Where to buy Korean cooking items, utensils, bowls

[torakris]

Beside food products, I am also hoping to buy various items on my upcoming trip to Seoul.

Specifically I am looking for dolsot bowls, metal chopsticks/spoons and Korean style ceramic bowls. I'm not looking for anything fancy just everyday kinds of bowls/utensils.

Where would be the best kind of place to pick these things up.

Any other recommendations of cooking items I should check out while I am there?

[nakji]

Namdaemun market should have everything you're looking for - and it's located convenient to Myeongdong! They have dolsot pots for bibimbap or rice, which will be heavy. You can get kimchi pots there, too.

Ceramics like teacups and bowls are available in Insadong.

[melonpan]

kristin dont forget to purchase the wooden or heavy melamine bottoms for jjigae or dolsot bowls.

not necessarily needed but if you can find hoddeok stampers i would get them too esp if theyre the right price.

its going to be a fun trip!

[torakris]

Thank you!

Do you know about how much the dolsots cost? They are in the 2000-3000 yen per piece range ($20-$30) her in Japan. I am assuming they will be cheaper in Korea but if there isn't much of a price difference I may as well get them here. I want to get 5 of them and that is going to be one pretty heavy suitcase!

ooohh, hoddeok stampers! I am definitely going to keep my eyes open for these.

[melonpan]

Do you know about how much the dolsots cost? They are in the 2000-3000 yen  per piece range ($20-$30) her in Japan. I am assuming they will be cheaper in Korea but if there isn't much of a price difference I may as well get them here. I want to get 5 of them and that is going to be one pretty heavy suitcase!

i dont know what you should expect in term of price at namdaemun...

but i can tell you that at los angeles small 10.5 cm ones (the widest point of the inside cavity) were going for usd$12.99 at the korean restaurant supply. wooden trivets were $1.99.

i dont know how much the large bibimbap ones would go for though. sorry!

i got a set of two small ones (for rice only, no bibimbap) just last month. i havent had the guts to use them yet. im looking forward to it though!

just out of curiosity were the 2000-3000 yen ones the large ones?

[nakji]

I'm not sure, but I feel like they should run about 10,000 won. If you're buying several, remember to bargain, which is okay in markets like Namdaemun. Say "Kaka chuseyo" to request a discount in price - don't expect much, though - maybe only a 10% reduction.

[torakris]

Thanks again! That is considerably cheaper.

melonpan, the ones I was looking at were for bibimbap, like this.

I didn't realize they had smaller ones for only cooking rice..

[SheenaGreena]

hi kristin,

I was going to say the same thing about namdaemun. I forgot how much they were, but I remember my mom buying one in 2003 over there. I'll ask much it cost btw.

happy hunting, and is this your first time in korea? I remember saying how much you've wanted to go there and couldn't remember if you've been over there.

lucky thing is it's a nice 2 hour trip (:

Edited October 19, 2008 by SheenaGreena (log)

[torakris]

hi kristin,

I was going to say the same thing about namdaemun.  I forgot how much they were, but I remember my mom buying one in 2003 over there.  I'll ask much it cost btw.

happy hunting, and is this your first time in korea?  I remember saying how much you've wanted to go there and couldn't remember if you've been over there.

lucky thing is it's a nice 2 hour trip (:

←

I have always wanted to go and last week we were watching a tv show about Korean food and everyone was commenting on how much they wanted to eat all of it. We had no plans for this winter so I told my family if I could get a flight and hotel for less than $2,500 (for all 5 of us) we could go. It took 3 days on the internet but I managed to plan our trip for $2,400--including breakfast. The 2 1/2 hour flight is the biggest bonus, we are also saving more time by flying Haneda-Gimpo instead of Narita-Incheon. More time for eating and shopping!

Any other recommendations on Korean products I should keep my eyes out for?