K-Event Coverage: Korea Street Fair 2025

Writer: Nishaa Ghosh (Delhi, India)

Editor: Pooja Vishwanathan (Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh)

On the final day of the Korea Street Fair, the event unfolded in a Seoul-ful manner to the tunes of K-pop in the backdrop, the smell of Korean barbecue in the air, and young people everywhere that felt unmistakably like a slice of Seoul streets. As the three-day festival came to a close, the atmosphere remained electric until late into the night.  

A Vibrant Seoul-Style Street Experience at Sunday’s Festival

Sunday’s setup leaned heavily into the festival’s promise of a Seoul-style street experience. The Hongdae street performance zone pulsed with high energy as the floor was open to random dance performances, and the young fans recreated Seoul’s youth district. Fan favourites, including popular tracks from NewJeans,  Stray Kids, BTS, BLACKPINK, Katseye, Aespa, Enhypen, Seventeen, and many more, transformed the space into a communal dance floor with onlookers enthusiastically cheering and joining spontaneously.  

The Myeongdong market zone remained one of the busiest on the final day as Korean food and skincare enthusiasts queued patiently for steaming bowls of ramyun, facemask sheets trending on the Korean streets, offered by participating brands. Korea’s largest convenience store E-mart 24 was offering a range of trending Korean snacks from teas to coffees, to Korean wafers and candies. Then there was a huge Paldo jumbo noodle bar, where one could make their own ramyun just the way they liked their bowl of steaming noodles at the onset of winters in Delhi.

Meanwhile, skincare enthusiasts gravitated towards K-beauty products ranging from sheet masks and glow serums to lip tints and nail art. Brands like Dashing Diva,  Missha, Orjerra, Yuja C, BOM, and Vylco offered hands-on trials and expert consultations. Visitors eager for Korean skin care and cosmetics reflected the burgeoning local demand for k-beauty products. 

The photobooth was one of the most crowded areas with fans waiting patiently to get themselves clicked. The photobooth remained packed until late hours with visitors clicking snapshots that quickly spread like wildfire on social media, a perfect blend between trend and personal memory making.  

Dynamic Partnerships in the Gangnam/COEX Street Business Area

Business and cultural collaborations were vibrantly visible at the Gangnam/COEX street business Zone. The street fair was not just all fun and frolic, but it was also about business, with Korean SMEs and banks participating in the fair. We were talking about Fair Trade India x KOTRA, Shinhan Bank,  Gyeongsangbuk-do, HempGlobal, Turmeric, KTO x Yatra, and also KOSME and KOTRA.  We were lucky to get an exclusive bite with the COO, Nikita Sharma, at I-KETS, a study in Korea, and a  Korean language learning agency that explained to us about KOSME. KOSME is a non-profit government-funded organization supporting the development of Korean SMEs. 

A Taste of Tradition: The Gwangjang Street K-Food Experience

Across the venue, the Gwangjang Street K-food zone reflected the historic market famous for its authentic  Korean food, which has now garnered international attention. The air was thick with delicious scents. This corner was filled with the sizzling, boiling, clinking, and crackling onomatopoeia of cooking. Various  Korean hawker-style k-food bars were selling Korean tteokboki, Korean corn dogs, fish cakes, to pajeons,  and a rich, comforting, and savory aroma hung in the air enough to make anyone drool. Visitors had plenty of options to choose from, including Miso restaurant/cafe Dabang, Seoul Station and Beekend, Kfriends,  KYCI, and Dalgona. Each spot offered its own interpretation of Korean cooking, allowing visitors to choose from a wide variety of tastes and textures. 

I had the opportunity to interview Oh Jin-woo, owner and head chef of Seoul Station. He had previously worked in Japan, but didn’t enjoy the work culture there. He returned to Korea and eventually decided to come to India, where he found that Indian customers genuinely appreciated his food, vibe, and behaviour. 

He often says that their love made him fall in love with India as well. He even went on a road trip to Rajasthan with Indian friends, enjoying camel rides in the Jaisalmer desert. When he first started the restaurant, he planned to focus mainly on fast food, but as people loved his dishes, he kept expanding the menu—adding new drinks, bibimbap, corn dogs, and tteokbokki. Seoul station is located in Lajpat Nagar and has a 4.9 rating out of 5 stars, based on over 200 reviews on Google.  

D, a Delhi University graduate and dedicated K-pop enthusiast, expressed that she was particularly drawn to the offerings at Seoul Station. She stated, and I quote,

I enjoyed the perfectly fried corn dogs and the spicy, comforting tteokbokki, which reminded her of scenes from her favorite Korean dramas. I also enjoyed the Korean cold coffee at K-friends, and it is now my new favorite. Basically, I really enjoyed the  food, the atmosphere, and the vibrant energy of the venue, and the experience was unforgettable, and I would love to go again

Anu, an entrepreneur with her own online venture called Ara studios, stated, and I quote,

The food stalls were good, I had an amazing food experience.

Kirti, a young lawyer, stated, and I quote her experience,

As always, I bumped into people who were also headed the same way as I was at the nearest metro station. Once we reached Worldmark, I was overwhelmed in a good way as the Korean vibe was stronger than ever! From beautiful colourful stalls selling accessories,  to pop-up stores that displayed Korean beauty and skincare in all its aesthetic glory!Safe to say that I was tempted and didn’t really wanna go back home. But more than anything, it’s the sense of having a community, your own community, that fills one with a sense of joy that is not found anywhere else. Such events help with not only having a sense of and forming your own community, but it’s also a place where you make friends as you go! Every stranger present there is like you and me, a Korean culture fan, and on  that we bond!

Conclusion

The visitors had a wide array of experiences from bustling stalls filled with Korean products to interactive zones like hanbok fittings, and the air buzzed with excitement as fans lined up for K-pop random dance performances, while many explored Korean street cuisine. In the end, the festival wasn’t just a weekend getaway, but it was a cultural immersion, a celebration of  Hallyu, and a testament to the ever-deepening bond between Indian and Korean cultures.

Were you there at the Korea Street Fair? Drop your thoughts and favourite moments in the comments below!