Shinokubo is so popular as a Korean Town
Shinokubo is one stop from Shinjuku by JR Yamanote Line. Shinokubo is so popular as a Korean Town so you can see a lot of k-pop and k-drama fans on weekends there
Restaurants&Cafe Around Shinokubo
Everyday new thing come out and now this Cheese Takkalbi is the hottest! Cheese Takkalbi is that you can dip takkalbe (chicken with sweet spicy sauce) and tok(chewy rice cakes) into melted cheese. All the restaurants having this menu have long lines at lunch time.
This is the most popular takkalbi place Shijang Takkalbi. It was 11 am and there are a lot of people lined up already.
I wanted to try but it was 240 min-wait…… ugh maybe next time!
Instead of cheese takkalbe, I got Toppogi(Korean Mochi with sweet spicy sauce) and Cheese Hottok (Korean pancake). Toppogi is 300 yen and Cheese Hottok is 200 yen. And your tummy gets filled with yummy. It is so good there are a lot of this kind of “cheap snack” shops in Shinokubo so when you get hungry walking around the Koreatown, you just need to stop by and get these Korean snacks in just a few hundred yen.
And this is the newest hot…well cold spot in Shinokubo. HOMIBING.
They have snow-like fluffy shaved ice. They open at 11 am and it already has a long line before its open. It was a kind of cold day for shaved ice but I waited for 20 mins and already 5th group of that day.
I ordered “Oreo Tiramisu Homibing”. It has so much volume and cheesecake, almond jelly and Oreos on it. The ice itself has flavor so you do not need to worry that the taste gets watery when it melts.
Not only eating, you might want to enjoy shopping in Shinokubo. There are a lot of cosmetic stores where you can get cheap facial masks that are from Korea
My favorite is Seoul Shijang(ソウル市場). It is just like a supermarket in Korea and you can find a lot of Korean food, ingredients and others which you cannot find easily in Japan.
A lot of Soju and Makgeoli selection!
Kimbap (Korean Rice rolls) to go
Korean instant noodles are so good.
And of course, varieties of kimchi are found here.
Shinokubo is not not only Korean Town but it is a multicultural town where you can find a lot of Southeast Asian restaurants and stores.
It is easy to find Halal food.
Shinokubo makes you feel you are not in Japan even it is only one stop away from Japan’s biggest station Shinjuku. It is pretty fun to explore different cultures in one day!
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