Beon-dong & Dream Forest: Food Near Seoul's Lost Dreamland

Ask anyone who grew up in northern Seoul in the 1990s about Beon-dong and there’s a good chance they will say one word: Dreamland. For two decades this residential corner of Gangbuk-gu had the city’s northern amusement park, where school trips and first dates went for rides and a sledding hill in winter. The rides are long gone. In their place is North Seoul Dream Forest (Buk Seoul Kkumui Sup), one of the largest parks in the city, with a royal family’s ritual hanok sitting quietly by a pond in the middle of it.

Most visitors come for the observatory and the lawns, take a photo and leave by the same gate. This guide goes the other way: into the story of the funfair, the 19th-century house it was built around, and the soup shops, drivers’ diners and a snack bar still called Dreamland on the streets of Beon-dong and Jangwi-dong next door. If you’re coming from Mia, our Gireum and Mia local food guide covers the park basics, gates and buses from the west side.

What happened to Dreamland?

Dreamland opened in 1987, ran into decline in the 2000s, and closed in 2008. Seoul city bought the land and turned it into North Seoul Dream Forest, which opened in October 2009. When Seoul announced an ideas competition for the site, it described Dreamland as “the representative amusement park of the Gangbuk area” since its 1987 opening. The same announcement was frank about what happened next: fewer visitors in the 2000s, no money reinvested, ageing rides and a run-down neighborhood around them.

Gangbuk-gu asked the city in December 2006 to turn the site into public green space. According to Seoul’s own announcement in October 2007, the negotiations were hard, partly because the land belonged to a clan association of the Andong Kim family. The city reached a deal that autumn, budgeting about ₩280 billion in total, with ₩230.5 billion for land compensation. The whole park site came to 905,278 square meters, roughly a third of which had been Dreamland. Seventy-six structures were scheduled for demolition. Only two old buildings were to stay: registered heritage, and they come up in the next section.

The new name was chosen in 2008. As reported at the time, the city combined “Buk Seoul” (North Seoul) with 꿈의 숲 (kkumui sup, “forest of dreams”), a native-Korean nod to the Dreamland that residents remembered.

You can still find traces of the funfair if you know where to look. The Art Center on the park’s southwest side, with its two small concert halls and a gallery that shows local residents’ work alongside professional artists, sits where Dreamland’s sledding slope used to be. According to Seoul city, the inclined elevators that carry you up to the 49.7-meter observatory follow the line of the old sled runs. And across the road on the Jangwi-dong side, a tiny tteokbokki shop still has DREAMLAND on its sign (more on that below).

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What is the hanok inside Dream Forest?

It is the Changnyeongwigung Ritual House, the ancestral-rite house of a Joseon princess’s husband, listed as national registered heritage in 2002. The Korean name is 창녕위궁 재사 (Changnyeongwigung Jaesa). A 재사 (jaesa) is a house built near a family’s graves where descendants stayed and prepared ancestral rites.

The “Changnyeong-wi” of the name was the title of Kim Byeong-ju (1819–1853). In 1830 he married Princess Bokon (1818–1832), a daughter of King Sunjo, and so became a royal son-in-law. The princess died two years after the wedding, aged 13. According to the Academy of Korean Studies’ encyclopedia, the house holds ancestral tablets for four generations. Its main hall and the sarangchae (men’s quarters) are both L-shaped and face southwest, with a gate wing in front. The Korean War destroyed the original buildings and they were rebuilt in 1955. The National Heritage portal dates part of the sarangchae to the 19th century.

The house also has a place in the history of resistance to Japanese rule. In 1910, after Japan annexed Korea, Kim Byeong-ju’s grandson Kim Seok-jin refused the Japanese peerage he was offered and ended his life here in protest. Seoul city now includes the house in its Liberation Day heritage walks for Gangbuk-gu.

There’s a neat circle to the story. The land Seoul bought for the park came from a clan association of the Andong Kim family, the same clan as Kim Byeong-ju and the princess’s mother, Queen Sunwon. When the park was built, the ritual house was kept and restored, with a pond, the small pavilion Aeryeonjeong and a stepped waterfall pool added around it. Today it sits near the Wolyeongji pond and is popular for small outdoor weddings.

