Long Read

10 Things About Incheon That'll Make You Spit Out Your Kimchi (Said the Hungry Chef)

@Nora Quinn2/7/2026blog

i washed up in *Incheon eight months ago chasing rumors of squid so fresh it fights back - what I found was way weirder. Let me shovel these facts at you like banchan plates while my buldak ramen cools.

chaotic incheon fish market


1.
Wolmi Traditional Market has a “breakup tofu soup” stall run by a grandma who’ll side-eye your ex’s life choices while you eat. According to r/KoreanFood, she’s 83 and terrifying.

2. Rent here’s 40% cheaper than Gangnam (studio = ₩400,000/$300 mo), which is why my “kitchen lab’s” technically a converted motel bathtub. The financial district smells like raw fish and ambition - overheard two salarymen arguing about
Songdo’s robot trash cans: “They’re judging me, hyung! The eyes follow!”

3. Two words:
Chinatown jajangmyeon blackouts. Real talk - that sauce hits harder than soju bombs. Paengmun Seafood (TripAdvisor) somehow stuffs blue crab into ice cream. Locals call it “seafood betrayal.”

4. The currents near
Muui-do Island flip ferries like pancakes. A fisherman told me: “Last Tuesday, my net pulled up a Rolex. Still ticking! But the eels ate the leather strap.”


5. 87% of Incheon’s air smells like salt, jet fuel, and abandonment issues (IYKYK). Freighters docked at the port blare K-pop battle anthems at 3 AM -
*ate this place got rhythm*.

6. Fair warning: The ‘
Airport Bagel Crisis’ is real. Overheard at G-Tower: “CEO-nim lost his marbles when Einstein’s ran out of everything but raisin flavor. They helicoptered in dough from Jeju!” Check Incheon Airport Eats before flying.

7. The job market’s
70% logistics, 30% chaos - found a gig teaching ajummas how to use air fryers. Best review? “Even my useless son-in-law could follow!”

red lanterns in incheon chinatown


8.
Freedom Park has monument plaques scribbled over with ‘BTS was here’ graffiti. Teens pilgrimage here for ‘hypebeast spiritual cleansing.’

9. Last Tuesday, a hanbok-clad grandmother totally hustled me at Go-Stop near
Jayu Park. Drunk advice from a soju tent: “Never gamble with halmeonis. They smell fear and stale gimbap.”

10.
Hyangwonjin Cafe (Hidden Gems List) serves ‘homesick noodles’ - instant ramen doctored with truffle oil & gold leaf. Only ₩15,000. Fight me.

The weather? Like god left a giant steamer basket open. Three hours by KTX to
Busan or 45 mins to Seoul* if you need civilization. Just… bring pepto.


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About the author: Nora Quinn

On a mission to simplify the complex stuff.

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