Where do you want to eat?

How many times have you had this conversation with your significant other?....

Let's go out to eat....
OK....
Where do you want to go?..
I don't know...wherever....OK then let's go to (insert restaurant name here)...
I don't want to go there.....

Well we all know how this conversation goes and usually ends.

A great thing about Korea is its abundance of eateries and culinary exploits. I have lived all over Asia, and in Seoul there must be one restaurant per person. Let's see 13 million people, so 13 million restaurants. Errrr  maybe not that many but you get where I'm going. If you are wanting to wander around and look for somewhere to eat, it is very easy to find a place to eat and for cheap.

One of my favorites places to look for restaurants is anywhere near high rise apartment buildings. Once you zero in on an area, don't be afraid to venture in to the alley ways and inside streets in search of your subsistence for the day. Usually the choices of restaurants are overwhelming. It is not uncommon to find 4 or 5 restaurants that sell the same fare stacked up right next to each other. I thought this was strange at first and that business must be cut throat in competition, but I started to realize that often it is a son, daughter, sister, or brother who has opened a diner next to other family who also own a diner and so on.

It is easy to feel weary about entering any of these restaurants and especially so if there are no pictures or English menus. Don't worry about it and just simply enter. Make sure you take your shoes off if required. Most shop owners have dealt with the adventurous traveler before and you can rest assured you are not the first to stop by. Look around at what others are eating if the menu is not English friendly. Don't be afraid to ask for what you want or ask what they have. Sometimes it is nice just to let the owner decide what you will be served. You can rest assured it is in their best interest to have you return and they will often serve you what the locals like the most.

So get out and enjoy......don't be afraid. Be that adventurous traveler. You will enjoy the experience, and you just might make some new local friends also.