Eating in Korea: what first-timers get wrong (and how to fix it)

Korean restaurants are relaxed, fast and cheap by US standards, but they run on a few unwritten rules. Learn these and you will eat better and stop wondering whether you are doing something wrong.

At the table

• No tipping. Not in restaurants, not in taxis, not at the hotel. The price on the menu is the price. Leaving money on the table confuses people.
• The call button. Most tables have a small button (호출). Press it and someone comes; waving or calling out is not rude, but the button is how it is done.
• Banchan are free and refillable. The small side dishes — kimchi, pickled radish, greens, fish cake — come with every meal. Ask for more of the ones you like (“더 주세요”, deo juseyo). Water is free and usually self-service from a cooler or in a bottle on the table.
• Two-portion minimum. Barbecue, stews and many hot-pot dishes are cooked for the table, and restaurants often will not serve a single portion. Solo travellers: look for places with “1인” (one person) on the sign, or eat at food courts, noodle shops and gimbap counters, which are happy to serve one.
• Pay at the counter on the way out, not at the table. Splitting the bill is common now; just say “따로” (ttaro, separately).

Manners that matter

• Chopsticks are metal and flat, and the rice bowl stays on the table — you do not lift it. The spoon is for rice and soup; chopsticks are for everything else.
• Do not stick chopsticks upright in rice (it is a funeral gesture).
• When drinking with Koreans, pour for others, never for yourself, and hold the bottle or your glass with two hands when pouring for or receiving from someone older. Younger people turn slightly away from elders when they drink.
• Let the oldest person at the table start eating first.

Where to eat

Follow the office workers at lunch: a place that is full at 12:10 is good and cheap. Traditional markets — Gwangjang in Seoul, Jagalchi in Busan — are for bindaetteok, tteokbokki and raw fish at counter stools. Korean convenience stores (CU, GS25, 7-Eleven) are a meal in themselves: triangle gimbap, instant noodles with hot water on tap, and a microwave by the door. And if you see a line outside a bakery or café at 10 a.m., join it — Koreans line up only for things that are worth it.