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The Twisted Donut at Gwangjang Market: Is the Queue Worth It?

Travel Analysts

📄29 of 31 reviewers who judged the twisted donut at Gwangjang Market call it good. How long the queue is, what it costs, and the same donut at Mangwon Market.

A crowded covered market aisle in Seoul: people in face masks walk past stalls stacked with fried pancakes, under a steel roof hung with Korean signboards

💡Quick Answer

Is the twisted donut at Gwangjang Market worth the queue? Of 53 reviews that name the kkwabaegi there, 31 say how it tasted and 29 call it good. Sixteen mention the queue at the stall by the entrance, and four say it moves fast, about ten minutes in one. Three reviewers report paying 1,000 won. At Mangwon Market, where 38 reviews name the same donut, all 16 who judged it liked it and only one mentions a line. We did not verify current prices.

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The Line at the Entrance of Gwangjang Market

The first thing many visitors see at Gwangjang Market is a queue. It is for kkwabaegi, a twisted donut made with glutinous rice, fried and rolled in sugar. We read the 97 reviews that name it across our samples of three Seoul markets.

🍩 The twisted donut in the reviews	Gwangjang Market (1,458)	Mangwon Market (1,089)	Namdaemun Market (1,376)
Reviews that name it	3.6% (53)	3.5% (38)	0.4% (6)
Say how theirs tasted	31 reviews	16 reviews	3 reviews
✅ Say it was good	29 of the 31	16 of the 16	3 of the 3
⏳ Mention a queue	16 reviews	1 review	no review mentions one
💵 Price reported	1,000 won (2023, 2025)	1,000 won (2024)	not reported

The donut is named about as often at Mangwon Market as at Gwangjang Market, and almost never at Namdaemun Market. What differs is the wait: sixteen reviews of Gwangjang Market mention a queue for it, and one review of Mangwon Market does.

The trade-off: this is a 1,000-won snack with a queue attached. Whether the queue is worth it is the only real question, and the reviews answer it more clearly than usual.

Twenty-Nine of 31 Say It Was Good

Of the 53 reviews of Gwangjang Market that name the donut, 31 say how it tasted, and 29 of them say it was good. Nine call it chewy, compare it to mochi or name it as a glutinous rice donut. Five mention sugar and cinnamon.

i got the twisted donut with cinnamon and sugar which i really liked — Google Maps review of Gwangjang Market, 5 stars, October 2025

Basically reminiscent of a mochi donut but in a knot. — TripAdvisor review of Gwangjang Market, 5 stars, January 2025

The best thing is the fresh fried twisted donuts. — TripAdvisor review of Gwangjang Market, 4 stars, March 2025

It holds up among unhappy visitors. Two reviewers who rated the market one and two stars single out the donut as the thing that was good. One of them, after describing being overcharged at a food stall, ends by saying the donut was good and is about all the market is worth going for.

Two reviewers disagree, and they say the same thing. One calls it not worth it, the queue least of all. The other, writing in Chinese, says the donut is ordinary and there is no need to line up for it.

The twisted donut, especially the one with the long queue, also not worth it. — Google Maps review of Gwangjang Market, 4 stars, October 2025

One observation comes from a reviewer who liked it and liked the hotteok stall beside it more: at the hotteok stand everyone around them ordered in Korean, and at the donut stand it was all tourists.

The trade-off: twenty-nine in 31 is as good a record as any food we have read at Gwangjang Market, and it is for the simplest one. What reviewers praise is plain: fresh, warm, chewy and cheap.

How Long the Queue Is, and When There Is None

🔎 At Gwangjang Market, what reviewers report about the donut stall	Reviews
There is a queue	16
It is at the entrance	13
Chewy: glutinous rice, mochi-like	9
Coated in sugar and cinnamon	5
The queue moves fast	4
Paid 1,000 won (January 2023, June 2025)	3
No queue: on a Monday, or at opening	2
Not worth queuing for	2

Sixteen reviews mention the queue and four say it moves quickly. One, written in Chinese in September 2025, puts the wait at about ten minutes and adds a warning: the donut comes out very hot.

The line was long but moved fast. — TripAdvisor review of Gwangjang Market, 4 stars, September 2019

there’s always a line for them but it goes quick — TripAdvisor review of Gwangjang Market, 5 stars, January 2025

Two reviewers found no queue. One notes there was none on a Monday in October 2025. A Japanese reviewer in June 2025 arrived while the stall was getting ready to open at 10 am, an hour that differed from the one listed online, was third in line, and watched a long queue form behind. We did not verify current opening hours.

