Food Culture of Busan

Our initial experiences eating out in South Korea

Our expectations when moving to South Korea were that we would be introduced to a new diet of foods, primarily composed of rice, noodles and fermented vegetables. What we didn't expect is the variety of changing flavours with these ingredients in dishes we had never heard of. Bibimbap is something we had tried before in Victoria at a restaurant called Bao, and the Korean version is quite similar. It is a rice dish with a variety of fresh and fermented vegetables, a choice of meat (beef, pork, chicken, or tofu for the herbivores), a fried egg, and plenty of gochujang chili sauce. This seems like be the most common kind of meal eaten by Koreans, but at home a more basic version would be prepared.

Food court bibimbap - $7

This version of bibimbap we got at Homeplus, which resembles a kind of supermarket similar to Walmart, but obviously more Korean. This one had a food court, where for $7 we got the bibimbap and to our surprise, a side of what we think is sundubu jjigae, a soft tofu soup. Gochujang sauce, and a selection of banchan, or small side dishes, was also served. This is what I love about eating in Korea. You order bipimbap, a dish that costly about $15 in Canada. You get a delicious version of it for only $7, and you get ALL the extras for free! Also, tipping is not expected or encouraged in Korea, and the amount includes tax. Needless to say, we've been eating out quite a bit so far.

Dwaeji gukbap - $8

One evening we wanted to go out for a quick meal with rice, so we went to a busy looking restaurant that specialized in pork and rice soup. Most Korean restaurants we've gone to only have their menu in Korean, and given that the only Korean we speak is "Hello", "Goodbye" (which is almost the same as Hello), and "Thank you", we pulled out our phones to Google Translate the menu. Within a few seconds, a server came over and looked confused why we would need to look at a menu in English. He didn't speak much English, but one thing he did know was "Pork Soup". He then pointed at every option on the menu and said "Pork Soup" again, which we then realized that was the only option, just with different additions. Apparently what we ate was "Dwaeji gukbap", which again only cost $8 and came with all of the above. Obviously we looked confused, so an older Korean man who was eating with his wife told us his recommended way of eating (everyone here has been so nice & helpful to us lost foreigners). The soup already had pork and spring onion, which he said we should add the shrimp paste, gochujang, onion, garlic, and chives to our taste. Once the soup is to your taste, then you add the noodles and dig in.

Burger & fries - $15

After going on a big hike this past weekend, we decided to treat ourselves to a hamburger by the beach. Korea has restaurants for all different types of cuisines, the thing is that if you want a taste of Western culture it will cost you extra. Prices for things like burgers and pizza are similar to back home - this burger combo cost $15. It was good, but feels almost too touristy to go to these places, especially when there are so many other Korean foods to discover. All in all, eating out is very popular in Korea. Not only is it cheap to do so, but also because cooking in the tiny apartments with only a stove isn't quite as appealing as pork soup.