How to Read a Korean Menu: Hangul, Dishes & Portions

Korea is a wonderful place to eat and, for a first-time visitor, a slightly puzzling place to order. Menus are often a single board on the wall, many restaurants cook only one or two things, and the barbecue place may politely refuse to serve you one portion. The good news is that Korean is the easiest of the East Asian scripts to read, and a few dozen words cover most of what you will see. Here is how to make sense of a Korean menu.

Hangul: the script you can learn on the flight

Korean is written in Hangul (한글), an alphabet of 24 basic letters grouped into syllable blocks. Each block is one syllable, read left to right and top to bottom, so 김치 is two blocks: 김 (gim) and 치 (chi). Unlike Japanese or Chinese characters, every letter stands for a sound, which means that an hour spent learning the letters lets you sound out any word on a menu. Many of those words turn out to be English: 치킨 is chikin, chicken; 커피 is keopi, coffee; 피자 is pija, pizza. Beer is not a loanword, 맥주 (maekju), but it is worth knowing.

Romanised spellings vary. You will see bulgogi and pulgogi, galbi and kalbi, jjigae and chigae. They are the same dishes.

Dish names: read the ending

Korean dish names usually put the ingredient first and the style of dish last, so the end of the word tells you what kind of food is coming.

Meat, seafood and staples

Portions, minimums and the rice that costs extra

This is the part of a Korean menu that most often confuses visitors, because it is about how much you order rather than what.

• 인분 (inbun): servings, counted per person. Barbecue menus price meat per 인분, typically 150 to 200 grams.
• 2인분 이상 주문 가능: "minimum order of two servings". Very common at barbecue and hot pot restaurants, because the grill or pot is set up for the table. A solo diner may need to order two portions, or look for a place that advertises 1인분 or 혼밥 (honbap, eating alone).
• 1인 1메뉴: "one dish per person". Some restaurants ask that each diner order at least one item, rather than two people sharing one dish.
• 소 / 중 / 대 (so / jung / dae): small, medium, large. Shared dishes such as jjimdak and hot pots are sized for the table: a 소 often feeds two.
• 공기밥 별도 (gonggi-bap byeoldo): a bowl of rice is charged separately. At barbecue restaurants, rice usually comes with the stew you order at the end, or as a small extra.
• 사리 추가 (sari chuga): add noodles, ramyeon or extra rice cake to a stew or hot pot. 추가 (chuga) means "extra" anywhere on the menu.
• 시가 (siga): market price, common at raw fish and seafood restaurants. Ask before you order.

Banchan: the free side dishes

With most meals you will receive 반찬 (banchan), a spread of small side dishes: kimchi, seasoned vegetables, perhaps an egg dish or fish cake. They are not on the menu because they are included, and they are refillable. Some restaurants bring more when you ask; others have a self-service station marked 셀프 (selpeu, self). Water is usually free and often self-service too.

Spice: reading the red

Korean food is not always spicy, but the spicy dishes are properly spicy, and the heat comes from 고추 (gochu, chilli), 고춧가루 (chilli flakes) and 고추장 (gochujang, chilli paste). A good rule of thumb: if the dish is red, it is spicy. Words to look for are 매운 (maeun, spicy) and 얼큰한 (eolkeunhan, hot and hearty). Some menus offer levels, with 순한 맛 (sunhan mat) for mild.

이거 매워요? Igeo maewoyo?: "Is this spicy?"

안 맵게 해 주세요 An maepge hae juseyo: "Please make it not spicy"

덜 맵게 해 주세요 Deol maepge hae juseyo: "Please make it less spicy"

Not every dish can be made mild. A stew built on chilli paste cannot have the chilli taken out, so pick a non-red dish, such as 갈비탕 (galbitang, clear beef rib soup), 삼계탕 or 불고기, instead.

Vegetarian and allergy reading

채식 (chaesik) means vegetarian food, and Buddhist temple cuisine, 사찰음식 (sachal eumsik), is a reliable plant-based choice in the larger cities. 고기 빼 주세요 (gogi ppae juseyo) asks them to leave out the meat. For allergies, 알레르기가 있어요 (allereugi-ga isseoyo) means "I have an allergy"; peanut is 땅콩 (ttangkong) and crustaceans, such as prawn and crab, are 갑각류 (gapgangnyu). Our guide to eating abroad with food allergies covers the rest.

Reading the prices

Prices are in won, written as 원, ₩ or "KRW", and they look large: a bowl of kalguksu might be 10,000 won. Many menus shorten the thousands, so "10,000", "10.0" and sometimes just "10" all mean ₩10,000. In most restaurants the price on the menu includes tax, and tipping is not customary, so the menu price is the price you pay. Some hotel restaurants add a service charge; our guide to tax and service charges on menus explains what to check for.

At the time of writing, the won has been trading at a little over ₩900 to the Australian dollar, so ₩10,000 is roughly A$11. Dropping three zeros and adding about 10% gets you close. Check a live rate, and see our guide to paying in local currency.

Ordering and paying

Many restaurants have a call button on the table; press it and someone will come. Otherwise, catch a server's eye and say 저기요 (jeogiyo). Ordering kiosks, 키오스크, are increasingly common in cafés and casual restaurants. Most have an English button, but not all, and some do not accept every foreign card. You usually pay at the counter by the door, 계산대 (gyesandae), on your way out, and cards are accepted almost everywhere.

메뉴판 주세요 Menyupan juseyo: "The menu, please"

이거 주세요 Igeo juseyo: "This one, please" (pointing)

삼겹살 2인분 주세요 Samgyeopsal i-inbun juseyo: "Two servings of pork belly, please"

물 좀 주세요 Mul jom juseyo: "Some water, please"

반찬 더 주세요 Banchan deo juseyo: "More side dishes, please"

계산해 주세요 Gyesanhae juseyo: "The bill, please"

잘 먹었습니다 Jal meogeotseumnida: "I ate well" (a thank-you as you leave)

How swap.menu reads a Korean menu for you

Sounding out Hangul is satisfying, but knowing that a word says jeyuk-bokkeum does not tell you it is spicy pork. Photograph the menu with swap.menu, including the board on the wall, and every dish comes back in your language with the Korean beside it and a short explanation of what it is. Prices are converted from won to your home currency, so you are not counting zeros at the table.

Tap the dishes you want, add a note like "not spicy" or "no seafood", typed or spoken, and it is translated into Korean. Show the staff your order in Korean, or let them scan its QR code and read it on their own phone.

Then order the second serving of samgyeopsal anyway. Nobody has ever regretted it.