Seodaemun District hosted the 2026 Taiwan Gourmet Promotion International Tour at the Seodaemun Happy Eeroom Center earlier this week to celebrate Yeonhui-dong’s Chinese heritage through food. The event drew over 60 guests, including residents, diplomats and chefs, and featured live cooking by Taiwanese guest chefs Kang Shin-yi and Yeo Wi-sung with local chef Dam So-ryong. Participants sampled dishes such as beef noodle soup, fried shrimp and vegetables, shrimp pancakes and Taiwanese-style cucumber salad. Mayor Park Woon-ki said the overseas Chinese community has long helped build the district’s history and identity.
Taiwanese master chefs Jiang Shin-yi, right, and Yu Wei-sung demonstrate how to prepare a traditional Taiwanese-style smashed cucumber salad during the 2026 Taiwan Culinary Promotion International Tour held at the Seodaemun Happy Eeroom Center in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Seodaemun District Office
In the heart of Yeonhui-dong, a neighborhood in northwestern Seoul where traditional red-brick residences sit alongside Chinese restaurants and the long-standing Seoul Chinese High School, food has served as an enduring bridge between cultures for generations.
That shared culinary history took center stage at the Seodaemun Happy Eeroom Center earlier this week as Seodaemun District hosted the "2026 Taiwan Gourmet Promotion International Tour." Organized by the Hanseong Overseas Chinese Association, the event brought together over 60 guests, including local residents, diplomats and prominent Taiwanese and Korean chefs, to celebrate the neighborhood's vibrant Chinese community through food.
