Seomun Market and Night Market

Seomun was one of the three great markets of Joseon Korea and it still trades mainly in cloth: bolts of fabric, curtains, bedding and hanbok in blocks of near-identical shops. What brings visitors now is the night market, a line of food carts set up along the central lane after dark, several dozen of them, selling grilled skewers, dumplings, tteokbokki and things invented for the format. Daegu's own dishes sit around the edges, among them napjak mandu, the flat fried dumplings cut up and dressed in sauce, and makchang, grilled pork intestine the city treats as an ordinary staple. The market has burned and been rebuilt more than once, which is why the halls look modern.

What you actually see

• The night market carts - dozens of stalls down the central lane after dark.
• Napjak mandu - Daegu's flat fried dumplings, cut and dressed in sauce.
• The fabric blocks - whole floors of cloth, curtains and hanbok.
• Makchang - grilled pork intestine, a Daegu habit more than a visitor dish.

When to go

The daytime market runs from mid-morning and the fabric shops shut by early evening. The night market sets up after dark and is most reliable from Friday to Sunday, when every stall opens. Summer evenings are the busiest, and Daegu is the hottest city in the country, so later is better than earlier.

Honest expectations

The night market is street food of the modern kind, more novelty skewers and melted cheese than regional cooking, and queues build at whichever stall is currently circulating online. Seating is a handful of shared benches, so most people eat standing up. The daytime market is a wholesale textile district with little in it for a casual visitor.

Nearby

Daegu's Yangnyeongsi herbal medicine market and the Dongseongno shopping streets are a short walk northeast.