One of my first experiences traveling overseas was to Korea. I got to learn about a new culture and eat some great food.
Korea has so many great dishes to try – from fresh seafood, to the extremely spicy, to the exotic and to the delicious baked goods and sweet treats – you will not get bored! But for the first-time visitor, here are 7 popular dishes you must try:
Rice
My job took me to a city about an hour outside of Seoul called Icheon. Known for rice fields, the people of Icheon used to grow the rice specific to the Kings of ancient time.
One of the best things to try is a traditional rice restaurant with all the side dishes, or banchan. The rice is cooked in a stone bowl over an open fire. At the bottom they add a little cooking oil so the rice gets a little crispy and makes for an excellent texture to the sticky rice.
You may get a few black beans in your rice as added flavour to the simple dish. The rice is definitely the star of the meal, but the side dishes are what accompany it perfectly. They say the best food takes time and love to make. And these side dishes are prepared well before. They are usually pickled, marinated or fermented in large batches. But they all have a unique flavour which goes great with the steaming hot rice.
Some of the dishes include kimchi (of course), kimchi tofu, pickled soy bean sprouts, pickled seaweed, pickled garlic shoots, pickled cucumber, eggplant in soy sauce, quail eggs in soy sauce, cooked potatoes in honey, dried baby fish in honey, and many more. Depending on the time of year, or the restaurant, they may be different. But one thing that is the same is they are unlimited. As long as you have rice, you can keep ordering side dishes. This is a very traditional Korean meal I highly recommend.
Mul Naengmyeon
Now Korea is on a peninsula so it does get pretty hot and muggy during the summers. One dish they eat in the summer is a cold buckwheat noodle soup called Mul Naengmyeon. I love this, and would eat it even in the cold winters if they were available.
The noodles are thin and a little chewy. The soup is usually ice cold, sweet and a little tangy. And they top it off with half a hard boiled egg and spicy red paste called gochujang. You can also add some vinegar or spicy yellow mustard to your taste. It is totally refreshing and satisfying if you have been on a long hot bus ride or shopping at an outdoor market on a hot summer day.
There is another version where they don’t put the noodles in the cold soup which is just as good, but usually much spicier without the broth. There are many choices for naengmyeon but try to find a place that it’s the only item on the menu. If that’s their specialty it’s probably really good.
Jajangmyeon
Another dish you have to try is Jajangmyeon. This black bean paste noodle dish is also very sweet and savoury. The black bean paste will stain anything so avoid getting this on your clothes. Most Koreans won’t call this dish Korean, but rather Chinese. But the best place to eat this is in Korea.
They also consider it a children’s dish as it’s more popular to order for your kids. Now the noodles are more egg based so they are usually yellow, and the black bean sauce is so thick by the time you mix your noodles you think you were eating squid ink noodles. But it tastes delicious!
There’s a sweet and salty flavour from the black bean sauce, and the noodles are almost a ramen thickness and texture. If you can find someone who speaks Korean to order this dish for you, they will deliver it to any location. Whether it’s your home, your office, the karaoke bar, or even at the park, they will show up on a motorbike to deliver you your jajangmyeon.
Ddeokbokki
Sticking with the kids food theme, ddeokbokki is a childhood favourite. It’s a very inexpensive street food that you can find almost anywhere. They take bite-sized rice cakes and slow cook them in red chili paste and corn syrup. It’s sweet and spicy with a nice chewy texture. Avoid eating this cold as the rice cakes will be very hard and may pull your teeth out if you try to chew them.
Street vendors usually serve them in small cups with tooth picks to eat with. If you’re in a sit down restaurant they may serve it on a plate with ramen noodles and a hard boiled egg. Be careful while eating this too as you may never get the red pepper sauce out of your clothes.
Dakgalbi
Louise’s favourite dish from Korea was Dakgalbi. She loved it so much she learned how to make it at home now. I’d say she’s got it pretty close.
Watch out – this is a very spicy dish! Like most recipes, it has gochujang, which is the base for the marinated chicken. They cook it on a hot oiled pan and add ddeokkbokki, cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes and sometimes other vegetables depending on the restaurant.
Usually the server will cook it in front of you but some places let you cook it yourself. They know you may get some on your shirt so they may give you a bib to protect your clothes. Very thoughtful.
Galbi & Samgyeopsal
If you have watched any Korean drama or been out for Korean food, they are best known for their barbecue. They barbecue all three types of meats: pork, beef and chicken. Samgyeopsal is pork belly which is the most popular. Galbi is beef and dakgalbi is chicken. Depending on the restaurant they may marinate the meat or just leave it as is.
When you sit down to your table, the center is cut out for your grill. They come by with some hot coals and a grill to cover it. Be very careful to not burn yourself as these coals are very hot.
They then bring you some rice and side dishes to get you started. This is followed by a basket with lettuce, hot peppers, red pepper paste (gochujang) and garlic. Sometimes they will even have some sesame leaves in the basket. These are for you to wrap your meat and eat like a lettuce wrap.
When they deliver you your meat it is raw and not even cut. So they provide you with some tongs and scissors to cut your meat while grilling. As you start cooking your cuts of meat you take the scissors and cut it into bite size pieces so anyone can start grabbing the cooked pieces and stuff their faces.
The fresh garlic also goes on the grill and sometimes they even give cut onions to grill too. The traditional way to eat this dish is to take a piece of lettuce, add some red pepper paste, a roasted garlic and a nice piece of meat. Wrap them all together like a tiny burrito and eat it all in one bite.
If you have lots of people and you are continuously cooking, they often bring you a new grill so you are cooking on a fresh clean grill. And if you need more coals to keep the fire hot, they will also come by and replenish. The best part is you will go home and your clothes will smell like you have been grilling all day and make everyone jealous you just ate Korean barbecue.
Patbingsu
After eating all this spicy food, you have to cool your pallet. Try a patbingsu, or shave ice. Louise loved this, too, as it was like a Filipino halo halo.
The base of the bowl is filled with shaved ice. The better the restaurant, the softer and fluffier the ice. Then they pile on fruit and ice cream, and whatever you want to add. Like Yogurtland or Menchies, but with shaved ice. I remember them putting cereal, like fruit loops, sweet red beans, and sweet mochi balls.
This is also perfect for the summer. Like lots of the better food, find the restaurant that is only making patbingu so you know you made the right choice.
Korea was such a great country for food. I’d suggest when you visit to make friends with a local and find out what they think is good food. Though you can never go wrong when the restaurant is busy and everyone there is Korean except you.
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