For muslim travellers, Itaewon is known to be the ultimate halal hub. From the food to the mosque. However, in this post I will introduce you hidden halal friendly Korean restaurants all around Seoul.
1. Gosame, Sinchon
First up, we have Gosame. It is a popular fish mackerel restaurant, a hidden gem tucked in the streets of Sinchon.
I came across a blog that say that they are upset having pork served to them, but that’s because you ordered it. When you order the right menu, and you are confident with it, Insyallah it is safe to consume.
Here’s what you can order there.
My friends and I always get the stir fried spicy squid, grilled mackerel, bean paste stew and rice.
Their stif fried spicy squid is so so good!
2. Yangpang chicken at Ehwa Womans University
Here’s where you can get the taste of authentic Korean fried chicken.
Here’s what you can order there.
Only their boneless chicken is halal. How do I know that? The restaurant owner showed to me and my friends himself that the boneless chicken is from a halal origin.
In the menu, you will see their boneless chicken section. This is where you can order from.
Taking the photo above as an example, we always order their fried chicken, spicy chicken and soy sauce chicken. Sometimes we add in rice too if we feel like it.
Friendly restaurant owners
If you’re obviously dressed as a muslim or if you mention to the restaurant owners that you’re muslim and you’re there for their halal chicken, they will show you exactly what you can order from their menu.
The restaurant owners are a couple of husband and wife in their 50s or so. I remember once during ramadhan, when we had our breaking fast there. They let us pray maghrib there at the store. They are friendly and great people!
3. Halal Kitchen
Third one on the list, we have Halal Kitchen. A muslim Korean owned business.
As stated in the screenshot above, it is a 3 minute walk from Bukchon Hanok Village.
Their food
They serve all kinds of authentic halal Korean food. For example, Bulgogi with rice, Japchae, stir fried chicken with rice and many more.
4. Eid at Itaewon
Fourth on the list we have a Korean muslim owned restaurant called Eid. It is located in Itaewon. Of course there are so many other halal restaurants in Itaewon but just in case you havenโt heard of Eid, Iโm putting this in the list.
It serves authentic halal Korean food.
Their food
They have food ranging from bulgogi, samgyetang chicken, kimchi jjigae and others.
My personal favourite is their bulgogi meal set!
5. Kampungku at Myeongdong
This little gem is no stranger to Malaysians. They serve Malaysian cuisines and Korean cuisines too!
From fried rice, tomyam, pizzas to korean cuisines.
Overall, finding muslim friendly food in Korea, is not as hard as you think. So donโt worry about starving because there is always something safe for us to consume!
Let me just put a disclaimer that most of the restaurants here approved by muslim students studying there to be safe to consume. When you’re overseas away from the comfort of your home country, especially a student studying there or someone who works there, you can’t expect most stores to have an official halal certified outside of Itaewon. You take care of your food at all costs, but you cannot expect countries that are not muslim majorities to have halal certified everywhere.
Read more: Halal Korean restaurants