The Beon-dong name has a story of its own. According to local tradition, a late-Goryeo book of prophecies said a family named Yi (李, also the character for plum) would one day rule from Hanyang. Officials were sent to cut down the plum trees that grew thick under Samgaksan, and the village became 벌리 (Beolli, written 伐李, “cutting the plum”). The name was later written 樊里 (Beon-ri), and in 1950 Beon-ri became Beon-dong. Locals say plum trees still grew here until after Liberation.

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Where do locals eat in Beon-dong and Jangwi-dong?

The best eating is on the east side of the park, along Wolgye-ro and Dolgoji-ro in Jangwi-dong, with two famous soup and bossam spots farther north in Beon-dong. Jangwi-dong is in the middle of the large Jangwi New Town redevelopment, so many shops now sit under new apartment blocks. The older places hold on along Dolgoji-ro and around Jangwi Traditional Market to the south.

Dreamland (드림랜드): The name is the first thing you notice: a small snack bar on Wolgye-ro, directly across the road from the park, calling itself Dreamland. Whether the name was a tribute is something to ask the owner; what’s on the plate is easier to describe. The tteokbokki is the mild, slightly sweet old-school kind (₩4,000). The gimbap is packed tight (₩4,500), and regulars order the jjolmyeon (chewy cold noodles, ₩6,000) for its very finely shredded cabbage. Sundae (blood sausage) is ₩4,000 and three pieces of twigim (fried snacks) ₩2,500. There are only four or five tables and weekend lunch can mean a wait, so a 2024 reviewer suggested taking it to the park. Hours are 11:00–20:00 on weekdays and to 19:00 at weekends, with one day off a week (check on Naver). Reviews from May and September 2025 confirm it’s still going.

📍 Open in Naver Map

Bukseoul Jinsundae (북서울진순대): The neighborhood sundaeguk shop for the new apartment blocks on Dolgoji-ro. The broth mixes pork and beef bones and comes out milky and rich; plain or spicy sundaeguk is ₩10,000, and a mixed plate of sundae, boiled pork and pork stomach (osori-gamtu) is ₩15,000. It also does a few newer bowls (cream sundaeguk, mala gopchang) if you’re curious. Open 11:00–22:00 daily, last order 21:30. A December 2025 visitor’s verdict: “exactly right for soup weather.”

📍 Open in Naver Map

Jangwi Gisa Sikdang (장위기사식당): A 기사식당 (gisa sikdang) is a diner built for taxi drivers: fast, cheap and filling, with parking out front. Reviewers describe this one as more than 30 years old. Order the dwaeji bulbaek, sweet soy-grilled pork with rice and side dishes (₩11,000). Stews such as soybean-paste jjigae or sundubu run ₩8,000–10,000. It is listed as open around the clock, but the current listing also shows weekly closed days, so check before a late-night visit.

📍 Open in Naver Map

Daemeori Sikdang (대머리식당): The name means “Baldy’s Diner,” and the place does one thing well: a proper Korean lunch tray. Each order comes with rice cooked in its own stone pot (sotbap), soup and a spread of side dishes. Grilled mackerel is ₩13,000, Atka mackerel or Spanish mackerel ₩14,000 and a beef-brisket doenjang stew ₩10,000. It is open 10:00–16:00 only, so plan it as lunch. Local bloggers were still recommending it in December 2025. It’s on Dolgoji-ro, south of the park toward Jangwi Traditional Market.

📍 Open in Naver Map

Mwie (뮈에): A bakery café a few minutes from the park’s east side, and the easiest place to sit down after a walk. There’s a small terrace on the ground floor and an exposed-ceiling, Southeast Asian-style room upstairs. The breads lean sweet and unusual, and the vanilla-bean cream latte is the drink people mention. An October 2025 reviewer found it a little pricey. Open 09:30–21:00.

