What arrives with your order
Banchan are not appetisers and they are not a course. They sit on the table for the whole meal and you eat them alongside the rice and the main dish, in any order, taking a little at a time with chopsticks. A cheap set-meal (백반) lunch might come with four; a banquet spread (한정식) can run past twenty.
The set changes daily and by region, but a few recur almost everywhere:
| English | Korean | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Cabbage kimchi | 김치 / 배추김치 | Fermented cabbage, commonly seasoned with chilli and other ingredients. |
| Cubed radish kimchi | 깍두기 | Cubed radish is fermented with seasoning and often served with soup. |
| Seasoned bean sprouts | 콩나물무침 | Bean sprouts seasoned with ingredients such as sesame oil, garlic and salt. |
| Seasoned spinach | 시금치나물 | Spinach dressed with seasonings such as sesame oil and garlic. |
| Stir-fried fish cake | 어묵볶음 | Fish cake stir-fried in a sweet and savoury sauce. |
| Stir-fried anchovies | 멸치볶음 | Small dried anchovies stir-fried with seasoning; some versions include nuts. |
| Braised potato | 감자조림 | Potato pieces braised in a sweetened soy sauce. |
| Braised beef | 장조림 | Beef braised in soy sauce, sometimes served with eggs. |
| Steamed egg | 계란찜 | Soft steamed eggs, which may be included or sold as an extra dish. |
| Pickled yellow radish | 단무지 | Yellow pickled radish often accompanies casual dishes such as gimbap and noodles. |
| Dried seaweed | 김 | Thin sheets of seaweed, often seasoned with oil and salt. |
| Lettuce and dipping sauce (쌈장) | 상추 · 쌈장 | Lettuce and a seasoned paste used to wrap grilled meat. |
The Korean word is what gets you more of one specific thing, which is why it sits beside the English here. Korea's own standard for writing these names in English, issued by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, keeps the famous ones as they sound — Kimchi, Gimbap, Bibimbap — rather than translating them.
Check which side dishes and refills are included
Basic banchan are often included in the main-dish price, and many restaurants refill them without charge. Some dishes or extra portions cost more, so read the menu or ask before ordering a refill. Three ways it works:
- Ask. Press the call button or say 저기요 ("excuse me"), then 반찬 더 주세요 ("more side dishes, please") or name the one you want — 김치 더 주세요 ("more kimchi, please").
- Self-service bar (셀프바). Very common at rice-soup (국밥), noodle (국수) and barbecue places: a counter near the kitchen with tubs of kimchi, pickles, sauces, sometimes soup and rice, and a stack of small plates. Look for the word 셀프 ("self") on a sign before you ask; if it is there, take your refill from the counter or ask staff if you need assistance.
- They just come. In many restaurants staff top up an emptying dish without being asked, and Korean diners expect exactly that — four in five prefer a restaurant that refills unprompted, and most would not go back to one that looked reluctant.
Water works the same way. It arrives unasked or sits in a jug or dispenser you serve yourself from. Ordinary drinking water is usually provided without charge. Bottled water or other drinks may be priced separately. Free water, free banchan and the table call button are the three things foreign visitors say they most want to take home.
Why you take only what you will eat
Taking small portions helps reduce food waste. Annex 17 of the Enforcement Rule of the Food Sanitation Act — the standing rules for every licensed restaurant in Korea — says:
A food service operator may not re-use, re-cook or store food a customer has left, or food displayed or served to be eaten — except where it is stored clearly marked for disposal. The statute's closing words are an outright ban: it must not be done.
> Food-service operators must not reuse, recook or store food left by customers or displayed or served ready to eat, except when clearly marked and stored for disposal. > 식품접객업영업자는 손님이 먹고 남긴 음식물이나 먹을 수 있게 진열 또는 제공한 음식물에 대해서는 다시 사용ㆍ조리 또는 보관(폐기용이라는 표시를 명확하게 하여 보관하는 경우는 제외한다)해서는 안 된다.
So the plate of kimchi you asked for and did not touch cannot go to the next table. It is waste, and the restaurant pays to have it taken away. If you know you will not eat something, say so when it arrives — 이건 안 주셔도 돼요 ("you can leave this one out") — rather than after.
The carve-out is narrower than people assume. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety may list foods that can be re-served, and that list is vegetables served whole and unseasoned (lettuce 상추, perilla leaf 깻잎, whole chilli 통고추, whole garlic 통마늘, cherry tomato 방울토마토), whole fruit (banana 바나나, tangerine 귤, lychee 리치, grapes 포도), bar nuts (peanut 땅콩, walnut 호두, almond 아몬드), dry packaged items put out to be helped from (biscuits 과자, chocolate 초콜릿, bread 빵), seasonings (salt 소금, spices 향신료, ground pepper 후춧가루) and kimchi. Everything cooked, dressed or plated individually is outside it.
The same Annex gives you a right most diners never notice: a restaurant must make an effort at shared serving dishes, small or compartmented plates, serving spoons for soups, stews and side dishes, single-person trays — or keep takeaway containers and tell customers about them. That is the footing behind the individual plate (앞접시) and the tongs you will be handed, and behind asking to take leftovers home: 남은 거 포장돼요? ("can I box up the leftovers?")
What is changing in 2026
The cost of ingredients has prompted discussion about charging for extra side dishes. The pressure is ingredient cost: lettuce cost 41% more in January 2026 than a year earlier, with red chilli and perilla leaf up too, and restaurant owners began openly weighing a ₩500 charge for extra banchan.
Opinions vary, but many respondents in one survey opposed refill charges. A survey of 1,000 adults in February 2026 found:
| Object to being charged for banchan refills | 64.8% |
|---|---|
| Would stop going to a regular restaurant that charged | 42.3% |
| Say free banchan is part of Korea's culinary identity | 63.9% |
| Say losing it would make Korean food less appealing | 57.9% |
| Felt eating out got significantly more expensive in the past year | 97.3% |
| Would accept fewer banchan for a cheaper main dish | 75.2% |
| Would accept free basic banchan with premium ones charged | 53.3% |
More than half of those objecting said the main dish price already includes the banchan — which, as a matter of how Korean menus are priced, it does.
What this means for you: basic refills are often free, but check the restaurant’s stated policy. A restaurant may display a sign reading 반찬 추가 500원 ("extra side dishes ₩500") or 리필 유료 ("refills chargeable"), particularly on lettuce at a barbecue restaurant or kimchi at a rice-soup (국밥) house, and do not treat it as being singled out. Check the table or the wall before ordering a second round of anything.
Etiquette, briefly
- Banchan are commonly served in shared dishes. Take from the communal dish onto your own plate or straight to your mouth; both are normal.
- Use the serving spoon or tongs if one is provided. If you would like a serving utensil, ask staff for one.
- Do not stack or rearrange the dishes. Staff clear them their own way.
- Sending back an untouched dish does not save it. Served food generally cannot be passed to another table, subject to specific food-safety exceptions. If you know you dislike something, say so when it arrives rather than after.
- Leaving banchan uneaten is not rude. Nobody expects you to finish twelve dishes. Taking a full refill and then leaving it is the thing worth avoiding.
