Order "sundae" in Korea and nobody brings you ice cream. You get a plate of dark, glossy sausage slices, a little dish of salt and maybe a toothpick. Sundae (say it soon-dae) is our blood sausage. And yes, I still eat it. On workdays I'll have a bowl of sundae gukbap every now and then, which is probably the most Korean office-worker lunch there is.
What's actually in sundae?
The classic version is pig intestine stuffed with pig blood (seonji), glass noodles called dangmyeon, chopped vegetables and sometimes sweet rice. Then it gets steamed and cut into rounds. That's it. It's cheap, too. Walk through almost any traditional market in Korea and you'll see it piled up and steaming next to the tteokbokki, and every bunsik snack shop has it. Order a plate and there's a good chance a few slices of liver and lung come along for the ride.
People eat it three main ways. Plain and steamed. In gukbap, the soup-and-rice bowl. Or stir-fried. Me? Gukbap, pretty much every time.
One thing to know before you start comparing. A lot of snack-shop sundae comes in an edible synthetic casing, not real intestine. It's fine, honestly, nothing wrong with it. But if you ask me, the real thing is pig intestine filled with pig blood and vegetables, and that's what I mean when I say sundae.
How old is sundae?
Blood sausage isn't some Korean invention. Half the world has one. A Chinese farming manual from the 6th century, Qimin Yaoshu, already describes a lamb version. On our side, the clearest early recipe for pork sundae ("doyaji sundae") is in Siuijeonseo, a cookbook from the late 1800s, and it's busy: blanched bean sprouts, minari and radish chopped up with cabbage kimchi and tofu, loads of garlic and ginger, then all of it kneaded with blood and pushed into the casing.
Back then, sundae with meat and rice was food for big family gatherings, not a quick snack. Then came the Korean War. Meat got scarce, cheap glass noodles moved in, and by the 1970s the noodle-stuffed kind was the normal snack-shop sundae. So that chewy bite of noodle is a little piece of postwar history. (Tastier than most history.)
It also ended up in the bunsik holy trinity, tteok-twi-sun: tteokbokki, twigim (fried stuff) and sundae. Dunking your sundae in tteokbokki sauce is completely allowed, by the way. Encouraged, even.
Why do people say Byeongcheon sundae is the best?
Ask Koreans where the best sundae comes from and a lot of them will say Byeongcheon. It's a small town in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, close to the Independence Hall of Korea. The old name is Aunae, and the Aunae market is where Yu Gwan-sun led a protest for independence in 1919.
When I worked in Cheonan, Byeongcheon was right nearby, and since it's famous for sundae I'd go there just to eat it. I still miss it sometimes. Sundae in Seoul tastes a bit different. Not bad. Just not that.
Why's it different? Byeongcheon sundae uses the small intestine (socheang), which is thinner and less gamey than the large intestine used in some northern styles, and the filling leans on napa cabbage and other vegetables along with the noodles, so it eats softer. Sundae shops started opening there in the 1960s. Cheonghwajip, which opened in 1968, is said to be the oldest one on what's now Byeongcheon Sundae Street, and a 2016 Yonhap story counted about 30 sundae restaurants in a town of roughly 7,000 people. That's a lot of sausage per head.
You don't need to wait for a market day to eat Byeongcheon sundae. The restaurants on Byeongcheon Sundae Street are permanent businesses, separate from the five-day market schedule. Check your chosen restaurant's opening hours and days off before you go. The town also held its very first Byeongcheon Sundae Festival in October 2025, which feels a bit late for a place that's been at this for sixty years.
What if I can't do intestines?
If the word "intestine" just made you put your fork down, fair enough. Try ojingeo sundae instead. Squid sundae, from Gangwon Province. A whole squid gets stuffed with its own chopped legs, tofu, vegetables and rice, steamed and sliced, and the slices are often dipped in egg and pan-fried until they're golden. No intestine anywhere. If the casing is what's stopping you, this is where I'd start.
The Sokcho coast, squid sundae country. Photo: Peter Kang / Unsplash
The famous place for it is Sokcho on the east coast. Abai Village there was settled by refugees from Hamgyeong Province, in the North, during the Korean War, and they brought their own food with them, like abai sundae, a fat version made with large intestine, blood and sweet rice. To get to the village you ride the gaetbae, a small flat ferry that gets pulled across the water by hand along a cable. Kind of a great way to show up for lunch.
Staying in Seoul? Head to Sillim-dong Minsok Sundae Town near Sillim Station on Line 2. The thing to order there is sundae bokkeum: sundae stir-fried on a big griddle with vegetables, chili powder and gochujang. Loud, red, made for groups.
How do I order it, and what do I dip it in?
At a market stall or snack shop, the vendor might ask if you want naejang mixed in. That's the liver and lung. If you'd rather not, say "naejang ppaego juseyo" (no offal, please). If you do try it, eat it hot. Liver is dry and crumbly, lung is soft and kind of spongy, and any sundae goes stiff once it cools down.
Then there's the dip, which changes by region, and Koreans can argue about this for a surprisingly long time. The Korea Tourism Organization's version: Seoul uses seasoned salt (or tteokbokki sauce), Chungcheong salted shrimp, Gyeongsang makjang, a soybean paste, Jeolla chogochujang, the vinegary chili paste, Gangwon soybean paste, and Jeju soy sauce. So if a friend from Busan pushes a dish of brown paste at you, nobody's pranking you.
Gukbap is the easy one. You get hot pork-bone broth with sundae and offal in it, plus rice and kimchi on the side, and you season it yourself with the salted shrimp and red pepper paste on the table. A little at a time. You can always add more, but you can't take salt back out.
Official info
Restaurant opening hours and days off vary, so check before you go (details as of 2026-10-14).
- Byeongcheon Sundae (VisitKorea)
- Sillim-dong Minsok Sundae Town (VisitKorea)
- Sokcho market and Abai Village (VisitKorea)
More from this blog
- Gimbap Is Not Sushi: Korea's Rice Roll, Its Origin and a Festival
- Why Korean Restaurants Make You Order for Two (and What Free Banchan Costs)
So which would you try first, the real-intestine kind or the squid?
Top photo: a steaming bowl of gukbap in Seoul. Photo: Zion C / Unsplash
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