Free Side Dishes?! Your First Korean Meal at Incheon Airport (T1 B1 Food Street)
Mia’s stomach growled so loudly I swear the people at the next café heard it. She went bright red. I’d promised her lunch was on me, so off we went.
And then the best part. We sat down, ordered, and before our food even came, six little plates of side dishes landed on the table. Mia’s face. “We didn’t order all this!” Nope. And you don’t pay for them either.
▶ Tap the picture to watch the 40-second short on YouTube
Where to eat: Terminal 1, B1 food street
Head down to the basement level (B1). It’s before security, so anyone can go. You’ll find Korean places along the west side and the middle, while the east side has stuff like pork cutlet, tacos and Chinese. Over by the Transportation Center there are burgers, pho and Korean snack food too.
Most menus have photos, so you can just point. Mia picked Jeonju bibimbap because, in her words, “it looks so Korean.” Great call. I went for pork gukbap.
A few Korean restaurant things nobody tells you
- Side dishes (banchan) are free, and a lot of places have a self-serve bar where you can top up as much as you like.
- Water is self-service. Grab your own cups from the water dispenser. Koreans even say it in Konglish: 물은 셀프! (mu-reun sel-peu!)
- Spoons and chopsticks are often hiding in a little drawer in the table. Mia did not believe me until I opened it.
- See that button on the table? Press it and staff will come and take your order.
- Aprons are free. Look for a basket or just ask. Trust me, soups splash.
Not in the mood for Korean food?
Totally fair after a long flight. Terminal 1 has plenty of familiar stuff too, and a few places stay open all night.
| What | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Burger King | B1, Transportation Center | 06:00 to 22:00 |
| Lotteria (Korean burger chain) | 1F, centre of the arrival hall | Open 24 hours |
| Shake Shack | 3F, near check-in counter H | Open 24 hours |
| Taco Bell | B1, east side | 06:00 to 22:00 |
| PHO (Vietnamese noodle soup) | B1, Transportation Center | 06:00 to 22:00 |
| Mukyoku (ramen, tonkatsu, udon) | 1F, near arrival exit C | Open 24 hours |
| Food Garden (Korean) | 1F, near door 12 | Open 24 hours |
Eating halal? In Terminal 1, I couldn’t find a restaurant that’s officially listed as halal, so I won’t pretend there is one. If you’re flying from Terminal 2, though, Nimat (4F, east side, 06:00 to 22:00) is listed by the airport as a Muslim-friendly restaurant that cooks with halal ingredients. In T1, your best option is to ask for no pork (돼지고기 빼 주세요, in the table below) and skip the soups, since many Korean broths are made from pork or beef bones.
Vegetarian or vegan? Here’s exactly what to ask them to leave out
I couldn’t find a dedicated vegetarian restaurant in Terminal 1, but you can get by fine if you know what to ask. In Korean food, the sneaky ones aren’t just meat: salted seafood (젓갈, jeot-kkal) is often in kimchi, anchovy broth (멸치 육수, myeol-chi yuk-ssu) is the base of a lot of soups, and egg often sits on top of bibimbap. Just show your phone:
| Korean | How to say it | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 저는 채식주의자예요 | jeo-neun chae-sik-jju-i-ja-ye-yo | I’m vegetarian |
| 고기 안 들어간 메뉴 있어요? | go-gi an deu-reo-gan me-nyu i-sseo-yo? | Do you have anything without meat? |
| 고기 빼 주세요 | go-gi ppae ju-se-yo | No meat, please |
| 해산물도 빼 주세요 | hae-san-mul-do ppae ju-se-yo | No seafood either, please |
| 계란도 빼 주세요 | gye-ran-do ppae ju-se-yo | No egg either, please |
| 우유랑 치즈도 빼 주세요 | u-yu-rang chi-jeu-do ppae ju-se-yo | No milk or cheese either, please (vegan) |
| 젓갈 들어가요? | jeot-kkal deu-reo-ga-yo? | Is there salted seafood in this? (often in kimchi) |
| 멸치 육수 들어가요? | myeol-chi yuk-ssu deu-reo-ga-yo? | Is the broth made with anchovies? |
| 돼지고기 빼 주세요 | dwae-ji-go-gi ppae ju-se-yo | No pork, please |
One honest tip: kimchi and lots of broths are usually made with seafood, so if you’re strict, stick to dishes you can see, like bibimbap without the meat and egg.
Oh, and Mia finished her kimchi before anything else. I was genuinely impressed.
A little Korean to take with you
- 배고파요 (bae-go-pa-yo) = I’m hungry
- 물은 셀프 (mu-reun sel-peu) = Water is self-service
- 잘 먹겠습니다 / 잘 먹었습니다 (jal meok-kket-sseum-ni-da / jal meo-geot-sseum-ni-da) = what you say before / after eating
- 반찬 (ban-chan) = free side dishes, refills are fine
- 물은 셀프 (mu-reun sel-peu) = grab your own water
- Press the button to order · aprons are free
- Open 24 hours in T1: Lotteria (1F), Mukyoku ramen (1F, exit C), Food Garden (1F, door 12), Shake Shack (3F)
- Vegetarian: 고기 빼 주세요 (go-gi ppae ju-se-yo) = No meat, please
Quick heads-up: I double-checked the details in October 2026, but airports love to move things around, so give it a quick look when you get there (or on airport.kr). And if something’s changed, tell me in the comments and I’ll fix it!
This post is part of my little comic series First Day in Korea, where I help my friend Mia from Canada through her very first day here. You can catch the full episodes as Shorts on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram (@experiencekorea.jay).
Take care, and 또 만나요! (tto man-na-yo, “see you again!”)
Jay
Comments
Post a Comment