KOREAN RESTAURANT FIELD NOTES

How to Read a Korean Menu: A Bunsik Guide

By Jeremy (제레미) · October 2, 2026 · 4 min read

To read a Korean menu, separate the dish name, the price and any options. This English guide uses six dishes from a fictional bunsik snack shop. Start with the name of the food you want; you do not need to translate the entire menu.

Original learning examples from MenuNori’s fictional shop. Restaurant screens, recipes and prices vary. How we make these guides.

Six names from our practice shop

Bunsik (분식) refers to a casual category of food that includes dishes such as gimbap and tteokbokki. You may also see gimbap written as kimbap, and ramyeon as ramyun; use the Korean name to match the menu entry. Our invented restaurant uses six recognizable dish names. The descriptions below explain our practice recipes; actual ingredients and preparation vary.

Recognize the whole name

김밥 is not the same as 참치김밥, which adds tuna to the name. Similarly, 치즈 before 떡볶이 changes the dish you are choosing. Match the complete name rather than stopping at the first familiar part. If a name includes an ingredient you need to avoid, check with staff before ordering.

A portion is not always one piece

In our menu, 군만두 하나 means one menu portion of dumplings, not one individual dumpling. A real menu may specify pieces, grams, or servings. Look for 개 (pieces or count), 인분 (servings), and 수량 (quantity). The plus button usually changes how many menu units you order; it does not necessarily change the number of pieces inside one portion.

Read prices and extras separately

₩3,500 is three thousand five hundred Korean won. In our shop, two gimbap cost ₩7,000. An extra is priced separately: 치즈 추가 +₩1,000 adds cheese to one tteokbokki portion. If you order two of that configured item, the extra applies to each portion in this simulation.

Real screens may combine options differently. Before paying, use the basket total to check that your interpretation matches what the machine calculated.

When you cannot read a name

These phrases can help when you can point to the item. A food photograph is a clue, not an ingredient list. Do not assume a dish is vegetarian, free of allergens, or non-spicy based on its appearance.

Your rehearsal

Find 김밥, 어묵탕, and 군만두 without using the English names. Then run mission 3 and increase 라면 to two. Check that your basket has two noodle portions and only one dumpling portion.

Read a menu line from left to right

First find the whole dish name: cheese tteokbokki. Then read the amount: one listed menu unit is ₩5,500 in our shop. There is no 추가 label on this line, because cheese is part of the named dish. An options screen can still ask about spice.

This line has two parts: the base dish and an extra. Adding them gives ₩5,500 for one configured portion. The equal totals do not make the two menu entries identical. For a practice mission, match both the name and the requested option.

Build a small recognition list

Choose three words you can identify without translation: 김밥, 라면, and 포장. Find them in the game, say their English meanings, and then check the guide. Learning a small set accurately is more useful than guessing at an entire menu.