Ask any British person which supermarket sells the best food and the answer will be unanimously Marks & Spencer. Their luxury goods have endless bounds of deliciousness and you always feel a bit special every time you do your shopping there. Living in Seoul is sometimes especially hard for Brits as our cute and quirky cuisine doesn’t really seem to catch on in other countries like American food does, making things like Prawn cocktail crisps, Branston pickle, and Marmite impossibly hard to find. Whenever I travel outside of Korea I always make a beeline for M&S, as they have huge stores in Hong Kong and in Shanghai. They even have semi large ones in Singapore & Kuala Lumpur but I never dreamed we would have M&S food here in Seoul. But we do, we do have food and it’s about time that we got our grubby little mitts on it.
Around 6 years ago when I first came to Korea, I quickly found out they had a variety of stores all over the country, but when I went miles out of my way to investigate, I found that it was only a small corner of a department store selling overpriced clothes that my nan might wear. I never though to go and try the stores in Seoul so I put it to the back of my mind and forgot all about it. Then just a few weeks ago I posted about my Singapore trip and one of lovely readers told me we do have food in Seoul and it’s in Apgujeong. So as fast as my feet could carry me I took myself round there to check it out.
I walked through the Hyundai department store aisles scouring away looking for goodies. Would it be a store, a corner, an aisle, or just a meager shelf? Quite frankly I didn’t care, any M&S is better than no M&S. Then lo and behold, the crowds parted and my eyes rested upon that heavenly sight.
The section was bigger than I expected, three mini aisles and a back shelf, all full to the brim. First things first, because I know you will ask, yes they do have Percy Pigs (5,000). They had at least four different types that I could see, and other British classics like strong mints, humbugs, and caramels.
The most impressive selection was the biscuits. Oh the biscuits, there is nothing better in life than a cup of tea and a biscuit and for some reason the choices you get here just aren’t a patch on what we get home. But never fear everything is here, bourbons, custard creams, chocolate fingers, shortbread and the mightiest biscuit of them all, the Jaffa Cake (3,800). I snapped up a box in a heartbeat.
Chocolate galore is here too. Including my favourite, Giant chocolate buttons (7,200). They also have Turkish delight, Marzipan, and a selection of their lovely chocolates in a box like cherry liquors, chocolate Brazil nuts, and Operetta.
Also stocked are tea and coffee for dunking those lovely biscuits in. As well as jams, marmalade and Muesli.
And even crisps, only two kinds but two is better than none. Cheese & Onion (5,700) and Sour Cream (4,000). They also had an abundance of crackers too.
They seemed to have lots of seasonal stuff from Christmas and Valentine’s day, so dare I even hope they may have a few bits for Easter? Fingers crossed!
As well as the fabulous M&S section, the Hyundai store has loads of other cool stuff too. They seemed to be having a huge sale on dairy when I went with lots of cheese for 50% off so I got myself some buffalo mozzarella, 2 for (9,000), and a luxury French butter (7,500). Because at 50% off why the hell not. If you are in Apgujeong it would be a crime not to go and have a look around, especially since the free samples were plentiful.
There are various branches of M&S located all over the country, to get a definitive list check here. Some of the other stores may even have more products so be sure to let me know if they do. The location I visited was located on the basement floor of the Hyundai Department store in Apgujeong. To get there take a train to Apgujeong station (line 3) and walk towards exit 6 which is located in the station and will take you directly into the department store. Walk straight until you enter the main supermarket part of the store. The Marks & Spencer section is located to the far left in between the drinks and beauty products.