How to Order Korean BBQ

At a glance

• ⚖️Prices attach to 100 grams

  A price list must show meat per 100 grams.

• 🥩Cut names come from a fixed list

  Beef has 10 primal cuts, pork 7.

• 🔢1++ is largely about marbling

  Quality grade and yield grade measure different things.

• ❓Minimum orders are not regulated

  How many servings a house requires is the house's own rule. Ask.

Samgyeopsal and moksal are not names a restaurant invented. Cut names for retail meat are set by notification, which divides beef and pork into primal and sub-primal cuts.

The seven pork primals are tenderloin, loin, neck (moksim), front leg, hind leg, belly (samgyeopsal) and rib. So samgyeopsal is not a nickname — it is the primal cut's own name, and beneath it sit samgyeopsal, galmaegisal, back rib and odol-samgyeop. The frequently seen jowl, hangjeongsal, is a sub-primal of the front leg.

The ten beef primals are tenderloin, loin, striploin (chaekkeut), neck, front leg, top round (udun), bottom round (seoldo), brisket/plate (yangji), shank (satae) and rib. The cuts a grill house menu leans on — anchangsal, jebichuri and tosisal — are all sub-primals of the rib, and chadolbagi is a sub-primal of the brisket.

The official English notation carries these cut names straight through: samgyeopsal is Samgyeopsal (Grilled Pork Belly) and moksalgui is Moksalgui (Grilled Pork Neck).

Domestic beef must carry, in brackets after the country of origin, which of hanu, dairy-cow or yugu beef it is. The definitions are these.

• Hanu beef — from a Korean native (hanu) animal.
• Dairy-cow beef — from a dairy cow that has calved.
• Yugu beef — from beef breeds, crossbreeds, dairy bulls, and dairy cows that have not calved. Imported live cattle raised in Korea for six months or more after arriving at the quarantine holding station also fall here.

All three are domestic, and they are not the same thing. Reading "domestic" as "hanu" is a mistake the label itself corrects.

Under the Livestock Industry Act, all domestic beef and pork is graded before it is distributed. Beef receives two grades, separately.

• Quality grade — the quality of the meat, judged on marbling, meat colour, fat colour, texture and maturity, and marked 1++, 1+, 1, 2, 3 or ungraded.
• Yield grade — the quantity of meat, calculated from backfat thickness, ribeye area and carcass weight, and marked A, B or C.

Pork goes through a first-stage conformation grade (sex, carcass weight, backfat thickness) and a second-stage quality grade to reach a final grade of 1+, 1, 2 or ungraded.

Two things follow. First, the difference between 1++A and 1++B is quantity, not quality — the symbol is the quality grade and the letter is the yield grade. Second, taste is not among the judging criteria. The quality grade is a composite of five items with marbling at the head of the list, so it ranks fattier meat higher rather than ranking preference. If you do not want a very fatty cut, a lower grade may suit you better.

The next thing a menu splits on is marinade. The same cut may be served plain or marinated, and some houses do both.

This site's records show that split happening. Hongneung Galbijip in Dongdaemun, Seoul carries fresh short ribs, marinated short ribs and bulgogi side by side at three different prices. Silla Galbi in Woncheon-dong, Suwon lists salt-seasoned fresh ribs and marinated ribs together, and prices the same meat again as a set meal — the same material sold in three units.

Five houses in Seoul that grill lines five of them up along exactly this axis. That article is about choosing a house; this one is about ordering once you have.

Some houses put a burner on your table; others grill in the kitchen and bring out a plate.

A record does not always say which. Samcheonpo Sikdang in Gangbuk, Seoul is recorded as "a house that makes its own frozen paper-thin pork belly and grills it on a stone plate", so what arrives on the table is plain. Yeokjeon Hoegwan in Mapo is recorded only as "an old house known for bassak-bulgogi" — enough to know the method differs, not enough to know whether that grilling happens at the table or ends in the kitchen. This site has not confirmed which.

So which one it is has to be seen or asked. "Korean grill houses grill at the table" is not a rule, and this site's own records answer it for one of these two houses and not the other. Where you do the grilling yourself, staff often turn the first batch for you and leave; if you are unsure, that is the moment to ask.

Leaf vegetables — lettuce, perilla — arrive with the meat, along with ssamjang. The official notation renders it Ssamjang, "Red Chili and Soybean Paste": chilli paste and soybean paste mixed together.

Open a leaf on your palm, add a piece of meat, some ssamjang, garlic or spring onion, fold it and eat it in one. Build it to the size of one mouthful and use more than one leaf if you want.

One name causes confusion. Bossam is not grilled at all — the official notation gives it as Bossam, "Kimchi Wraps with Pork", a boiled-pork dish. Walk into a bossam house looking for a grill and no burner will arrive.

Ordering rice, cold noodles, soybean-paste stew or fried rice after the meat is common. These are separate menu items and are charged separately.

The basic phrases are in How to order at a Korean restaurant. At a grill house, add these.

• "몇 인분부터 주문돼요?" (myeot inbun-buteo jumun-dwaeyo?) — What is the minimum number of servings?
• "1인분이 몇 그램이에요?" (irinbuni myeot geuraemieyo?) — How many grams is one serving?
• "양념이에요, 생이에요?" (yangnyeomieyo, saengieyo?) — Is it marinated or plain?
• "직접 구워야 해요?" (jikjeop guwoya haeyo?) — Do I grill it myself?
• "이거 어떻게 먹어요?" (igeo eotteoke meogeoyo?) — How do I eat this?

The last one earns its keep. When several condiments arrive at once, asking what goes with what usually gets a demonstration rather than an explanation.

Grill houses this site holds records for

• Byeokje Galbi

  Its recorded menu is priced per 100 grams — what you order is what the bill becomes.

• Hongneung Galbijip

  Carries fresh and marinated short ribs side by side at different prices.

• Yeokjeon Hoegwan

  Recorded as an old house known for bassak-bulgogi — the same animal, a different method.

• 

  Majang Meat Market

  A wholesale market where the cuts can be seen before they reach a grill.

Frequently asked questions