We met at this cooking school in the Insadong area to go on a Korean Night Food Tour. Joining me was a couple from Iowa and, of course, our guide.

Christmas trees lit up in the middle of January--not an unusual sight in Asia.

Walking through an alley to our first restaurant.

A Korean barbecue (gogigui). The meat (we had beef) would be cooked over the grill. The condiments were fresh garlic, bean paste, radishes, kimchi (fermented cabbage and other vegetables), squid, and something green.

The meat cooking.

First soup. It was very good but way too spicy for me to finish much of it.

We used sesame leaves to put in our meat and condiments. Sesame leaves are a member of the mint family and no related to the sesame plant.

Other leaves were available also. The Korean barbecue was absolutely delicious. I added garlic, bean paste, and radishes to my meat.

Next, our guide made up a drink called cojingmek, which is a mix of one part soju (clear alcohol)--on the top; and one part beer--in the middle; a coca cola--on the bottom. "Cojingamek" translates to "First bad things come then good things."

We each, except for our guide, had a cojinanmek. Very good. Then we played a game where you kept adding alcohol to a glass, trying not to spill it out of the glass. I lost, so I had to drink the whole thing.

Walking through another alleyway.

We are now on Insadong Street, a traditional Korean street.

Colorful at night.

Advertising a bar.

This must be it.

Starbucks. It is the only Starbucks in Korea where its name is in Korean characters. This is in keeping with the traditional nature of the street. In 2014, there were more Starbucks in Seoul than in any other city in the world. You see one Starbucks after another Starbucks after another. Coffee at the Starbucks is about twice the price as in the U.S. and it is a status symbol to walk around with a Starbucks cup in your hand.

The entrance to our next restaurant.

The restaurant.

The restaurant specialized in toppoki, which are rice cakes. Many types of toppoki, one being cream cheese toppoki.

Another, seafood toppoki.

Another, fried rice toppoki.

Another, rice cake toppoki.

We had rice cake toppoki.

The toppoki. It was okay but liked much by my tour mates. I ate so much Korean barbecue that I didn't eat much afterward.

And another alcoholic drink, Maehwasu--Korean plum liquor. It was sweet and tasty.

Walking down another alley to our next restaurant.

A sign for beer on the way.

Sign for our restaurant.

The restaurant was in a large tent. Rolls of toilet paper hung from the rafters to use as napkins. (A Korean-American woman on another tour told me it is not unsual to use toilet paper for napkins in Korea.)

Restaurant patrons.

Many cartoons on the walls.

Cartoons and toilet paper.

The kitchen.

Part of our meal: Korean egg roll. Not too bad.

A ground beef dish--okay.

More alcohol, made from a mixture of wheat and rice. Sweet and good.

The restaurant's cat.

We next took a very long walk to a very big indoor market. Street food seen on the way.

More street food.

Inside the market.

Many food vendors here.

Nuts, beans, etc.

Dried fish.

All kinds of food ready to go.

And more.

A food vendor. This was a popular place to eat.

Something is cooking.

A restaurant in the market.

Display seen on our way upstairs.

Where we ate.

Tteckbokki, made from rice cake, fish cake, and sweet red chili sauce. I didn't try it as I had no more room after eating at the previous restaurants. There was also kimchi.

Korean shrimp pancakes. This looked good.

Cut up. More alcohol but I didn't have any. I had already drunk too much.

Leaving the market. End of our food tour.