Last time we talked about simple, delicious Korean dishes you can have right off the plane that were not too shocking. Today I wanted to give you a few tips on how to choose the best restaurant.

First of all, you try to find a decent restaurant because that will determine your meal. Most restaurants will have pictures to easily identify the type of food that they have. If you see bottles of beer or a metal kettle looking thing then you know that it will be a place for drinking. If you are looking to drink then those are the places to go to, but keep in mind that the food there will be more expensive and you will get less there because you are paying for the privilege to drink. A meal at a regular Korean place would be 6-7,000 won with rice, soup or meat, and a selection of side dishes. A drinking place would cost about 15,000 to start for, let's say, a green onion and seafood pancake or known as haemul pajeon. Plus you have to almost always order drinks. (But drinks in Korea are cheaper. A beer will start at 3 dollars, rice beer is the same and a bottle of soju will cost about 4 usd.) If you want s meal, try to pick places that say shikdang 식당 or bunshik 분식. Learn a little bit of Korean and it will make it easier. There are also noodle places such as chanchi guksu or Calguksu places and sujebi (dough dumpling) places. These are good for a fast meal but you will only get some kimchi as a side dish.

There are so many places to eat in Korea that you might be overwhelmed in trying to choose a good place. In each district there is usually the, what I call, the ’alpha’ store. The alpha store has been there the longest and it is the busiest. If you are in an area where there are lots of BBQ places, fish places or noodle places you need to determine which one is the most popular. You can figure this out by trying to identify which place has been there the longest. See which buildings and sign boards look the oldest. If they have an old sign board with some Chinese lettering then the place might be over 20 years old for laws about what could be printed on signs changed a long time ago. Nowadays most of the lettering should be in Korean.

Also, you should look to see which one is busiest and identify the type of people inside. If they are a wearing business clothes then there is a chance that the place has a contract with a local company to supply their company meals. The food then could be ok, but basically it would be a cafeteria. If you have all grey-haired grandpas inside then it might be cheap and has a nostalgic flavor that might be a bit...strange. It could be a blood pudding soup, soy bean paste soup, or bone soup. What I am saying is the food might be a bit pungent and more focused on soup and rice.

If you have all school students in uniforms then you know it is a snack bar.

Now if you have a good mix of people of different ages, groups, and the place looks busy then you might be on the right track. It is probably a decent place.

Once inside look around and see what dish most people are ordering and then point ask for that. There is a good chance that you will pick the famous dish.

Other tips, about restaurants, keep in mind that the interiors don't determine how good the place is. If it looks too fancy inside, I tend to run, for it is a place for conversation and not for a great meal.