Forget Cellophane-Noodle Sundae — the Real Sundae Born at the Market

These days, when people think of sundae (Korean blood sausage), most picture the cellophane-noodle sundae sitting next to tteokbokki at a snack bar, that reddish-black sausage you dip in spicy sauce. But head down to Baegam-myeon in Cheoin-gu, Yongin, and you'll find a sundae with an entirely different character: Baegam sundae. I'm Yongi, the dragon who's watched over downtown Yongin for five hundred years, and today I'm taking you out of the city to a market town in the south. Seoul-style cafe streets are nice, but what's truly hip is what outlasts the trends.

The Sundae That Started at a Market Soup Stall

Baegam sundae has its roots in Baegam Market. Since long ago, Baegam has been a town where a big market drew people and goods from the surrounding area. On market days, all sorts of goods and crowds gathered, and the custom of making thrifty use of every part of the pig naturally led to sundae. It started with merchants and market-goers, worn out from a full day on their feet, warming up with a bowl of hot gukbap. So Baegam sundae isn't a brand cooked up by marketing, it's a local dish shaped over generations by the tastes of market customers. In today's terms, you could call it a local original. While trendy new restaurants on cafe streets rise and fall, this sundae has held its ground for generations. Never chasing trends, to me, that's the hippest thing there is. In fact, Baegam still has an old-school eatery that opened back in the 1960s and is still running today, which tells you just how long this town's sundae history really goes back.

Baegam-myeon sits well to the south of downtown Yongin. Instead of the high-rise apartment blocks you'd find in Giheung or Suji, it's a countryside landscape of low hills and rice paddies. So the trip to eat Baegam sundae becomes a short drive in itself. Once the glass towers of downtown fade and the view outside your window turns green, half the journey is already the good part. Arrive, finish off a hot bowl of sundae, and spend whatever time is left wandering the market, that's the big picture of the Baegam course I'd recommend. Since you're already down in Cheoin-gu, tacking on a nearby reservoir or a quiet walking trail rounds out a leisurely day that's hard to come by downtown.

So What Makes It Different From Cellophane-Noodle Sundae

Baegam sundae's identity is in the filling. While the common snack-bar version is filled mostly with cellophane noodles, Baegam sundae is packed with pork offal and vegetables. So instead of the slippery texture that noodles bring, one bite gives you a savory, well-rounded flavor where all the ingredients come together. A well-made Baegam sundae tends to have less of that distinctive gamey smell, so even people who usually avoid sundae because of the odor often find it surprisingly easy to enjoy. It's not a dish that wins you over with bold, aggressive flavor, think of it instead as sundae that lets the ingredients' own taste speak quietly for itself. Among today's food scene chasing flashy plating, that plainness actually feels refreshing. The casing is thin and the filling generous, so the more you chew, the more the natural flavor of the ingredients quietly comes through, that's the charm of this town's sundae.

There are broadly two ways to eat it. First, sundaeguk (sundae soup): a hot broth generously filled with sundae and offal, which you can season to taste with perilla powder or chives. The broth is rich, so pour in a bowl of rice and you've got a hearty meal. Second, modum sundae (assorted platter): freshly steamed sundae served alongside head meat, liver, lungs, and other offal, all piled generously on one plate. Dip it lightly in salt or salted shrimp and you get the clearest taste of the sundae itself. If it's your first time, start with sundaeguk to try the broth, and if you've got company, add a modum sundae platter to share. If there's a group of you, order both and go back and forth between the broth and the cold cuts, that's the proper way to enjoy this town. Alternating between a spoonful of hot broth and a chewy bite of sundae, you'll naturally understand why people make the trip all the way out here.

Sundae Street: the Fun of Picking Your Own

Baegam isn't short on sundae shops. Around the town center, sundae specialty restaurants cluster together to form what's known as Baegam Sundae Street. There are old-school eateries alongside newer ones, and each has its own take on broth and sundae style, so there's fun in picking and choosing. I won't flatly declare one shop the definitive answer. Sundae is such a matter of taste that people who love a rich broth and people who prefer something plain end up picking different favorites. Here's a tip, though: the shops packed with customers are usually a safe bet. There's a reason locals line up where they line up. Pick one shop on your first visit, then treat your next trip like stamp-collecting and compare a different one. Here more than anywhere, the fun of the trip is in finding the one shop that suits your own taste, rather than settling on one correct answer.

Since you've made it all the way to Baegam, don't just eat sundae and turn right back. If your visit lines up with a market day, I'd strongly recommend a stroll through the market. Seasonal wild greens, homemade pickled vegetables, freshly fried market snacks, there's an energy here you just don't get at a supermarket. Trade a few words with the vendors and a generous little extra sometimes comes your way. It's a different kind of space from a polished shopping mall, one that still smells of people. Filling up on sundae and then wandering the market is the combination that lets you fully feel what this town called Baegam is about. Even on days when the market isn't running, the sundae shops are usually open, so if your schedule is uncertain, a single bowl of sundae is reason enough to make the trip.

When you think about it, Baegam sundae checks every box people love these days: local, traditional, original, old-school. In an era when Instagram-worthy cafes change their signs every six months, a bowl of sundae passed down through generations becomes a story all on its own. Add the extra effort of traveling all the way out to the countryside in the south, and that one meal stops being just a meal, it becomes a small journey. There's a different kind of style here than downtown polish. For anyone who knows how to enjoy something old in a new way, Baegam is exactly the right destination. Next time someone asks me what to eat in Yongin, I won't hesitate, Baegam sundae goes at the top of my list.

🐉 Real Photos, via Yongi