Gwanghui Road Festa: Shashlik, Wine and a Seoul Food Walk

Uzbek meat skewers, Georgian wine and Russian Napoleon cake are on the announced menu for Gwanghui Road Festa (광희로드 페스타), scheduled for October 24, 2026, in Seoul’s Gwanghui-dong neighborhood. 1 The festival is scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. around Central Asia Street (중앙아시아거리). 2 That sounds like an appealing excuse to build an afternoon around something savory and something sweet.

The food program connects visitors with local restaurants, and participants are due to receive a neighborhood food map introducing places to eat and the stories behind their food. 3 Think of the map as a starting point for choosing your own stops: would you rather investigate the grilled-meat options or leave room for cake?

Skewers, lamb ribs and a dessert possibility

Shashlik is the Uzbek offering in the announced lineup: meat threaded onto skewers and grilled. 4 Mongolian lamb ribs provide another meat option, while Napoleon cake represents Russian dessert in the program. 4 For a visitor choosing between those dishes, the useful distinction is straightforward: the skewers and ribs are savory possibilities, while the cake offers a sweet direction to explore. 4

Georgian wine is also included in the announced five-country food program. 1 You could make that your own point of interest rather than trying to sample every national offering. The combination of a wine stop and a dessert possibility sounds especially inviting to me.

Korean dishes belong to this neighborhood story, too: the announced program includes gukbap, seolleongtang and samgyeopsal. 4 Their inclusion reflects the area’s existing mix of Central Asian restaurants and longstanding Korean eateries sharing the same alleys. 4 The connection between the offerings is therefore geographic as well as culinary: these businesses operate alongside one another in Gwanghui-dong. 4

Follow the streets, then follow a food theme

Central Asia Street extends around Eulji-ro 42-gil and 44-gil near Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station and Dongdaemun Design Plaza, or DDP. 2 Restaurants and food shops associated with Uzbekistan, Russia and Mongolia sit in this district alongside longstanding Korean restaurants. 2

The planned food map, Gwanghui Story (광희스토리), is intended to introduce neighborhood restaurants and food stories, including dumplings, fermented drinks, tea and Central Asian spices. 2 Its coverage of foods found across several cultures offers another way to explore the area beyond the festival’s country-by-country menu. 2

Try using one of those themes as a question for your walk. What might you learn by following the map’s tea stories, or by looking for its discussion of dumplings? That gives the restaurant search a focus without turning the outing into a checklist.

News Culture traces the district’s development to Russian shuttle traders gathering near Dongdaemun Market in the early 1990s, followed by arrivals from Uzbekistan, Mongolia and elsewhere. 2 Restaurants and trade-related businesses developed to serve the traders, helping explain the food businesses found in the neighborhood today. 2

A guided option for the curious

A guided walk covering the district’s history and representative shops is planned once during the day for around 10 participants, with advance telephone registration required. 4 If that appeals, check the registration arrangements; check current restaurant menus and service times when planning your food stops, too.

Personally, I’d keep the map handy and leave a little curiosity for the Napoleon cake.