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Food guide

Korean food near you: what to order, and how to find a good one

Korean food is a lot more than barbecue: there are bubbling stews, rice and noodle bowls, savory pancakes and fried chicken made for sharing. Here's what each common dish is and how spicy it usually is, how Korean barbecue works, and how to tell a good Korean restaurant before you order.

First time? Start with these five

  • Bibimbap — Rice topped with vegetables, usually beef, and a fried egg, mixed with gochujang chili paste. Get it in a hot stone bowl (dolsot) for the crispy rice.
  • Bulgogi — Thin slices of beef in a sweet soy marinade. The easiest way in.
  • Kimchi jjigae — A bubbling kimchi stew with pork and tofu. The everyday classic, and spicy.
  • Korean fried chicken — Fried twice for a thin, crackly crust, then glazed: yangnyeom (sweet and spicy) or soy garlic.
  • Japchae — Glass noodles stir-fried with vegetables. Mild and a little sweet.

Korean dishes explained

What each dish on a typical Korean menu is, and how spicy it usually is. Spice varies by kitchen, and many places will make a dish milder if you ask.

Korean barbecue

DishWhat it isSpice
SamgyeopsalThick slices of unmarinated pork belly, grilled at the table.Mild
GalbiBeef short ribs in a sweet soy and garlic marinade.Mild
BulgogiThinly sliced beef in a sweet soy marinade.Mild
ChadolbagiPaper-thin beef brisket that cooks in seconds.Mild
Dwaeji bulgogiPork in a spicy gochujang chili paste marinade. Dwaeji means pork.Spicy

Stews and soups

DishWhat it isSpice
Kimchi jjigaeSour, spicy kimchi stew with pork and tofu.Spicy
Sundubu jjigaeSilken tofu stew, usually with seafood or pork and an egg cracked in. Many places let you pick the spice level.Medium to spicy
Doenjang jjigaeFermented soybean paste stew with tofu and vegetables. Earthy, like a stronger miso soup.Mild
Budae jjigae“Army stew” with Spam, sausage, ramen noodles and kimchi, made for sharing.Spicy
GamjatangPork spine and potato stew.Spicy
SeolleongtangMilky beef bone soup. You season it yourself with salt and scallions.Mild
GalbitangClear short rib soup with glass noodles.Mild

Rice and noodles

DishWhat it isSpice
BibimbapRice with vegetables, meat and an egg, mixed with gochujang. Dolsot bibimbap comes in a hot stone bowl that crisps the rice.Mild to medium
JapchaeSweet potato glass noodles stir-fried with vegetables, often with beef.Mild
NaengmyeonCold buckwheat noodles, either in an icy broth (mul naengmyeon) or with a spicy sauce (bibim naengmyeon).Mild or spicy
JajangmyeonWheat noodles in black bean sauce, a Korean-Chinese favorite.Mild
KimbapRice and fillings rolled in seaweed and sliced. The fillings are usually cooked, not raw fish.Mild

Snacks and dishes to share

DishWhat it isSpice
TteokbokkiChewy rice cakes in a sweet and spicy gochujang sauce.Spicy
Korean fried chickenFried twice for a thin, crisp crust, then served plain, glazed with yangnyeom sauce or with soy garlic.Mild to spicy
PajeonA savory scallion pancake. Haemul pajeon adds seafood.Mild
ManduDumplings, steamed or pan-fried.Mild
BossamBoiled pork belly you wrap in cabbage leaves with kimchi.Mild
JokbalPig's trotters braised in soy and spices, sliced and usually served cold.Mild

How Korean barbecue works

  • You grill at the table — At many places the server does the cooking and cuts the meat with scissors. Let them.
  • Start with the plain cuts — Order unmarinated meat like samgyeopsal or chadolbagi first, and the marinated galbi and bulgogi later. The sugar in a marinade chars the grill.
  • Wrap each bite — Put a piece of meat in a lettuce leaf with ssamjang (a thick, savory chili and bean paste), garlic and a little kimchi. That's ssam.
  • Expect a minimum — Many barbecue places ask each table to order at least two portions of meat. The side dishes and lettuce come with it.