📍 Open in Naver Map

🍜 More places around Dream Forest (prices from current menus or 2025–26 visits; check hours before you go)

Place	What to order	Price guide	Hours / closed	Where	Map
La Foresta (라 포레스타)	Café and pasta inside the park	Check on Naver	10:00–20:00, closed one weekday	Inside the park	📍 Naver Map
Nilli (닐리)	Pane pasta in a bread bowl, gorgonzola pizza	Pasta ₩15,500, pizza ₩18,000	11:00–21:00, break 15:00–16:00, closed two days	Wolgye-ro, east edge of the park	📍 Naver Map
Haejuban (해주반)	Ugeoji gamjatang (pork-bone stew)	Check on Naver	11:00–21:50, break 15:00–17:00, closed one day	Dolgoji-ro, Jangwi-dong	📍 Naver Map
Haoreon (하오런)	Jjamppong, shrimp fried rice, bokbunja sweet-and-sour pork	₩11,000 / ₩11,000 / ₩23,000	11:00–20:30, break 15:00–17:00, closed some days	Oheon-ro, Beon-dong (northwest of the park)	📍 Naver Map
Byeorang Sundaeguk (벼랑 순대국 본점)	Head-meat or “byeorang” sundaeguk	₩10,000–12,000	11:30–21:00, break 15:00–16:40, closed several days	Hancheon-ro, Beon-dong, by the Ucheon stream (about 1.5 km north)	📍 Naver Map
Jangsu Maneul Bossam (장수마늘보쌈)	Garlic bossam (boiled pork), seafood kalguksu	Small bossam ₩30,000, kalguksu ₩8,000	11:00–21:50, closed two days	Hancheon-ro, near Gangbuk-gu Office (Suyu side)	📍 Naver Map
Jangwi Traditional Market (장위전통시장)	Banchan, produce, snacks	Market prices	Check on Naver	South of the park, toward Dolgoji Station	📍 Naver Map
Gosen Giwajip Galbi (고센 기와집갈비)	Marinated beef galbi, lunch bulgogi set, cold noodles after	Galbi 300 g ₩39,000; lunch set ₩12,000	11:00–21:30, break 15:00–16:30	By Jangwi Traditional Market	📍 Naver Map
Jangseokgol Hanu Gopchang (장석골 한우곱창)	Mixed grill of beef tripe and intestines	Check on Naver	14:00–23:00	By Jangwi Traditional Market	📍 Naver Map

The two Beon-dong spots north of the park are worth the detour. Byeorang Sundaeguk is tucked into a side spot near the Ucheon stream, yet bloggers say it has a queue most lunchtimes; you write your name on the list by the door and wait to be called. A May 2026 reviewer recommends ordering the special and adding the chili paste on the table yourself. Jangsu Maneul Bossam recently moved into a bigger two-floor space and still runs a number-ticket queue at peak hours. It is closer to Suyu Station (Line 4) than to the park, so it works well as a dinner stop on the way home.

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Half-day route: west gate to Jangwi-dong

Allow about five hours. Any day works for the park, but check the day off for the restaurants you want; Daemeori Sikdang closes at 16:00.

• 10:30, Miasageori Station (Line 4): take village bus Gangbuk 05 to the park's west gate (see our Gireum and Mia guide for food on that side).
• 10:45, Art Center and observatory: ride the inclined elevator up the old Dreamland sled slope and look out to Bukhansan and Dobongsan.
• 11:30, walk east past Wolyeongji pond to the Changnyeongwigung Ritual House and the Aeryeonjeong pavilion. Add the new Byeogosan deck trail if you have time.
• 12:30, leave the park on the Jangwi-dong side: a share-plate at Dreamland, or sundaeguk at Bukseoul Jinsundae.
• 13:30, coffee and bread at Mwie, a few minutes from the park.
• 14:30, walk south along Dolgoji-ro past Jangwi Gisa Sikdang to Jangwi Traditional Market for snacks, or a late stone-pot lunch at Daemeori Sikdang before 16:00.
• 16:30, early dinner at Gosen Giwajip Galbi or Jangseokgol Hanu Gopchang by the market. Head home from Dolgoji Station (Line 6).