Samgakji & Sinyongsan Eats: Cod Soup Alley to Base Garden

Every few decades since the 1880s, a different army has moved into the flat land south of Namsan. Qing Chinese troops camped here in 1882. The Japanese built a military base from 1904. American forces took it over in 1945 and stayed until 2018. Samgakji, the junction at the base’s western edge, spent all that time feeding and entertaining soldiers, and the neighborhood still shows it: a street of painters who once sold portraits to GIs, an alley of cod-soup restaurants, an offal grill with valet parking, and, since 2023, a children’s garden on land that was off-limits to Koreans for more than a century.

Next door, Sinyongsan has become one of Seoul’s busiest dining scenes. This guide stays mostly on the older side of the line.

Why is it called Samgakji?

Because it was a triangle. 삼각지 Samgakji means “triangle land.” Seoul city’s media hub explains that the name comes from the triangular junction where three major routes meet, on the main road between Seoul Station and the Han River.

In 1967 the junction got an elevated rotary road, which Seoul city’s media hub calls Korea’s first elliptical overpass, and in the 1960s the singer Bae Ho made the place famous with the ballad Doraganeun Samgakji (“Samgakji, going round”). For Koreans of a certain age, the name still brings up that song before it brings up the station.

---

What is the Samgakji painters' street?

A street of framers and painters that started by selling art to American soldiers. According to a 2015 Seoul Shinmun feature, it began in the 1950s, when two shops near the junction started selling paintings to US servicemen, and boomed in the 1960s, when Korean artists painted copies of Western landscapes and portraits by the hundred for export and for GIs going home. At its peak the street had more than 250 painters and about 60 galleries; by 2015 about 40 galleries were left. Kyunghyang Shinmun has reported that painters who later became famous, including Lee Jung-seop and Park Su-geun, passed through the area when they were broke.

Today you’ll see the remains along Hangang-daero and the side streets near Samgakji: framing shops, art-supply stores and a few galleries with oil paintings stacked in the windows. They are working shops; you’re welcome to look, and most will frame a print while you have lunch.

---

Where to eat in Samgakji and Sinyongsan

Prices and hours are from Naver Place listings, checked October 1, 2026. Places already covered in our guide to Seoul’s emerging neighborhoods (Yongridan-gil’s Vietnamese, Thai and wine spots) aren’t repeated here.

Won Daegu-tang (Hangang-daero 62ga-gil 8) — The Korea Tourism Organization dates the cod-soup alley to 1979, when the first shops opened near what is now Samgakji Station. Daegu-tang is a whole stew of cod, radish, tofu and minari in a chili broth (or a clear version, malgeun-tang). A bowl is about 15,000 won, and most tables add fried cod and finish with fried rice. Open 10:00–22:00 on weekdays (Sunday to 21:50) with a 15:00–16:00 break; closed Mondays. Near Samgakji Station Exit 1 (Line 4) or Exit 14 (Line 6).

📍 Open in Naver Map

Pyeongyangjip (Hangang-daero 186) — A beef-offal specialist on Hangang-daero near the junction and a dining room full of office workers. The signatures are yang (beef tripe; the house uses the prized gitmeori cut) and gopchang (small intestine), each 29,000 won a portion, grilled at the table. At lunch, the cheaper order is naejang-gomtang, a milky offal soup, for 13,000 won, or yang-bap (fried rice with tripe) for 16,000 won.

📍 Open in Naver Map

Jinmi Sikdang (Baekbeom-ro 90-gil 38) — A plain Korean diner that an aggregator dates to 1978, a short walk northwest of the junction. The order is Mungyeong-style cheonggukjang (fast-fermented soybean stew, pungent and deeply savory) for 10,000 won, with spicy stir-fried pork or squid at 12,000 won. In summer it serves chilled soybean noodles for 13,000 won. Not to be confused with the soy-crab restaurant of the same name in Mapo.

📍 Open in Naver Map

Always August Roastery (Hangang-daero 179) — In front of Samgakji Station Exit 6, a roastery café that, according to Esquire Korea, brings in beans from Drop Coffee, the Stockholm roaster. Hand drip is the point. Open 08:00–20:00, closed Mondays.

📍 Open in Naver Map

Pacha Mama Bakery (Hangang-daero 62da-gil 9) — A small bakery in the alleys behind the cod-soup street, known for salt bread and a pistachio cream latte. It opens at 11:00 and popular breads go early. Naver lists it as open 11:00–20:30 on Tuesday–Thursday and Sunday.

📍 Open in Naver Map

🍽️ Seven more places between Samgakji, Namyeong and Sinyongsan (Naver Place, Oct 2026)

Place	What	Price guide	Hours / closed	Map
Jawon Daegu-tang	Next-door rival in the cod-soup alley	Cod soup ~15,000 won	09:30–23:00	📍 Open in Naver Map
Daewon Sikdang	Briquette-grilled fish set meals (in our grilled fish top 10)	~10,000 won	Field check	📍 Open in Naver Map
Daily Routine	Filter-coffee café inside a 1920s market building in Namyeong	Field check	09:00–20:00 (Sun 11:00–18:00)	📍 Open in Naver Map
umoae	Café by day, bar by night, beside the old base wall	Americano 5,500 / kaymak bread 9,500 won	Field check	📍 Open in Naver Map
Moscent	Roastery on the quiet side of Yongridan-gil	Filter coffee 7,500–8,500 won	Field check	📍 Open in Naver Map
Pie in the Shop	Fig–cream cheese and apple–sour cream pies	Field check	11:30–21:30 (Mon–Thu to 20:30)	📍 Open in Naver Map
Dripsso	One-person roastery toward Wonhyoro	Field check	11:00–18:00 (Sun to 20:00), closed Mon	📍 Open in Naver Map

---

Do you need a reservation for Yongsan Children's Garden?

Not anymore. When it opened in May 2023 on returned US base land, the garden required advance booking and ID checks. Seoul city’s media hub reports that since December 30, 2025 it has been fully open without reservations. It’s free.

🌳 Yongsan Children's Garden (Seoul city / Naver Place, 2026)

Item	Details
Address	Hangang-daero 38-gil 21, Yongsan-gu
Hours	Tue–Fri & Sun 09:00–18:00, Sat 09:00–21:00
Last entry	30 minutes before closing
Closed	Mondays, January 1, Seollal and Chuseok days
Admission	Free
Nearest station	Sinyongsan Station (Line 4), about 5 minutes to the main gate

Inside are wide lawns, sports fields and low buildings left from the base years. It’s only a small part of the planned Yongsan Park, most of which has not yet been returned or opened, so don’t expect to walk across the whole old base. Korean media have also reported disputes over soil contamination on parts of the wider site.

For the War Memorial of Korea at the other corner of Samgakji, see our War Memorial guide.

---

A half-day route through Samgakji

• 10:00 — Samgakji Station Exit 6. Coffee at Always August.
• 10:30 — Framing and painters' shops along Hangang-daero and the side streets around the junction.
• 11:15 — Namyeong side (10–15 minutes north). Daily Routine in the old market building; umoae beside the base wall.
• 12:15 — Lunch. Cod soup at Won or Jawon Daegu-tang, or tripe soup at Pyeongyangjip.
• 13:30 — Bakery stop at Pacha Mama or Pie in the Shop.
• 14:30 — Yongsan Children's Garden from Sinyongsan Station (not Mondays). Allow an hour.
• Evening — Yongridan-gil's restaurants are a few minutes away; see our emerging-neighborhoods guide.