What banchan are

Banchan are the small side dishes that arrive with your meal at no extra charge, and most places refill them if you ask. Common ones are kimchi, seasoned bean sprouts (kongnamul), spinach (sigeumchi namul), fish cake (eomuk) and soy-braised potatoes (gamja jorim).

Eating Korean food vegetarian

Ask for bibimbap without meat, japchae without beef, vegetable kimbap or pajeon without seafood. Check the stews: many are made with anchovy or beef broth, and traditional kimchi usually contains fish sauce or salted shrimp.

How to tell a good Korean restaurant

  • Banchan that are varied and clearly house-made — Six to twelve small dishes, changing with what is good, refilled without asking. Three tired dishes from a tub is the single clearest negative signal in the cuisine.
  • Kimchi with actual fermentation — Sour, funky, complex — not just salty and spicy. Under-fermented kimchi tastes like a spicy salad and means it was made last week or bought.
  • Charcoal, for barbecue — Charcoal grills produce a genuinely different result from gas or electric, and places using them advertise it. Worth choosing on.
  • Stews served actively boiling — Jjigae should arrive still bubbling in a stone pot. Anything less means it was ladled from a holding pot.
  • Somewhere that is not only barbecue — Korean barbecue is the export success, and the stew, noodle and rice-dish side of the cuisine is where a lot of the best eating is.

Where to find Korean food

Open listings put 4,263 Korean restaurants across the US. These are the cities and campuses with the most of them.

Cities with the most

Los Angeles, CA 283 New York, NY 208 Las Vegas, NV 69 Chicago, IL 67 Honolulu, HI 65 San Francisco, CA 60 Buena Park, CA 57 Houston, TX 48 San Diego, CA 43 Santa Clara, CA 40 Seattle, WA 35 Carrollton, TX 34

Campuses with the most within a mile

Baruch 106 Touro University 95 CUNY Graduate Center 94 FIT 93 The New School 83 NYU 51 BMCC 20 Pace University 16 Seattle U 15 Seattle Central 14

A few to start with

Counts are listings in Overture Maps open data (September 2026), counted by the town in each address. Independent places only in the examples above, and they are a starting point rather than a ranking.

How Savor Scout looks for it

Korean searches read reviews for banchan quality and variety, charcoal grilling, and named dishes beyond barbecue. Because Korean barbecue restaurants attract high volumes of reviews, the matcher looks past that to find the stew and noodle kitchens when that is what you asked for.

Find Korean food near you →

Questions people ask about Korean food

What should I order at a Korean restaurant for the first time?

Bibimbap, bulgogi or japchae if you want something mild; kimchi jjigae or tteokbokki if you like spice. With a group, Korean barbecue is the classic choice: start with pork belly (samgyeopsal) and marinated short ribs (galbi).

Is Korean food spicy?

A lot of it is, from gochujang chili paste and chili flakes, but plenty isn't: bulgogi, galbi, japchae, doenjang jjigae and seolleongtang are all mild. Menus often mark the spicy dishes, and for sundubu jjigae many places let you choose the level.

What is banchan?

The small side dishes, like kimchi, seasoned vegetables and fish cake, that come free with a Korean meal. Most restaurants refill them if you ask.

What's the difference between bulgogi and galbi?

Both are marinated beef. Bulgogi is thinly sliced and cooks fast; galbi is short rib, thicker, and often served on the bone.

Do you tip at Korean barbecue?

In the US, yes, the same as at any sit-down restaurant, usually 15 to 20 percent. The server often cooks the meat for you.

Looking in a particular city?

Each of these opens Savor Scout with the location already set, so you can say what you want and it searches from there. It covers 1,000 US cities in total — these are simply the largest.

All 1,000 cities →

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