Korean Life Explained

At first, sitting down at a Korean fried chicken restaurant feels familiar. Chicken. Fried chicken. A meal with cola or beer. So far, nothing feels strange. Then, after a few minutes, small things you do not recognize start to appear on the table. A small bowl of white cubes may arrive before the chicken, sometimes together with the drinks. A friend from Sweden once told me that the first time he saw it, he thought it was a bowl of ice. It was not ice. It was chicken mu, the pickled radish often served with Korean fried chicken. Then you notice other things. The menu has the word “half-and-half.” There is a call button on the table. If you order saucy chicken, disposable plastic gloves may be placed next to the plate. If you order bone-in chicken, a small empty container may come with the food too. A first-time visitor pauses here. Are these white cubes food? Does half-and-half mean one chicken or two? Should I wear the plastic gloves? Where do the bones go? Is it okay to press the cal...

When you walk into a Korean BBQ restaurant for the first time, the table may catch your eye before the food does. There is a grill in the middle. A metal ventilation hood hangs above it. There are tongs on the table. And next to the tongs, there are scissors. Scissors. On a restaurant table. The meat has not even arrived yet, but it already feels like there is something you are supposed to do. I grew up in Korea, and I have gone to Korean BBQ restaurants many times with friends visiting from other countries. Their first reaction is often similar. They do not look at the menu right away. They look at the table first. They look at the grill. They look at the ventilation hood. They look at the tongs. They look at the scissors. Then they quietly glance at the tables around them. When do people put the meat on the grill? Who flips it? Why are they using scissors? How do they wrap the meat in lettuce? One friend once stared at the next table for a long tim...

There's a quiet moment most foreigners don't expect when they walk into a Korean restaurant for the first time. No one greets you at the door. No one walks you to a table. The menu might be in Korean only. And the small plastic button on your table — you're not sure if pressing it would be rude. The people at the next table move through the meal without thinking. They sit down, glance at the menu, press a button or call out a short word, eat with several side dishes, then walk to the counter to pay. The whole thing looks simple. But when you're the one sitting there for the first time, the small questions arrive fast. When am I supposed to order? Can I call the staff? Do I get the water myself? Do I pay at the table, or somewhere else? I grew up eating in Korean restaurants, so I never thought about these moments. I only started noticing them when foreign friends came to visit, and I watched them freeze at the door, hover over the menu, or stare at the call butto...

If you order food delivery in Korea for the first time, there is a moment that may stay with you longer than expected. Your phone buzzes not long after you place the order. The message says the delivery is complete. Along with it comes a photo. In the photo, there is a food bag. It is not in front of the restaurant. It is not in the building lobby. It is sitting right outside the door of the place where you are staying. When you open the door, the bag is there quietly. The hallway is empty. Nobody rings again. Nobody asks for a signature. Nobody waits to check your name or room number. The delivery rider has already left for the next order. A food delivery bag left outside a door in Korea. If this is your first time seeing it, you may pause for a second. Am I supposed to just take it? What if someone else takes it first? Is the delivery really finished even though I never went downstairs? For many Koreans, this is nothing special. Food arrives, you open the door, and you bring it insi...

  1. When small dishes you did not order appear When you sit down at a Korean restaurant, the first thing you notice may not be the dish you ordered. It may be the small plates that arrive on the table. You chose one item from the menu, but a few moments later, small dishes begin to appear. There may be kimchi, seasoned bean sprouts, spinach namul, stir-fried anchovies, or a few other side dishes. Some restaurants bring out only two or three. Others place several small plates on one side of the table. The server usually puts them down and walks away without much explanation. If it is your first time, a few questions may come to mind. “Did I order this?” “Am I allowed to eat it?” “Will I be charged extra later?” Those are fair questions. Food you did not order has suddenly appeared on the table, so of course you want to know what is going on. In a typical casual Korean restaurant, these small dishes are not separate orders. They are banchan , small side dishes served with the meal. ...

  1. Why Korean convenience stores can feel unfamiliar at first For Koreans, convenience stores are part of everyday life. People stop by on the way to work for coffee, buy snacks late at night, or spend a few minutes there before meeting someone. In many Korean cities, convenience stores are easy to find, so most Koreans do not think of them as special places. But if you are visiting Korea for the first time, they may feel a little different. You may walk in thinking it is just a small shop for drinks and snacks. Then you see someone pouring hot water into cup ramyeon. Someone else is heating a lunch box in the microwave. Another person is pouring coffee into a cup filled with ice. For a moment, you may pause. “Can I eat here?” “Am I allowed to use the microwave?” “Why are people buying cups of ice?” That small confusion is completely natural. A Korean convenience store is not just a place to buy things. It is also a small everyday space where people eat quickly, drink something c...