I had takoyaki for the first time last summer in Japan. Takoyaki is one of Japan’s quintessential street foods. It even originated in Osaka. It’s a sphere-shaped hot snack of flour-based batter with various scraps, often including diced octopus (take), ginger, and green onions. I really like this snack with dark takoyaki sauce, mayonnaise, and shavings of dried bonito on top.

I did enjoy this food in Japan, but found that the balls were too big (meaning too hot!) for my mouth. Fortunately, you don’t have to travel to Japan for takoyaki. My boyfriend is a big fan of this street food in Korea, and I’m happy to say I like takoyaki more in Korea. The snack is smaller here, and much more pleasurable to eat.

There is a really good street vendor that serves them outside of Kyungsung University subway station exit 5. 

If you can make the trip, I would recommend eating at Gobgo Dolrigo (굽고돌리고) in Nampo-dong. It’s mesmerizing to watch the rows and rows of cast iron pans with half spherical molds… A real takoyaki maker will churn out those little balls like there’s no tomorrow!

How do you get there? Go out Nampo-dong subway station exit 1. Take a left.

You will be walking for a while, but you’ll see the place on your right.

The place is small, but nice. 

Lots of fun things on the menu, but I recommend just keeping it simple.

Oh, they’re so good! Sometimes I’ll make the trip there, and then wait 20-30 minutes for a fresh batch. Then, it’s super hard to wait for them to cool down before I eat them, so I burn my mouth trying to eat them. I would NOT recommend going there when you’re absolutely starving.