Have You Tried These 9 Signature Korean Dishes Yet?

Korean cuisine is famous around the world. The signature flavours of the land of kimchi are warming dishes: steaming hot pots full of spice and smoky grilled meats that keep the bitter cold at bay. Today we look back at 9 dishes that have earned their place among the treasures of Korean cuisine.

1. Bibimbap – Korean mixed rice

Bibimbap (mixed rice) has to be the first dish mentioned when talking about Korean food. Colourful vegetables are artfully arranged on top of carefully cooked, flavourful rice. A proper bibimbap has at least 5–6 components to mix together: snow-white rice, green vegetables and a bright yellow fried egg beautifully set off by brown slices of beef… Everything comes together in perfect harmony with a spicy chilli sauce to make a mixed rice dish you won't forget once you've tried it.

2. Gimbap – Seaweed rice rolls

Gimbap is no stranger to Vietnamese diners: this traditional Korean dish can be found everywhere from street stalls to well-known restaurants. These seaweed-wrapped rice rolls may look simple, but once you've tried them you will want them again. Rice rolled around a generous filling, wrapped in savoury seaweed and dipped in a distinctive Korean soy sauce wins people over from the very first bite.

Gimbap looks a lot like Japanese sushi, but it is bigger because it has more filling, and each slice is cut thinner than sushi.

3. Sundubu-jjigae – Spicy soft tofu stew

This spicy tofu stew, usually called sundubu-jjigae, is a very popular dish in Korea. The fiery heat of chilli comes together with silky soft tofu and fresh clams, earning the dish the nickname “beef from the vegetable garden”.

4. Cold noodles

Cold noodles are a source of pride for Korea, a brilliant creation that shows how skilfully Koreans use starch.

“Cold noodles” is the general name for the chilled noodle dishes of Korea. Korean winters are very cold, so these noodles are mainly enjoyed in summer. They can be made with either wheat or starch noodles, served with bean sprouts, boiled egg, vegetables and cucumber. Some famous Korean cold noodle dishes are naengmyeon, makguksu, kongguksu and jjolmyeon…

5. Galbi – Grilled ribs

You can't talk about Korea without mentioning galbi, Korean grilled ribs: pieces of rib marinated in signature seasonings and grilled over hot, fragrant charcoal. Galbi can be made with beef, pork or chicken. Beef ribs are called “so-galbi”, pork ribs “dwaeji-galbi” and chicken “dak-galbi”. In Korea and elsewhere, beef is by far the most popular, so “galbi” on its own is usually understood to mean grilled beef ribs.

6. Japchae – Korean glass noodle stir-fry

It is just glass noodles tossed with vegetables, yet everyone loves it, stir-fried with soy sauce, chilli and sesame seeds. Japchae is delicious served hot or cold.

7. Samgyetang – Ginseng chicken soup

Korea may be cold, but by tradition there are three “hottest days” each year, called chobok, jungbok and malbok. On these days, Koreans like to eat ginseng chicken soup (samgyetang) to keep the whole family healthy.

Samgyetang is made with a young chicken stuffed with carefully chosen glutinous rice and nourishing ginseng. This restorative dish is hugely popular: walk down any food street on a hot day and you will see long queues of people waiting for a bowl. Sip it with a glass of ginseng liquor and you will feel warm right through.

8. Korean seafood pancake – the “Korean pizza”

Just as foreigners affectionately call Vietnam's grilled rice paper “Vietnamese pizza”, the Korean seafood pancake (haemul pajeon) is known as the “Korean pizza”, and adults and children in Korea alike love it.

9. Korean kimchi

No list would be complete without the dish that has practically become another name for the country: kimchi. Its tangy, fiery, irresistible flavour has become a powerful symbol of this cold country's cuisine. There are many kinds of kimchi, but the most famous is baechu kimchi, made with napa cabbage.