What to eat South Korea? culinary specialties and gastronomy

Discover South Korea : Gastronomy

Less well known than the gastronomies of its big neighbours such as China and Japan, Korean cuisine in France has enjoyed a recent and intense craze among gourmets. It must be said that the cuisine of the peninsula is delicious and certainly one of the healthiest in the world. Balanced and low-fat, it has a lot of vegetables, especially lacto-fermented vegetables - such as the famous kimchi - about which nutritionists are full of praise, praising its benefits for the body, whereas the Koreans have a real cult for it. Rice, noodles, tofu, vegetables, meat, fish and seafood are generously seasoned with chilli, soy sauce and garlic, which are omnipresent in the local cuisine. Not to mention the famous Korean barbecue, where guests grill the meat themselves while sipping soju, a rice alcohol that has become the country's national drink.

Kimchi, the king of banchan

Rice (bap) is a major component of meals in Korea. Accompanied by soup and banchan (cooked or lacto-fermented vegetables), it constitutes a meal in itself. The kimchi, the king of banchan, is a true Korean national heritage to which a museum and a foundation are even dedicated in Seoul, while in 2013, the kimjang (the art of preparing kimchi) was classified on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The most popular kimchi is made from Chinese cabbage: tongbaechu kimchi (whole cabbage), baek k imchi (white cabbage, without chilli), but also from radish: chonggak k imchi (whole radish), dongchimi (radish in water, eaten iced), kkakdugi (radish cut into cubes and spiced) and so on. Other vegetables include the delicious o-isobagi (stuffed cucumber). Rich in vitamins, fibre and probiotics, it is considered a major superfood in the country. Korea makes a much more generous use of chilli pepper compared to the cuisines of Japan or northern China. It can be found everywhere: whole, in flakes, powder or also in fermented paste called gochujang. Soy sauce, garlic, ginger and sesame oil are also widely used.

The soups

Soups are essential to a meal in Korea. Doenjang-jjigae, a thick soup made of fermented bean paste, is served hot with zucchini, clams, pork, tofu. It is one of the basic soups of the Korean diet, nourishing and delicious. Galbi-tang is a soup of vegetables, tofu and beef ribs(galbi) while seollong-tang, a milky soup, consists of a broth of beef bones that is garnished with thin slices of meat and noodles. The very popular kimchi-jjigae or kimchi soup is also garnished with tofu and pork. This must in Korean cuisine is obviously very spicy. Haemul-tang is a very spicy but delicious seafood soup containing crabmeat, prawns, shellfish, crayfish and even octopus. Close enough, maeun-tang is a fish and shellfish soup, also spicy. Samgye-tang, a light broth, contains a whole cockerel cooked with sticky rice, ginseng, jujubes and chestnuts: it's the Korean equivalent of potted chicken, with less vegetables. The sundubu-jjigae is a soup of tofu, clams and chilli pepper, topped with an egg yolk before serving. Finally, let's mention the yukgaejang, a very hot beef soup with mushrooms, fern shoots and chilli pepper.

Noodles and rice

Noodles are very common with, for example, handmade wheat-based kal-guksu noodles served in a seafood broth. But the best known Korean noodle dish is probably japchae, a specialty of Chinese origin made from sweet potato vermicelli(dangmyeon), vegetables and beef. The mul naengmyeon, a recipe of buckwheat and potato vermicelli, is served with pieces of potato, a hard-boiled egg and cucumber slices, all in a cold broth. Bibim naengmyeon is a similar recipe, but contains chilli paste. Ramyeon, a Korean version of ramen, are spicy instant noodles, very economical, served in small restaurants. But Koreans also love rice. Bibimbap is probably the most famous recipe. This rice is served with cold vegetables, cooked meat, chilli pepper paste and a fried egg that you will mix(bibim means to mix) to combine all the ingredients. The fried egg is sometimes replaced by a raw egg yolk. The dolsot bibimbap is another version where the rice is served in a hot earth dish. It is then toasted on its sides and becomes slightly crispy. Otherwise the bokkeumbap, a simple fried rice, contains kimchi, pork, onion, often topped with a fried egg. Another famous dish, Korean gimbap or sushi is made of rice filled with strips of vegetables, omelette, cooked meat, surimi, and wrapped in a sheet of dried seaweed, which is cut into thick slices like a Japanese maki. Finally the mandu are ravioli stuffed with meat and kimchi, which are served steamed (mulmandu), fried (gunmandu ) or in soup (manduguk).

