (usually Jeju Black Pork) served with grilled vegetables and spices and then wrapped up in a lettuce leaf.

The most popular Dweji Bulbaek restaurant at Dongmun Market is Ohyeon Bulbaek.

Abalone gimbap

Everyone knows gimbap / kimbap, a nice rice and meat / veg dish that is tightly wrapped in seaweed. Jeju Island has its own take – abalone gimbap (so a sea snail roll with rice and seaweed).

Hanayaki

We saw several stalls at Dongmun Market selling hanayaki, which is like a mini okonomyaki on a stick, often with various toppings like pork or fried egg.

Solbre salt bread and ice-cream

Literally loads of people were eating this decadent dessert dish at Dongmun Market. Solbre is bakery and dessert shop that specialises in a hollowed out salt bread filled with ice-cream – very popular with kids too!

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Fruit Hard Candy (Ddalgi Satang)

Whilst certainly not unique to Jeju or even South Korea, this is super popular sweet treat in Dongmun Market Jeju.

Ddalgi satang are pieces of fruit such as grapes and strawberries which have been glazed with a sugar coating and skewered on a stick like a kebab. They are sweet and crunchy on the outside and soft and fruity in the inside.

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Jeju Island Handsome Youngmen Lobster Stall

No, you haven’t read that wrong (and we aren’t that type of site!) – Jeju Island’s latest food attraction and street food story is Dongmun Market’s Handsome Youngmen stall, which specialises in blow torch lobster.

handsome youngmen lobster blowtorch Dongmun Market Jeju Island South Korea

Already amassing over 35k followers on Instagram, the Handsome Youngmen turn up the heat nightly at Dongmun Market, dancing to techno music and delivering smoking hot lobster (literally with a blow torch).

The Handsome Youngmen and their lovely lobster stall are easy to find – just look for the longest queue at the rear of Dongmun Market (or listen for the sound of K-Techno music).

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Jeju Dongmun Fish Market / Wet Market

As well as cooked street food that is popular with visitors and tourists, Dongmun Market Jeju also has a whole alley dedicated to fresh fish and a huge array of fishmonger stalls – no surprise really given that Jeju is an island and has some of the best known fish dishes in South Korea.

You can walk along Dongmun Market fish section and watch as locals pick fresh Jeju fish from small aquariums either to take home or have them cooked at the market.

One of the most common types of fish to buy at Dongmun Market is the silver cutlass fish. Braised cutlassfish is a very popular Jeju Island fish dish (known as Galchi jorim) – the fish is braised and served with rice and spices, a combination of both spicy and sweet.

Another fish dish is abalone – Jeju is world famous for its freshly caught abalone, which are huge sea snails.

The price of abalone can be quite high on Jeju Island as it classed as a premium seafood. Here abalone can be grilled and eaten by itself or as part of a porridge, hot pot or shabu shabu.

Note that as this is a wet market, there are some sights that aren’t so pleasant like live jeju Island octopuses being chopped up and eaten whilst the tentacles are still squirming – so if you are squeamish or don’t want to see this, it is best to avoid the fresh fish section.

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What other products can you buy at Dongmun Market

Dongmun Market isn’t just about street food, traditional dishes and fresh fruit, veg and fish – there are lots of non-food stalls here like souvenir shops, convenience stores (and even a branch of Daiso South Korea on the outer edges).

souvenir Dongmun Market Jeju Island South Korea

There are lots of very cute souvenir stalls at Dongmun Market Jeju selling everything fridge magnets to cuddly tours.

Some of the most popular souvenirs at Dongmun Market Jeju include:

Dol Hareubang

Dotted all over Jeju Island literally everywhere (from hotel receptions to food courts), phallic looking rock statues with faces called Dol hareubang have become the symbol / mascot of Jeju Island.

On Jeju island, there are lots of opportunities to pose with these Jeju Island statues. At Dongmun Market, there are plenty of Dol hareubang merchandise items to buy including plushies, magnets and keyrings.

Smaller statues are often bought as souvenirs (and fertility gifts).

Dol Hareubang Dongmun Market Jeju Island South Korea

Hallabong tangerine souvenirs

Yes, even Jeju Island’s beloved tangerines (hallabong) have been turned into a variety of souvenirs available from lots of stalls at Dongmun.

Jeju Island tangerines are available as cute cuddly toys, cartoon characters on postcards as well as the real thing.

Many tourists visiting Jeju Island take back packed boxes of tangerines / satsumas as gifts and these are available to purchase at the market.

Hallabong tangerine souvenirs Dongmun Market Jeju Island South Korea

Jeju Haenyeo women divers souvenirs

As well as cute Dol Hareubang and orange gifts, the beloved Jeju Haenyeo Women divers make many an appearance at the market in the form of cute toys, keyrings, magnets and much more more.

If you didn’t know already, Jeju’s Haenyeo Divers are older local women (many of whom are in their 70s and 80s) who dive to the ocean floor to collect seafood and pop their catch into bright orange floats.

And yes, if you are feeling thirsty or just want a simple snack after all that street food, there is even a tiny branch of 7-Eleven South Korea tucked away at the back of the market.

7 eleven Dongmun Market Jeju Island South Korea

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Food Courts

In addition to the Dongmun Market street food carts and their hot as blow torches, there are also several sit down restaurants and food courts dotted around the edges of the market.

As there is no seating by the street food cart area, this is a great option if you want to sit down to eat some traditional Jeju Island dishes.

One of the most popular food stalls with seating is the fish cake / oden bar at the rear of the market.

Here you can eat various hot plates for very little money. It is also famous as Blackpink, the famous K-Pop music band ate here.

During Blackpink’s visit to Dongmun Market in 2018, they ate fish cakes, tteokbokki rice cakes and dol hareubang shaped bread.

The store now has pictures of Blackpink’s Dongmun Market eating expedition all over the exterior! We wonder if they also enjoyed ‘Ice Cream’?!

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Dongmun Traditional Market Address

Dongmun Market, 20, Gwandeok-ro 14-gil, Jeju-do, Jeju-si, 특별자치도, 동문시장, South Korea

Dongmun Market Jeju – a traditional market on Jeju Island

How to get to Dongmun Market Jeju

Dongmun Traditional Market Jeju opening times

Dongmun Market Jeju History