Incheon Chinatown Jajangmyeon

Incheon opened as a treaty port in 1883 and a Chinese settlement grew beside it, mostly from Shandong. Jajangmyeon comes out of that community: wheat noodles under a sauce of fried chunjang - a Korean adaptation of Shandong sweet bean paste, darker and sweeter - with pork and diced onion, sold cheaply to dock workers and Korean labourers. It became one of the most eaten dishes in the country. The Jajangmyeon Museum occupies the former Gonghwachun, the restaurant generally credited with first selling it, and lays out the history of the Chinese community here alongside the dish. Chinatown around it is a few sloping streets of restaurants, bakeries selling gongalppang and mooncakes, and painted walls. It is small - an hour or two - and the food is Korean-Chinese rather than Chinese, which is the interesting part rather than a shortcoming.

What you'll find

• The Jajangmyeon Museum - in the restaurant credited with the dish.
• The Chinatown streets - restaurants, bakeries and painted walls.
• The Korean-Chinese kitchen - jajangmyeon, jjamppong, tangsuyuk.
• The treaty port context - the Shandong settlement it grew from.

When to go

Any time; lunch is the meal. Weekends are crowded and the well-known restaurants queue. The museum closes on Mondays.

What to expect

Chinatown is small and touristy, and most restaurants serve much the same menu. The food is Korean-Chinese, not what you would eat in China. An hour or two covers it.

Nearby

The Open Port district, Wolmido and Songwoldong fairytale village are close.