Where to eat in Korea by situation: 11 lists (24-hour, solo, groups, cheap eats)

Most "best restaurants in Seoul" lists answer the wrong question. Visitors rarely ask "what is the best restaurant?" They ask "what is open at 3am near my hotel?", "where can I eat alone without feeling odd?" or "where do we take ten people?"

So we cut the Korea on a Plate guide by situation. Each list below shows hours, the price per person and what to order, and nobody pays to be on it.

The lists

• 24-hour restaurants in Korea — 8 places open all night: bokguk, haejangguk and seolleongtang at 4am.
• Late-night food in Gangnam, Seoul — 7 places for after 10pm around Gangnam and Nonhyeon.
• Solo dining in Korea — 55 places where a table for one is normal, with single-portion dishes.
• Group dinner restaurants in Korea — 73 places with room for a group and dishes built for sharing.
• Early breakfast in Korea — 23 places open early, before the cafés.
• Where to eat on your first trip to Korea — 77 places that are easy for a first visit.
• Cheap eats under ₩15,000 — 65 places where a meal costs ₩15,000 or less per person.
• Top-rated restaurants in Korea — 13 places rated 4.5+ on Google with 300+ reviews.
• Non-spicy Korean food — 72 places for people who cannot take chili heat.
• Spicy Korean food — 19 places for people who want the heat.
• Restaurants near the sights — 38 places close to palaces, markets and beaches in Seoul and Busan.

All eleven, in one place: koreaplate.com/best/

How the lists are made

Every restaurant is already in the guide, written by an editor who runs four restaurants in Seoul. The lists are filtered from the published hours, prices and tags, then ordered by the guide's Monthly 30 picks and Google rating. Disclosure: the editor runs Haehwaok and Yongyong Seonsaeng in Nonhyeon; they get no boost and are marked where they appear.

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