Why Do People in Seoul Buy Banchan? A Look Inside Korea's Side-Dish Shops

There is a man in Korea who has visited about 300 banchan shops.

His name is Lee Jae-young, and in a 2025 episode of the Korean TV program Master of Living, he was introduced as a banchan-shop enthusiast. He has spent years traveling around in search of good side dishes.

Three hundred shops.

That number made me wonder.

Why would anyone visit that many banchan shops?

And then I started thinking about the people who actually shop at them.

What Is Banchan?

Banchan are the small dishes that accompany a Korean meal.

Kimchi, seasoned vegetables, stir-fried dishes, braised foods, pickles, egg dishes, and many other foods can all become banchan.

In a traditional Korean meal, rice, soup, and banchan come together on the table. Unlike the single side dish that might accompany a main course in some Western meals, Korean banchan can include several different dishes at once.

And this is where the banchan shop comes in.

A banchan shop is a store where you can buy these dishes already prepared and take them home.

You don't have to make everything yourself.

You simply choose what you want.

Who Shops at a Banchan Store?

The answer is: all kinds of people.

Some people live alone and don't want to prepare several different dishes for one person.

Some work long hours and don't have much time to cook.

Some are raising a family and simply don't have time to prepare every dish from scratch.

And some people just know what they like.

A recent Seoul-area banchan shop project, for example, specifically offers small portions, ready-to-eat foods, and seasonal items for busy people, including single-person and dual-income households.

So buying banchan isn't necessarily a substitute for cooking.

For many people, it is simply another way of putting dinner on the table.

The Department Store Rush

You don't have to visit a neighborhood banchan shop to buy prepared side dishes.

You can also find them in the food halls of department stores.

And there is an interesting moment just before closing time.

Prepared foods that need to be sold that day may be marked down.

At some department stores, the discounts begin in the early evening, and office workers in nearby business districts know that this can be a good time to stop by on their way home.

In fact, a 2026 report on food-hall closing-time discounts found particularly strong demand for banchan during the after-work period at Lotte Department Store's main branch. Between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m., banchan sales accounted for about 40 percent of the day's banchan sales there.

So sometimes the question isn't simply:

“What should I have for dinner?”

It is:

“What is on sale tonight?”

Some People Line Up for Kimchi

Then there are the people who aren't just looking for convenience.

They are looking for something specific.

Some banchan shops specialize in kimchi.

And at popular kimchi-focused shops, customers may arrive before opening and wait in line.

One Seoul banchan-shop enthusiast highlighted a kimchi specialty shop in Seodaemun known for putting out freshly made kimchi at set times.

That changes the way you might think about a banchan shop.

It isn't always just a convenient place to pick up something for dinner.

Sometimes it is a destination.

People may come because they particularly like the kimchi made there.

Just as someone might have a favorite bakery or coffee shop, they can have a favorite place for banchan.

You Can See the Seasons in a Banchan Shop

There is another thing I like about banchan shops.

You can sometimes tell what season it is by looking at the food.

Korean cuisine makes extensive use of seasonal vegetables, and seasonal ingredients are often turned into namul and other banchan. The Korean Tourism Organization describes namul as dishes that capture the taste of the seasons, with vegetables, mushrooms, and other ingredients appearing in different forms throughout the year.

That means the display at a banchan shop is never completely static.

The ingredients change.

The colors change.

The dishes change.

A banchan shop can almost become a small seasonal calendar.

You might not think of food as a way to tell what month it is.

In Seoul, sometimes you can.

One Person, 300 Shops

This brings me back to the man who has visited about 300 banchan shops.

For most people, visiting 300 shops would be a little excessive.

But perhaps his hobby reveals something important.

Banchan aren't just food.

They are a part of everyday Korean meals.

And because there are so many ways to make them, so many ingredients to use, and so many local shops producing them, there is always something else to discover.

One shop might be known for kimchi.

Another might specialize in inexpensive small portions.

Another might have unusual dishes.

Another might change its menu with the seasons.

And someone who really loves banchan might want to find them all.

A Banchan Shop Is a Small Window Into Seoul

For someone visiting Seoul, a banchan shop might not seem like an important destination.

There is no famous landmark outside.

There may not even be an English sign explaining what it is.

But step inside and you can see something very ordinary and very Korean.

Someone living alone chooses three small containers for dinner.

An office worker stops by after work because the food is about to be discounted.

A customer waits outside for a favorite kimchi shop to open.

Someone else notices that the vegetables on the shelves have changed with the season.

And somewhere in Seoul, a banchan enthusiast is still looking for the next great shop.

You don't need to visit 300 banchan shops to understand Seoul.

But visit one, and you may begin to understand how people here put dinner on the table.