The Delicious World of Korean BBQ: Beyond Samgyeopsal
When people abroad picture Korean BBQ, they usually picture one thing: samgyeopsal (삼겹살), the pork belly sizzling on the grill. And it's wonderful — but it's also just the front door. Korean BBQ is a whole world of cuts, marinades, and grilling styles, and most visitors never get past that first room. Let me walk you deeper in.
> Start here: samgyeopsal (pork belly), galbi (marinated short ribs), and bulgogi (thin marinated beef).
> Go further: dak-galbi (spicy chicken), makchang (grilled intestine), and deungsim (beef sirloin) — where regulars go.
> The splurge: hanwoo (한우), Korea's prized native beef — worth it at least once.
> The real secret isn't the meat: it's the ssam — wrapping it in lettuce and perilla with a dab of sesame-oil dip.
The Three Everyone Should Know
Samgyeopsal (삼겹살) is where everyone starts, and for good reason. Thick slices of unseasoned pork belly, grilled at your table until the edges crisp — no marinade, nothing to hide behind, just the honest flavor of the meat. You wrap it in lettuce or perilla leaves with a little ssamjang, and that simplicity is the whole point. I'll admit my own bias, too: I'm a samgyeopsal person through and through — and I like mine at its simplest, dipped in nothing but salt, sometimes with a little wasabi for a clean, sharp kick.
Galbi (갈비) is for when you want seasoning. These short ribs — pork or beef — are marinated in a sweet-savory blend of soy, garlic, sugar, and sesame oil that tenderizes the meat and caramelizes gorgeously on the grill. If samgyeopsal is honest, galbi is generous.
Bulgogi (불고기) rounds out the classics: thin slices of beef in a similar sweet-savory marinade, so tender it almost melts. It's the gentlest introduction to Korean BBQ, and the one that tends to win over people who think they don't like grilled meat.
Go Beyond the Basics
This is where Korean BBQ gets interesting — the dishes locals order once the tourists have gone home.
Dak-galbi (닭갈비) swaps pork for chicken, stir-grilled with gochujang, vegetables, and often rice cakes, into something fiery and comforting all at once. Makchang (막창) — grilled intestine — is the adventurous pick: chewy, rich, deeply savory, and a legendary partner for soju. And deungsim (등심), beef sirloin, is the leaner, cleaner cut for people who want to taste quality beef without a marinade getting in the way.
The Splurge: Hanwoo (한우)
If you do one splurge in Korea, make it hanwoo (한우) — Korea's prized native cattle. Beautifully marbled, tender, and priced accordingly, it's the beef Koreans save for celebrations and special guests. Order it simply, salt it lightly, and taste why it has the reputation it does. At least once, it's worth every won.
How Koreans Actually Eat It
Here's the part I most wish visitors understood: in Korea, the meat is only half of the meal. The other half is the ritual around it. You build a ssam — a lettuce or perilla-leaf wrap — and load it with grilled meat, a smear of ssamjang, a sliver of raw garlic, maybe a piece of kimchi seared on the edge of the grill. For the leaner beef cuts, you skip the ssamjang and reach instead for gireumjang, a simple dip of sesame oil, salt, and pepper. (I wrote a whole love letter to Korean sesame and perilla oils if you want to understand why that little dish matters so much.)
It's communal, it's hands-on, and it's built for lingering — everyone grilling, wrapping, pouring, talking. That, more than any single cut, is what makes Korean BBQ special.
Don't Stop at Pork Belly
Samgyeopsal is a beautiful place to begin, but it really is only the beginning. Next time you sit down at a Korean grill, order one thing you can't pronounce yet. Somewhere between the galbi and the hanwoo, the ssam and the sesame-oil dip, you'll find the version of Korean BBQ that becomes yours.
If you want somewhere specific to start, I've written about two. A charcoal pork rib place in Jongno that serves exactly one thing and serves it under the open sky, and a Netflix-featured giwa house for eonyang bulgogi — which is nothing like the bulgogi you think you know.
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