Korean BBQ is a popular category of food that has gained speed in the past years as people have come to know it. But not everyone has a seasoned Korean friend to show them how to eat it. Korean food is quite different from other Asian cuisines, and as such, may be a little daunting to try when you first go to a Korean BBQ restaurant. This is a simple guide to eating Korean BBQ at a Korean restaurant.
Unlike American BBQ, meat is usually presented raw on the tableside and cooked in a grill on the table. Also unlike American BBQ, meats are not smoked or slow cooked. Koreans tend to slice their short ribs (kalbi or ju mu luhk), pork bellies (sam gyub sal), and strip steak (cha dol beh gi) thinly. You can have your choice to order some of the meat marinaded. I do not recommend this as you will be getting plenty of flavor from the side dishes and sauces that accompany the meal. I have named the top three commonly grilled meats. You can order marinaded chicken or pork, but these are normaly not ordered from what I have experienced. There are more exotic cuts also that you may try if you can stomach intestines, beef tongue, tripe and more!
The general layout of the meal consists of an egg soup (gye ran chim), various side dishes (ban chan), sliced Korean hot peppers and garlic to grill with your meat, and either thinly sliced radish, rice paper, lettuce leaves, or a seasoned salad to wrap the meat in. One thing you may notice is rice does not come until the end of the meal and is complemented with a bean stew. You can ask for rice if you would like it with your meal, but I recommend trying without it. Eat like most Koreans do and forego the rice until the end or not at all. Great for you low carbers!
Unless you go into a crowded restaurant where the servers are constantly running around, the meat is usually grilled by a server. This is not set in stone. If you see your meat start to burn, then you should turn the meat yourself. Grill the meat like you would normally grill thin slices of meat until well done. Once the meat is cooked thoroughly, you can move it to the colder side of the grill, off of the girl onto your dish, place it in one of the empty ban chan dishes if you cannot put it anywhere else, or eat it. Typically, you will get a small variety of sauces to accompany your meat and a large bowl of seasoned salad. I have come across three sauces that seem to be the most common: a soy-based, sweet BBQ type sauce, a red pepper chilli sauce, and sesame oil with salt and pepper. All are fine for dipping and there is no set rule to what you can use, nor do you have to use them at all.
Once the meat is grilled, take one of the wrappers (lettuce, rice paper, or radish) and place the meat in it. If you have lettuce wraps, there should be a bean paste (ssam jang) that accompanied it. Place a small dallop of ssam jang on the meat if it is available and a little bit of the seasoned salad. You can also add a piece of grilled garlic or jalapeno pepper. Wrap and enjoy! You may have noticed, and eaten, the many side dishes that came with your meat. These are called ban chan. Feel free to eat these to your hearts content. In most Korean restaurants in the U.S., these are completely free and refillable and it is not rude at all to ask for more and more ban chan as you finish them. There is no special way to eat these and they can be eaten at anytime during, before or even after you grill the meat. If you make an impression on the servers or the owner of the establishment, they may even give you special ban chan like a Korean pancake or raw crab or whatever ban chan they specialize in. These are a service that normally they would charge for and it would be considered rude to ask for more.
If you decide to order soju or beer (mek ju) with your meal, there is an incredibly fickle system of drinking that you can try using if you would like to impress your Korean friends. But that is for another guide. In the meantime, enjoy the big belly and stinky clothes after the meal!
