Comments on: Awkward Korean Restaurant Moments

By: carolbuko

carolbuko — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:40:22 +0000

Fear not: they always grab the tongs to turn the bbq no matter what you look like!

By: Abby

Abby — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:07:02 +0000

I’m an adoptee too and all of those happen to me, I guess I lucked out though since I’ve been doing this since I was a kid. At least they get nicer after the 10th time I fumble through explaining I don’t speak Korean beyond ordering.

By: Simon Tsui

Simon Tsui — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:07:42 +0000

There’s a nice Korean joint in Union Square, NYC called Express Manna. I am proud to say that visiting them on a monthly basis has turned me from awkward foreigner patron holding chopsticks the wrong way, to a self-assured correctly-held chopsticks using Asian.

By: TJ

TJ — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:01:57 +0000

i see that you use your korean name.
i have one too. but i dont go by it…
it feels awkward to me when i say it
or when i have someone else say it to me…
so i just go by my english name..

i love korean food tho…
i got introduced to it when i was like 28…
i’m 37 now and i think i’m pretty well versed in a lot
of korean dishes and i love cooking them…
shopping at h mart is actually fun for me…
cashiers always tend to think i speak korean tho…
and so i have to correct them and
tell them that i only know english…

same thing happens when i go into korean restaurants…
i know the names of the korean dishes…
but i dont feel confident enough when it comes
to ordering in korean…
so i just speak in english when it comes
telling them what i want..
i’d like to order the galbi dish or
the bibimbap or something like that…

while i know a little korean…
i admit, i tend to be too shy
to actually speak it out loud…