Gmarket is pretty much an expat’s best friend. Granted, it is somewhat difficult to navigate without some knowledge of Korean, but being able to read the language – even if you don’t understand all the vocabulary – is quite an advantage.
The main reason I say that gmarket is an expat’s best friend, however, is that it is a cheap place to find a lot of the items you can’t find elsewhere at more reasonable prices and with the convenience of not having to hunt all over the peninsula in every market only to turn up empty-handed (which has happened to us, albeit on a much smaller scale, a number of times before). Equally as bad is hunting down an item in the recesses of Dongdaemun just to find it at HomePlus or on gmarket later at a much lower price, knowing it could have been delivered to your door in 48 hours or less! (but sometimes a little longer)
Here’s a recent example: last month it was PapaFish’s birthday. We invited some work friends over for chili and fish tacos. I wanted to make Mississippi Mud Cake. We needed some hard-to-find, or otherwise wallet-breaking ingredients.
Therefore, I sat down at my computer, and VOILA!
Chili Powder? OKAY. (link)
Cocoa Powder? NO PROBLEM! (link)
Tortillas? AS IF! (link, although PapaFish ended up making them himself…on his birthday, no less!)
Non-dairy heavy whipping cream? YOU BETCHA! (link)
We even bought a spatula to ice the cake. (link)
Mmm…Mississippi Muuuuud… Happy Birthday, PapaFish!
There are a great many other baking-type items we’ve found at gmarket – including cookie cutters, marshmallows, icing, flour, vanilla…you name it! It’s way too long of a list to post here, so why not just check out the whole baking section for yourself? (link)
We have a growing list of items for baby, which we’ll be saving for another post. Until then, we’re wishing you safe and prosperous gmarket travels!
