Anju: Korea's Drinking-Food Culture Explained (And What to Order)

Here is the single most useful concept for understanding a Korean night out: anju (안주). Translated it just means "drinking food" — but in practice it is the main character. Koreans rarely ask "what should we drink?" first. They ask "what anju are we having?" and the drink follows. Master this and you order like a local anywhere.

# Food first, drink second

In Korean drinking culture, the table centers on one or two generous shared dishes, not rounds of small plates. And pairings are near-codified: fried chicken demands beer (chimaek), pork belly demands soju, savory pancakes demand makgeolli on rainy days. Order against the code and nobody stops you — but with it, everything tastes better.

# The pairing cheat sheet

• Soju × raw beef — yukhoe or mungtige; sesame-oil richness against a clean, cold shot. The connoisseur tier.
• Beer × fried things — chicken, cheese chips; carbonation cuts oil. The happiness tier.
• Highball × western bites — caprese, cream cheese; the current Yeonnam-dong trend.
• Somaek × spicy dishes — chili-oil yukhoe, mala anything; the sweet-spicy infinite loop.

# Anju etiquette in 30 seconds

Anju is communal — chopsticks in, everyone shares. Ordering one anju per 2 people plus one to grow into is the standard rhythm. And the unwritten rule: you do not drink on an empty table. Even one plate of anju makes the soju legitimate.

# Experience it properly

RAWISM in Yeonnam-dong is built around the soju-and-raw-beef tier of anju culture: same-day-butchered Hanwoo yukhoe four ways (from ₩22,000), thick-cut mungtige (₩45,000), plus highballs, bomb drinks and the full soju lineup. A 5-minute walk from Hongik Univ. Station Exit 3, open Tue–Sun 18:00–23:00. New to the genre? Read the raw beef guide first.