"Service" in Korea

Some of the stuff that came free with our meal. 

The sweetest thing about dining out in Korea, is that it's possible to hit the jackpot with "service."

"Service" is a term they use to say free food.

We were in Wolmi Island, a few hours from Seoul. The place is usually swarming with visitors in the summer, and on weekends. But yesterday was a weekday in wintertime. Older ladies stood outside their restaurants, asking us to come in.

We figured that we should help one of them out, since rent was probably expensive, and it was off season. We didn't know the difference between restaurants so we opted for one on that stood on the second floor, where we could view the harbour and ocean below.

The boyfriend is leaving the country soon, so we decided to try one of Korea's delicacies: live octopus ($35). Because we were poor, the plan was to only order the one dish, and a bottle of their version of sprite ($0.88). Then later, we'd munch on some granola bars I had stashed in my bag to fill us up. (Uh huh, that's how pathetic we've become.)

But we ended up leaving the restaurant completely satisfied. The lady ended up giving us "service" of fresh seafood that they had caught from the coast of the island. Some of the service items included: jellyfish salad, a big bowl of mussel soup, four fresh oysters, two prawns, seafood tempura, fish (couldn't tell which one) with spicy sauce, apple cucumber salad and to finish, two cups of coffee.

Mmm.

Service isn't uncommon Korea. You almost always get a side of kimchi in Korea.

To take advantage of this you can order a 1500 won ($1.40) roll of kimbap (korean sushi, I guess). Some restaruants will give you a free bowl of tofu soup and all of them will give you unlimited kimchi that you can stuff your faces in. It's a cheap and nutritious meal, but really, how many of us can eat that every single day?