12 Must-Try Korean Dishes

From ‘addictive’ snacks to a seafood dish so fresh it’s still moving (in your mouth), Korean food is fresh, flavoursome and fun.

With all things Korean capturing our collective imaginations of late, it’s little wonder that South Korea’s diverse and interesting cuisine is also hot right now (figuratively and literally).

The food scene in this country of 51 million is one of the most exciting in all of Asia, with a multitude of dishes, cooking styles and flavour profiles to sample.

While Korean BBQ is most people’s entry point into Korean fare, there is so much more to excite. From plump, juicy dumplings (mandu) to all manner of soups (including a beefy hangover cure – haejangguk – and a vivid green seaweed option served up as a traditional birthday treat – miyeokguk) to the omnipresent kimchi, which is served as a side dish (banchan) with just about everything.

Koreans’ passion for their produce, food traditions and cuisine, and their exuberant, unabashed love of eating and drinking, is instantly evident when visiting the capital of Seoul. There is food available on just about every main thoroughfare, back alley, and street corner, at all times of the day and night.

And no matter if you are ordering from a Michelin-starred restaurant (Seoul was the tenth most awarded city in the 2022 guide), a family-run noodle shop, a thronging food market (Gwangjang Market is one of the largest traditional markets in Korea, making it the perfect place to head to fill up) or a sidewalk street food vendor, it is almost impossible to have a bad meal there.

So, book your ticket, punch another hole in your belt, and order anything and everything from this list of must-devour Korean dishes.

1. Gimbap

These rice and seaweed roles present like sushi but don’t make the mistake of calling them that – ever.

While gimbap (also seen as kimbap) comes in all manner of thicknesses and lengths, the cigar-sized mini version is the ultimate snack food. Their nickname of mayak gimbap, which translates to ‘narcotic’ gimbap, hints at how addictive they are.

The shiny little rolls are filled with rice, wilted spinach, carrot and pickled radish, sprinkled with sesame seeds and served with a tangy-sweet mustard sauce. Stop at one if you can!

a hand reaching for Gimbap or seaweed rice rolls — Grab a bite of these seaweed rice rolls. (Image: Filippo Faruffini)

2. Bibimbap

A traditional dish dating back centuries, bibimbap (bibim meaning mixed and bap being rice) is presented like an edible artwork. The colourful ingredients including julienned carrot, zucchini, cucumber, mushrooms, bean sprouts, tofu, seafood or meat are laid on top of rice and crowned with gochujang (red pepper paste – a staple of Korean cuisine), sesame seeds and a soft egg yolk or fried egg. The ingredients are mixed together before eating to make a moreish, delicious mess.

Dolsot bibimbap is served in a hot stone bowl which results in the rice at the bottom becoming crispy and crunchy hidden treasure.

a bowl of Bibimbap on the table — Bibimbap is an authentic Korean food classic.

3. Bindaetteok

These mung bean pancakes (also known as nokdujeon) are created from stoneground mung beans, used to create a batter that is mixed with spring onions, ground pork and kimchi and fried to golden goodness.

Gwangjang Market is the best place to try this filling snack, where you can watch the beans being ground at numerous stalls.

Korean cuisine boasts a number of savoury pancakes; try spicy kimchi pancakes (kimchijeon), green onion pancakes (pajeon, which are usually paired with makgeolli, a milky fermented rice wine) and vegetable pancakes (yachaejeon).

mung bean pancakes or Bindaetteok with a special dip on the table — Try Bindaetteok if you’re a pancake lover.

4. Tteokbokki

This hugely popular, super-spicy stew can be found bubbling away in giant pots at markets and food stalls across the city.

Made from thumb-sized chewy rice cakes which are cooked in a sauce of anchovy broth, gochujang, soy sauce and sugar, along with thin slices of fish cake (eomuk), cabbage and spring onions, there is also a pan-fried version that is deliciously sticky and smoky.

a serving of Tteokbokki — Tteokbokki are a must-try.

