Amsa Market chicken shop: fried plus dakgangjeong in one order

I've been kind of obsessed with wandering traditional markets lately haha. This time I went to Amsa Station and ended up at Amsa Market, where I stopped by Gimssi Chicken Amsa Market Branch after catching an especially good smell drifting through the market.

The moment I stepped into the market my eyes were darting everywhere lol, there's just so much to eat. But the mountain of fried chicken piled up was impossible to walk past. And honestly the prices surprised me even more haha. These days ordering one whole delivery chicken often runs well over ₩20,000, but here, true to market-chicken style, it was easy to just grab a box to go without feeling the pinch.

Where is Gimssi Chicken inside Amsa Market?

Gimssi Chicken Amsa Market Branch sits at 21 Olympic-ro 98-gil, 1F 105, Gangdong-gu, Seoul. It's about 200m from Exit 1 of Amsa Station, so it's easy to reach by public transit. Walking into Amsa Market, the bright red and yellow Gimssi Chicken sign was pretty easy to spot haha.

Taking in the market's bustling atmosphere while walking, I got there pretty quickly lol. Rather than a dedicated lot, it's more convenient to think of using the public parking around the market.

Chicken fried nonstop right in front of you

Gimssi Chicken is less of a sit-down restaurant and more of a takeout-focused market chicken shop. The showcase out front is lined with old-style whole fried chicken, drumsticks, dakgangjeong and more, and the visuals are genuinely dangerous lol. Right next to it, a wide griddle was piled with boneless fried chicken, with staff continuously frying fresh batches.

The golden-brown color alone made it look crispy haha. And for the dakgangjeong specifically, once you order, they toss the fried chicken and rice cakes with sauce right there on a big griddle.

Watching them stir the sauce evenly with a spatula right in front of you was oddly entertaining while waiting lol. With that sweet-spicy sauce smell wafting up, I wanted to grab a piece before it was even packed.

Gimssi Chicken menu and prices

Gimssi Chicken has quite a range of options: dakgangjeong, boneless fried chicken, old-style whole fried chicken, bone-in fried chicken, drumsticks, wings, chicken breast pieces, gizzards and more. Dakgangjeong comes in mild, medium-spicy, or spicy, starting at ₩9,000 for medium, with large and extra-large sizes available too.

Boneless fried chicken starts at ₩8,000 for medium, and old-style whole fried chicken is ₩7,000. According to the photos, a whole bone-in fried chicken to go is ₩9,900, so the prices were pretty solid all around haha. This is honestly the fun of buying food at a market lol. On this visit I packed crispy fried chicken and sauced dakgangjeong together.

With the two placed side by side, the portion looked plenty generous for sharing with a few people at home.

How crispy is the plain fried chicken?

I started with the fried chicken. The moment I opened the box, that savory fried aroma hit me and honestly, game over right there lol. The batter wasn't overly thick or floury; the outside was crispy while the chicken inside stayed juicy.

Since it was packed fresh right from the market fryer, it still had some warmth left, which made it even better haha. The seasoning wasn't too strong either, so it was good eaten plain, and it paired well going back and forth with the sauced dakgangjeong. There's a lot of intensely seasoned chicken out there these days, but this kind of basic fried chicken has a charm that keeps you reaching for more lol. Factor in the price and the satisfaction goes up even further.

Dakgangjeong tossed in sauce to order, rice cakes included

And honestly, the one I was more excited for was the dakgangjeong haha. Fried boneless chicken generously coated in red sauce, with chewy rice cakes mixed in throughout. The sauce had this glossy sheen all over, so even while taking photos I wanted to eat it right away lol. Taking a bite, the sauce was properly soaked into the outside while the chicken inside stayed juicy. Rather than being just sweet, it had sweetness, saltiness, and spiciness all together — a familiar flavor that you keep going back to.

And the rice cakes tucked in between are a real treat too haha. Picking out the chewy, sauce-coated rice cakes one by one is genuinely fun, and honestly they're almost as good as the chicken lol. Eating one piece of dakgangjeong then one piece of fried chicken, the flavors are so different from each other that you never get tired of it.

If it's hard to choose between fried and sauced, packing both together like I did seems like a great call.

A market shop carrying on 15 years of dakgangjeong

Looking closely at the sign, it read something about 15 years of tradition, one of Seoul's three great family dakgangjeong spots, and carrying on the dakgangjeong recipe from Myeonmok Market. Fittingly for a market chicken shop, the menu is simple and the prices aren't a burden, and the way everything gets fried and sauced fresh right before packing was impressive haha.

Current listed hours are daily from 11am to 10pm. It's a good spot to pack a snack while shopping at Amsa Market, and also good to stop by on an evening when you're craving chicken at home lol. If you're looking for good eats in Amsa, restaurants in Amsa Market, or a dakgangjeong spot worth trying, this is worth a visit. It has that market-chicken crispiness and generous portion that's different from franchise chicken, and I left pretty satisfied haha.

Next time I want to try the fried gizzards or the old-style whole fried chicken too. If you're ever heading to Amsa Market, try resisting the chicken smell drifting from in front of Gimssi Chicken lol. It won't be easy to just walk past 😊