First-Timer Must-Try
The taste of Korea you will experience for the first time
The safest, most-loved dishes to start your Korean food journey with confidence.
If the ordering style and side-dish culture in Korean restaurants feel unfamiliar, it is easier to start with foods whose flavors are easy to understand. These foods come in forms travelers often encounter, such as rice, meat, noodles, and street snacks. Spice level, seasoning adjustments, and whether single-person orders are possible vary by menu and restaurant, but these choices are generally low-pressure for a first try.
Samgyeopsal is grilled at the table and eaten with leafy wraps, garlic, and Ssamjang, making it a good way to learn the flow of a Korean meal. Bibimbap mixes rice, seasoned vegetables, meat, and egg in one bowl, so you can see the ingredient combination at a glance. Tteokbokki is characterized by spicy-sweet sauce and chewy rice cakes, making it an easy dish to try at a snack shop or market.
Samgyeopsal
삼겹살 · samgyeopsal
A representative Korean grilled dish made by grilling pork belly without seasoning, typically dipped in salt or oil sauce. The layers of fat melt, creating a rich flavor while the outside is grilled to a golden color, boasting a chewy texture. It is common to wrap it in lettuce or perilla leaves with ssamjang and garlic.
Bibimbap
비빔밥 · bi-bim-bap
A representative Korean rice dish topped with various vegetables, meat, and eggs, mixed with gochujang.
Tteokbokki
떡볶이 · tteok-bokki
This is a spicy and sweet dish made by boiling rice cakes and fish cakes in a gochujang seasoned broth. The chewy rice cakes absorb the spicy and sweet sauce, and fried foods or kimbap are dipped in the broth and enjoyed together. It is a representative snack that is enjoyed cheaply at snack shops and on the streets.
Bulgogi
불고기 · bulgogi
A traditional Korean dish made by seasoning thinly sliced beef with soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and more, then grilling it on a metal plate. It is characterized by a sweet and savory flavor and is usually eaten wrapped in leafy vegetables.
Korean Fried Chicken
치킨 · chikin
A dish made by frying chicken coated in batter, characterized by its crispy texture. It can be enjoyed with various sauces and styles, including soy sauce, seasoned, and fried, and is often eaten with beer.
Bossam
보쌈 · bossam
A Korean dish made by wrapping thin slices of boiled pork in kimchi and leafy vegetables.
Galbijjim
갈비찜 · galbi-jjim
A sweet and tender dish made by marinating beef short ribs in a mixture of soy sauce, pear, and garlic, then steaming it with radish, carrots, and jujubes until fully cooked. The broth thickens and infuses the meat deeply with flavor, making it so tender that the meat easily falls off the bone. It is served as a celebratory dish during holidays like Seollal and Chuseok, typically shared on a large platter among many people.
Steamed Egg
계란찜 · Gye-ran-jjim
A traditional Korean steamed dish made by thoroughly steaming eggs to become soft and moist.
Jajangmyeon
짜장면 · jja-jang-myeon
A Korean-Chinese dish made with wheat noodles topped with a sauce made by stir-frying chunjang. The salty and sweet sauce blends well with the noodles, boasting a unique flavor.
Yangnyeom Chicken
양념치킨 · yangnyeom-chikin
Korean-style chicken dish coated with spicy and sweet seasoning sauce on fried chicken. The crispy batter is well soaked with the seasoning, making it easy to eat by hand.
Ramyeon
라면 · ramyeon
A quick noodle dish made by boiling flour noodles in hot broth, characterized by a variety of flavorful soups.
Seafood Pancake
해물파전 · hae-mul-pa-jeon
A pancake made by pouring a flour batter over scallions and topped with seafood such as squid and shrimp. It's crispy on the outside and moist on the inside with the scallions and seafood blending together. It's typically enjoyed cut up and shared with dipping sauce on rainy days as a side dish for Makgeolli.