Korean barbecues

Grilled meats are most often cooked on a barbecue in the middle of the table and eaten in lettuce leaves that are filled with meat, kimchi, pickled onions, goguma mattang (caramelized sweet potato), garlic puree, etc. The meat is then cooked on the grill. Restaurants with barbecues are particularly popular in the evenings, and you will notice the many tables occupied by co-workers, where alcohol is flowing. The tables have a hole in the middle where you can place a small cauldron filled with glowing embers, which is topped by a grill where the guests grill their own meat. Beef and pork are the most common meats served at a Korean barbecue, with different cuts and sometimes marinated. This is the case with bulgogi, a slice of meat marinated in a mixture of pear puree, garlic and soy sauce. Samgyeopsal is a pork belly speciality, while galbi is a grilled rib of beef or pork. Other barbecue dishes include grilled fish(saengseon gu-i) or even squid marinated in chilli pepper(ojingeo tonggui). Some popular dishes are also fried such as yangnyeom-tongdak, a recipe for fried chicken in chilli sauce. Close enough, dakgangjeong is a sweet and sour fried chicken dish with peanuts.

Stews

All dishes ending with -jjim or -jeongol are stews or cassolettes, the former being generally without juice. Beoseot-jeongol, for example, is a mushroom cassolette, while dakgalbi is a spicy stew of chicken cooked in front of you on a plate, onions, sweet potatoes, cabbage, etc. As for the galbi-jim, it is a stew of beef or pork ribs cooked in a sweet juice made from soy sauce and vegetables. For chilli lovers, buldak is a must. This dish, which could literally be translated as"fire chicken", is indeed bursting with chilli peppers. Sometimes the chicken is covered with mozzarella cheese and melted in the oven. More refined, the sinseollo is a cassolette of ingredients (vegetables, meat, omelette) placed in a dish containing a central chimney where embers are placed. It is a courtly recipe and is only found in high-class restaurants. The bossam is the traditional dish par excellence. This boiled pork belly is then cut into strips and eaten with kimchi, often fresh, wrapped in a leaf of salad or blanched cabbage.

Street food

Korean street food is also an experience in itself. In addition to the multitude of restaurants that populate the streets of Seoul in particular, you will notice, in the busiest areas (often in university districts) and around the night markets, an impressive number of stalls offering snacks at very reduced prices. A must try. The pojangmacha (tent-restaurant) offers a bit of everything from sausages to spicy rice cakes and fried food. Tteokbokki is a type of thick stick-shaped rice paste with a slightly elastic texture, which is coated with a very spicy marinade. Eomuk, a skewer made from fish paste (sometimes with chicken), is fried in oil. In South Korea, a hot dog is a sausage wrapped in paste and fried in oil. The peacock is a delicious green onion cake, often with seafood (haemul pajeon). Close enough, the bindaetteok is a galette with mung bean sprouts, meat and assorted vegetables.

Exotic recipes

Some Korean specialties can however seem more unsettling, such as the famous sannakji, live octopus that you wrap as best you can around your chopsticks before swallowing it. For the well hung stomachs, all the more so as on average each year 6 Koreans die choking on this dish. Other dishes include gejang, raw crab, seasoned with soy sauce, hongeo-hoe, a fermented skate recipe with a powerful smell, or gaebul or sea penis, a sea worm with a rather evocative shape. Finally, the most controversial speciality is bosintang or dog soup. South Korea is one of the few countries to consume dog meat that tastes like beef.

The desserts

In Korea, the term tteok refers to all kinds of sticky rice cakes, usually filled with sweet red bean paste, raisins, sesame seeds, sweet pumpkin paste, jujubes, pine nuts or honey. Yaksik is a compacted sticky rice cake containing chestnuts, pine nuts, jujubes and other ingredients, while chapssaltteok is a tteok filled with sweet bean paste. Otherwise, there are a number of more classic pastries and cakes such as gukhwa-ppang, a small cake moulded in the shape of a chrysanthemum flower and filled with red bean paste. The same filling is used to garnish bungeo-ppang, waffles in the shape of fish. Otherwise why not indulge in a kkwabaegi, a pretty twisted doughnut rolled in sugar? On the other hand, hangwa is a general term referring to all types of traditional Korean sweets. The ingredients of the hangwa are mainly cereal flour, honey and sugar, or fruit and root vegetables. The hangwa is often divided into yumilgwa (fried candy), jeonggwa (candied fruit), gwapyeon (fruit jelly) and dasik (small molded tea biscuits).

