100 Bloggers’ Recommendations: “Top 100 Seoul Restaurants”

April 28, 2024 184 Views

Now that the Michelin Guide “Seoul” has been published, it’s easy to find books and websites that summarize the best restaurants in Korea. If you go to the “Michelin Guide” website, you can find a list of restaurants that have won awards.

The Michelin Guide “Seoul” was released on November 7, 2016, and before that, Korea was trendy and interested in “gastronomy,” but it was difficult to find books or websites that specifically organized it. There were occasional TV shows that introduced restaurants, but it was hard to find something organized like the Michelin Guide.

“A book compiled by 100 bloggers, organizing data on Seoul restaurants”

At a time when people’s interest in gastronomy had waned, but there was a lack of organized information, a book was published by 100 bloggers that summarized 100 restaurants in Seoul.

Each of the 100 bloggers recommended 50 restaurants, and from the 5,000 restaurants gathered, the 100 with the most recommendations were selected and organized by voting. It is not a book written by one person, but a book that utilizes collective intelligence, and it can be said that it is a book that has its own organized content because experts on taste also participated in it.

“A book with 100 restaurants in Seoul”

As the title suggests, “TOP 100 Seoul Restaurants” recommends 100 restaurants in Seoul. Each place is numbered and introduced, and each blogger recommends one restaurant.

The last part of the book offers guides by neighborhood and topic. The book is organized by keywords such as “good for family gatherings,” “good for business meetings,” and “good for drinking” to help you choose the right restaurant for your needs.

“Top 100 Seoul Restaurants, which I also contributed to”

At the time, I was one of the 100 co-authors. We recommended 50 restaurants, and I visited and wrote about the restaurants that were finally selected from my recommendations.

The restaurant that was selected from my recommendations was “The Ham”, a restaurant in front of Sookmyung Women’s University that serves neat Korean traditional food. At the time of publication, I was selected as an “Outstanding Blogger,” but I was relatively inferior in photo retouching and photography skills, so it was a bit of a disappointment.

Looking back at the book now, there are a number of restaurants that have disappeared from the map after almost 10 years. However, about 70% of the restaurants are still alive and kicking, and when I look at the ones that are still in operation, I can’t help but feel that they don’t pay much attention to “trends”.

Nowadays, there are various “restaurant curation” channels such as Michelin Guide and Blue Ribbon, so this book can be considered a little less useful, but nevertheless, it can be considered a book with a historical feeling that shows that such attempts were made in Korea.

“Top 100 Seoul Restaurants on Google Maps”

Since it’s been a long time since the book was published, I didn’t want to let the places listed in the book go to waste, so I organized them so that you can easily find them on Google Maps. As mentioned above, some of these places have disappeared, but there are many that haven’t, so it’s worth checking out when you’re looking for a place to eat.