One reviewer gave up on the line and bought from the stall across the aisle instead. The donut there was cold and hard, and they regretted it.

Three reviewers name the price, and all three say 1,000 won: one in January 2023 and two in June 2025. We did not verify the current price.

the twizzled donuts (1,000 WON!) — TripAdvisor review of Gwangjang Market, 5 stars, January 2023

The trade-off: the wait is short by the standards of a famous stall, and the one shortcut a reviewer tried made things worse. Going at opening or on a quiet weekday is the only advice the reviews support.

Mangwon Market: The Same Donut Without the Line

At Mangwon Market 38 reviews name the donut stall, sixteen say how it tasted and all sixteen liked it. Only one mentions a queue.

twisted donuts (1000 ₩) which were really good, super cheap, and incredibly filling — Google Maps review of Mangwon Market, 5 stars, October 2024

I especially liked the Donuts at the far end of the market — Google Maps review of Mangwon Market, 5 stars, November 2024

Four reviews place the stall at the far end of Mangwon Market or on the corner by the crossing. Two note that it opens early: one visitor at 9 am on a Friday found most stalls still shut and the donut stall already open. One was told the donuts are sold in threes and was sold a single one anyway.

The stall sells a second kind. Four reviews name a round glutinous rice donut, with red bean inside in the two that describe it. One Korean reviewer, in a two-star review of the market, complains about the manner of the woman running a donut and croquette shop by the crossing.

At Namdaemun Market only six reviews mention donuts, and the three who say how they tasted liked them.

The trade-off: Mangwon Market gives you the donut without the wait and without the rest of Gwangjang Market. Which matters more depends on why you were going.

Methodology

Figures come from the SeoulFoodTour research corpus. This article uses three samples of rated reviews from Google Maps and TripAdvisor, each collected without filtering by rating: 1,458 reviews of Gwangjang Market, 1,089 of Mangwon Market and 1,376 of Namdaemun Market.

What counts as naming the donut. A review is counted when it names kkwabaegi or the twisted donut in English, Korean, Japanese or Chinese, or refers to the market’s donut stall. Each match was read, and five that turned out to describe something else, such as a croquette or a bean fritter, were removed. That leaves 97 reviews: 53, 38 and 6. At Mangwon Market the same stall sells twisted and round donuts, and both are counted.

How they were sorted. All 97 were read in full, in the language they were written in. A review counts as a verdict only when the reviewer ate the donut and says how it was: 50 do. Queue, price and location reports are counted separately.

The second set. A separate pass aimed at low ratings added reviews that we read and never count. None is quoted here.

Quotations. Every quotation is from a review written in English and is reproduced exactly as it appears in the original record, spelling included. Reviews in other languages are counted and described in our words, never quoted.

What this article does not do. It does not verify today’s price, opening hours or where any stall stands. A review records what was true on the day it was written.

About the Author

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

What is kkwabaegi?+

Kkwabaegi is a Korean twisted donut: a rope of dough fried and rolled in sugar, often with cinnamon. The one sold at Gwangjang Market is made with glutinous rice, and nine reviews call it chewy, compare it to mochi or name the glutinous rice. Reviewers call it twisted donut, knotted donut or simply the donut.

Is the twisted donut at Gwangjang Market worth the queue?+

Twenty-nine of the 31 reviewers who say how it tasted call it good. Two say it is not worth queuing for, and one of those calls it ordinary. Four reviewers say the line moves fast, and one timed it at about ten minutes.

Where is the twisted donut stall at Gwangjang Market?+

Thirteen reviews place it at the entrance of Gwangjang Market, and one says the north entrance. Reviewers describe finding it by the line. We did not verify where it stands today.

How much is the twisted donut at Gwangjang Market?+

Three reviewers report 1,000 won: one in January 2023 and two in June 2025. A reviewer at Mangwon Market reports the same price in October 2024. We did not verify current prices.

When is there no queue for the donut at Gwangjang Market?+

Two reviews report none. One reviewer notes there was no line on a Monday in October 2025. Another arrived as the stall opened at 10 am in June 2025, was third in line and saw a long queue form soon after.

Can I get the same donut without the queue?+

At Mangwon Market 38 reviews name the donut stall, all 16 who judged it liked it, and only one mentions a line. At Gwangjang Market one reviewer who gave up on the queue bought from the stall opposite and found the donut cold and hard.