Banchan, Explained: What’s on All Those Tiny Plates

Sit down at a Korean restaurant in Duluth and five to ten small plates will land on your table before you’ve ordered. These are banchan (반찬) — the free side dishes that define a Korean meal. They’re not appetizers. They stay on the table the whole time, you eat them alongside your main dish, and you can ask for refills.

Why they exist

Korean meals are built around rice + soup/stew + many small bites. Banchan balances out flavor and texture: something sour, something spicy, something crunchy, something fermented. You’re meant to rotate through all of them rather than finishing one at a time.

The ones you’ll almost always see

• Kimchi (김치) — the red one. Fermented napa cabbage with chili paste. Varies from mildly tangy (fresh) to sharp and funky (aged).
• Kkakdugi (깍두기) — cubed radish kimchi. Crunchier, slightly sweeter than napa kimchi.
• Kongnamul muchim (콩나물무침) — bean sprouts with sesame oil, salt, scallion. The reset button between bites.
• Sigeumchi namul (시금치나물) — blanched spinach, sesame, garlic. Mild green counterpoint to spicy mains.
• Myeolchi bokkeum (멸치볶음) — glazed dried anchovies. Tiny, sweet-savory, very crunchy. Love it or skip it.
• Dubu jorim (두부조림) — soy-braised tofu slabs with pepper flakes.
• Danmuji (단무지) — yellow pickled radish. A Japanese import, but common in Korean restaurants.

The "we’re fancier" banchan

Higher-end or newer places add:

• Jangjorim (장조림) — soy-braised beef strands with quail eggs.
• Gaeranjjim (계란천) — steamed fluffy egg, often served in a hot stone pot.
• Japchae (잡채) — stir-fried glass noodles with vegetables. Sometimes a main, sometimes a banchan.
• Gyeran mari (계란말이) — rolled omelet, sliced.

How to eat banchan correctly

1. Use the shared chopsticks (if provided) for common plates. If not, your own chopsticks are fine — just don’t double-dip.
2. Don’t finish a banchan in one go. Take one or two bites, rotate.
3. Ask for refills by name if you can. "Can I get more kimchi / kongnamul?" works. Servers almost never say no.
4. Don’t take banchan home. It’s meant to stay with the meal. Asking for it in a to-go box is a small faux pas.

How much banchan tells you about a restaurant

Banchan variety is a quick quality signal. A Korean place that brings 3 small plates is serviceable. A place that brings 8–12 with care is telling you they stock a full kimchi fridge and a prep kitchen — and almost always, the mains will be better too.

If you don’t eat spicy

Roughly half of banchan isn’t spicy at all. Safe bets: kongnamul (bean sprouts), sigeumchi (spinach), danmuji (yellow radish), dubu jorim (tofu), gyeran mari (omelet). You can eat a full Korean meal without touching anything red.

Banchan etiquette at AYCE (all-you-can-eat)

At AYCE Korean BBQ, banchan is included and refilled freely. At à la carte places, same rule. You never pay per plate. If a server offers an additional spicy cold soup or dumpling at the end, that’s usually also included — they’re just asking if you want it.

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See our Korean BBQ 101 guide for the full ordering flow, or Duluth neighborhood guide for the best banchan lineups in the metro.