All You Can Eat-aries in Seoul
Korean cuisine is amazing – and the best way to experience it is all at once and in great quantities. There are a large number of buffets all over South Korea. If you can’t get enough of it here are some places that are bound to fill your appetite! At least temporarily…
The Appetizers
Sashimi
Sashimi, which is raw fish, is a Korean as well as foreigner favorite. Fresh fish is cut and then dipped in soy sauce and wasabi, often served with a side of pupae (yikes!). 연어상회 is a chain of buffets present in almost every neighborhood but the location near Sinchon Station is recommended for tourists.
Find them online here.
They have two available sets – the 13.900 KRW/person where you also get a salad, fried squid and Korean seafood pancakes or the 15.900 KRW one where you get the salad, fried squid, Korean seafood pancake and a salmon rice bowl.
Sushi
Sashimi’s Japanese counterpart, sushi, is also available buffet-style. And boy is it a treat! Sushi O can be found in both Hongdae and Gangnam. The buffets’ price for lunchtime is 12.900 KRW while dinner and weekends are 14.900 KRW. Children pay less! For an additional 3.000 KRW you also get all the beer you can drink! The time allotted for this feats is one hour.
Of course, the sushi is freshly made and travels from the kitchen to your tummy on a conveyor belt! Apart from the numerous types of sushi, you can also get various side dishes, snacks as well as juices and sodas.
Find all Sushi O locations by clicking here.
The Main Course
If you’re a meat lover you’re in luck! Kogi King is a franchise of meat-focused buffets that stretches all over South Korea and has locations even in the United States. They call it a “premium meat bar”. At Kogi King you pay 17.000 KRW and eat as much meat as you want. On the other hand, the cuts of meat are not exactly prime quality, but they are decent. Moreover, you also get all the side dishes you can eat, and they have quite a large range of side dishes.
Accordingly, the meat and the side dishes are self-serve, you stack them on little plates and take them to your table. Enjoy! Find all locations here.
The Desert
If you have a sweet tooth, or 32 of them, this one will make you happy! Cake-A is a an unlimited cake cafe. Located in Hongdae, the cafe requires that you pay for a drink and for an extra 6.900 KRW you get all the cake you can eat. The cheapest drink is 3.900 KRW, which means you get unlimited cake for approximately 11.000 KRW. Not bad, right? Find the menu here.
Bonus Round!
This is for those of you who have embraced Korea’s alcohol-heavy lifestyle. Ssada!Maekju! in translation Cheap Beer is an all you can drink bar in Hongdae. The interior is nicely decorated and quite roomy for a bar that doesn’t have an internet domain. It’s almost too good to be true! Moreover, for 8.000 KRW per person you can get all the draft beer refills you can down while soju is 5.000 KRW per person. However, you must order some kind of finger food, Koreans call them anju and they can anything from dried squid to French fries.
You can find directions here.
Tip!
Don’t shy away from trying western food buffets! You’ve seen what Koreans have done to pizza: put sweet potato and cranberry sauce on it! Honestly, leave it to Koreans to take a dish and make it theirs – in the most fantastic way possible!
Even McDonald’s have a delicious bulgogi burger – a patty can morph into perfection in the hands of a Korean chef!
