Sokcho souvenir croquette set with parking voucher: Samsam Goroke

Our short one-night, two-day trip is over, and I've ended up with a lot to share on the blog. This time I want to introduce Samsam Goroke, a great pick for a Sokcho bakery gift : )

Why Samsam Goroke croquettes make a good Sokcho souvenir

When you travel somewhere far away, you always end up buying gifts for family or friends. Sokcho's most famous spot is Sokcho Jungang Market, so that's where I picked up a delicious bakery croquette set.

There's all kinds of food inside the market — dakgangjeong (sweet crispy fried chicken), squid sundae (stuffed squid), sulbbang (rice wine bread), fried snacks — but Sokcho always makes me think of red crab croquettes and all the other croquette varieties too! I think I bought two boxes last year or the year before and gave them to my parents haha.

Anyway, here's my review of the Samsam Goroke I bought this visit. This time I went with my parents, and we didn't buy them as a gift — we just bought some together and ate them right there^^

Samsam Goroke location, hours and market parking

• ✔️28 Jungangsijang-ro 6-gil, Sokcho, Gangwon, South Korea
• ✔️Mon–Fri 10:00–20:00 (last order 19:40)
• ✔️Sat, Sun 09:30–21:00 (last order 20:40)

For parking, we used the Sokcho Tourist Fish Market lot — and even better, buying croquettes gets you a parking voucher. The parking fee itself is already very cheap, so it doesn't feel like much of a burden. (₩300 for the first 30 minutes, ₩200 per additional 10 minutes)

What comes in the 6-piece set: six croquette flavors

Samsam Goroke offers a 6-piece set and a 3-piece set. Since there were four of us, we went with the 6-piece set. There are six flavors, and you can mix and match, but keep in mind that red crab croquettes are limited to 1 per 3-piece set and 2 per 6-piece set^^

• Sokcho red crab croquette: croquette filled with red crab
• Sokcho abai croquette: croquette filled with squid sundae
• Meat-packed jjamppong croquette: fiery Shin Ramyun-spicy croquette
• Sokcho pollack roe cream croquette: rich cream udon-flavored croquette
• Chinese-style gochu japchae croquette: savory Chinese-style pepper japchae croquette
• Sokcho potato croquette: pizza-flavored Gangwon potato gratin croquette

I buy croquettes near my house pretty often too, but those are usually just sweet pumpkin or potato. Here they sell red crab, squid sundae, jjamppong, pollack roe cream, gochu japchae, pizza-flavored, and more — so much fun picking which one to try.

6-piece set for 17,000 won, red crab limited to 200 a day

The Sokcho red crab croquette is apparently the main seller, and since it's limited to 200 a day, it seemed smart to buy early : ) I ordered the 6-piece set with one of each flavor^^ A generous set of 6 for ₩17,000 : ) You can also buy them individually, but getting the 6-piece or 3-piece set makes for a nice Sokcho souvenir.

As a set, it really felt substantial. Oh, and they really do hand them to you piping hot, haha. Eating them right away is the best!^^

Eating the croquettes hot in the car with the kids and grandparents

Since we bought these to eat that day rather than as a gift, we ate a few in the car on the way home while they were still piping hot~~ Oh~~ eating them hot really is the best!! My kid and my parents loved them~ We'd actually eaten a big lunch before setting off, but the smell was too much to resist haha.

Each flavor is labeled, so we gave the non-spicy ones to my kid and the adults picked whatever they wanted to try~ Once we got home, we sliced up the rest and ate them for dinner instead : ) They really are best hot, so popping them in an air fryer or oven would have been even better, but by evening we were too hungry, so we just cut them in half and shared them right away.

Croquettes as a Sokcho Jungang Market snack! Even cold, they were still really tasty~ There are so many good restaurants at Sokcho Jungang Market, so picking up a snack like this is a great idea. Hope this helps anyone else out there trying to figure out a Sokcho souvenir^^