5. Mandu

Korean dumplings are as generous as the cuisine itself – shiny, plump and juicy, they fill your mouth to capacity when consumed whole. The most popular versions are kimchi mandu (kimchi, tofu, ground pork and onion) and pork mandu (pork, cabbage, chives and glass noodles).

a plate filled with Korean dumplings or Mandu — Mandu are more flavourful when dipped in a special sauce.

6. Jajangmyeon

This gooey noodle dish is the stuff food porn is made of. The thick black soybean sauce that the firm wheat noodles are coated in makes a juicy, squelching sound when you plunge your chopsticks into it, and rings your lips as you slurp them into your mouth. Laced with pork and vegetables and topped with cucumber, it is super filling and well-priced.

a woman eating Jajangmyeon — Jajangmyeon is a popular Korean-style Chinese noodle dish. (Image: Ruth Georgiev)

7. Bungeoppang

A fun, on-the-go snack, these cute carp-shaped pastries filled with sweet red bean paste are made fresh at street stalls and sold for just a dollar or two.

fish-shaped pastries or Bungeoppang — Find these fish-shaped pastries along the streets of Korea.

8. Gogi-gui

That’s Korean BBQ to you, ‘grilled meat’ to locals. There are various meat dishes to choose from when grilling including bulgogi (thinly sliced beef marinated in soy sauce, brown sugar, Asian pear, garlic, ginger, black pepper and sesame oil), galbi (marinated beef ribs) and samgyeopsal, pork belly that you wrap in a fresh leaf and top with sliced green chillies, garlic slices and thick, umami ssamjang paste.

There are various cuts of meat and vegetables on the menu at most barbeque restaurants, but whatever you choose it will be grilled in front of you, cut into bite-size pieces with scissors and accompanied by the ultimate Korean side dish: kimchi.

a Korean bbq grilling meat setup — Try Gogi-Gui if you’re craving grilled meat.

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9. Chicken and beer

The basic version of KFC – Korean Fried Chicken – is coated in a salt and pepper seasoning and cooked to a crunchy finish while a sticky, sweet and spicy version combines gochujang and rice syrup. The ultimate accompaniment is beer (maekju), resulting in the combination being known as chimaek.

chicken and beer on the table — Chicken and beer is the ultimate pair.

10. Kalguksu

Knife-cut noodles swimming in a light vegetable broth, kalguksu is served fresh and piping hot in any number of small noodle shops down back streets across the city.

The perfect comfort food, it is plentiful and cheap. In the summer months, mul-naengmyeon is a cooling alternative; bouncy buckwheat noodles are served in a cold beef broth, complete with ice cubes.

a bowl of Korean noodle soup or Kalguksu — Warm your tummy with Kalguksu.

11. Hotteok

These disks of golden fried pastry stuffed with cinnamon, nuts and sugar are calorie-packed and habit-forming.

a close-up photo of round-shaped pastries known as Hotteok — These fried pastries are crispy outside and gooey inside.

12. Sannakji

This dish consists of raw small octopus (nakji) tentacles sliced into bite-sized pieces, topped with sesame oil and sesame seeds and accompanied by a dipping sauce.

But there’s a surprise element: due to the nerve endings located in the tentacles, they are still wriggling when they arrive at the table – and as they go down!

As the suckers are also still active, you need to chew them well before swallowing so they don’t latch on in your throat. If you are up for the challenge, head to Noryangjin Fish Market for the freshest (and wiggliest) offerings.

a plate of Sannakji — Pair Sannakji with soju.

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.

Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?

Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.

Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.

“Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.

Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”

Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.”

CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.

A new generation demanding more

Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”

We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”

Boudha Stupa's prayer wheels — Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you…

bouda stupa prayer flags — Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.

Boudha Stupa vendors — Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.

A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.

Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

tharu woman — Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.

Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.

Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.

Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

“The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.

On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.

community homestay entrance — A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.

The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.

In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.

food at community homestay — Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.

The power of community homestays

community homestay owners in Nepal — Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.

“I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?”

The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed.

Sonara community room — An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.

Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.

CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.

“Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.

In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.

“We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.”

Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”

Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.