The drinks

In Korean cuisine, tea or cha refers to different types of herbal teas that can be served hot or cold and not just tea infusions. They can be made from fruits (e.g. yuja-cha, with lemon yuja), flowers (gukhwa-cha, with chrysanthemums), leaves, roots and grains (e.g. bori-cha, with barley or hyeonmi-cha, with brown rice) or herbs and substances used in traditional Korean medicine, such as ginseng (insam-cha) and ginger (saenggang-cha). The tea ceremony in Korea is called darye. Among the teas consumed in the country, green (nokcha) is by far the most common, although oolong ( hwangcha ) or black tea (hongcha ) is also common. There are also other beverages such as sikhye (a drink made from sweetened fermented rice) or sujeonggwa (made from dried persimmon

and cinnamon). On the alcohol side, beer (maekju) is very popular. National brands, brewed from rice rather than barley, are lighter and sweeter than their western counterparts. The South Korean beer market is dominated by the two main breweries: Hite and OB, although microbreweries have been gaining popularity since the early 2000s. Korean emblem par excellence, soju is a clear rice alcohol (sometimes made from sweet potatoes or barley) that has a strength of around 20°, but can go up to 45°. A favourite drink of students and businessmen, it is often drunk in groups and the etiquette is to always have someone else fill your glass at the table to maintain camaraderie during dinner. Lighter, yakju is a pure refined liqueur fermented from rice, the best known being cheongju not exceeding 17°, like sake. In addition to rice wine, there are various fruit wines made from acacia, plum, quince, cherry or black raspberry.

Enjoying yourself South Korea

Timetable South Korea

Even if it's difficult to give a precise range of opening times, as the restaurant business is so varied, it's worth noting that establishments are generally open between 10am and 10-11pm. Of course, there are also restaurants that offer early morning service for breakfast. And that's a very good thing if you want to experience breakfast in the pure Korean tradition!

It's also worth noting that, depending on the restaurant, the last order can be placed between 1 hour and 30 minutes before closing time.

Budget & Tips South Korea

South Korea is famous for its low-cost restaurants. This is not false advertising, because for 7,000 to 15,000 won, you can have a quality meal. When it comes to barbecue restaurants, the minimum order is often for 3 people. It's very easy to find soup or stew dishes for less than 10,000 won per person. For slightly more upscale tables, you'll need to budget between 20,000 and 50,000 won, and around 10,000 won for gourmet meals.

In South Korea, it's important to know that in some establishments (restaurants as well as cafés/bars), it's compulsory to order one dish per person. Many travelers are unaware of this, but it is possible to order as many side dishes as you like(banchan/반찬) in every restaurant. You'll often find small coffee machines at the entrance to an establishment - go ahead, it's free! Keep an eye out, as many establishments offer 2+1 or 3+1 on grilled meat, or on beer and soju. If you don't have the time, or don't feel like eating out, you can always visit the "Tous les Jours" or "Paris Baguette" shops (they're everywhere!), which offer sandwiches, salads, savoury bread... at reasonable prices. The same goes for convenience stores such as CU, 7/Eleven, Ministop...

What costs extra South Korea

It's not part of Korean culture to leave tips. If you do, they may feel embarrassed and refuse them.

The local way South Korea

In South Korea, as in all Asian countries, people eat with chopsticks. Korean chopsticks are very different from those found in China or Japan, for example. They're heavier and made of metal (to check, at the time, the risk of poisoning).

To say that there's a grilled pork restaurant every 50 meters is far from an exaggeration. In fact, that's what foreigners prefer to eat here: grilled brisket. In these restaurants, as everywhere else in the country, on every table you'll find a small dish of kimchi, the typical fermented cabbage. There's no escaping it.

At first, you'll no doubt be surprised by the incessant ding-dong of table bells. Don't hesitate to use it, as it's common practice here when service is a little slow.

South Korea has a pretty impressive delivery service. It doesn't matter where you are, you can have your food delivered, at any time.

It's good to know that in the older restaurants, there are no toilets inside and you often have to take a door in the back of the restaurant that leads outside. Follow the sign 화장실.

Be careful, in Korea restaurants can be found in buildings and there are no first floors, so you start straight away on the^1st floor. It's a good idea to keep this in mind so you don't get lost. In Korea, a restaurant that is on the^2nd floor in our conception will be indicated by the Koreans as being on the^3rd.

On your travels, you're bound to see little orange tents with delicious smells. These are the pojangmacha / 포장마차, street-food stalls that could not be more typical of the Korean landscape.

To be avoided South Korea

In South Korea, some restaurants serve bosintang (보신탕), a soup made from dog meat, which, while still enjoyed by 3% of the population, is generating controversy. A bipartisan bill aims to close down the 1,000 or so dog meat farms in the near future, sparking growing opposition from animal rights activists, and testifying to a change in mentality among the general population. In the meantime, most of the time, the bosintang sign is displayed on the storefront, so paying attention will help you avoid unpleasant surprises.

Kids South Korea

Newer brands will have high chairs or booster seats to accommodate toddlers. And sometimes there's even a dedicated playroom. This last point is especially true of the newer brands.

Smokers South Korea

As in many countries, smoking is prohibited in restaurants. Some places will offer small smoking rooms or outdoor terraces.