Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Z]

Hi All

Searched the boards but can't find what I'm looking for. (Links welcomed!)

I'm wondering how much things cost. (Understand it can vary by area.)

A meal from Korean "fast food" or street vendor?
A meal at a restaurant, Korean and Western,
A beer in a bar? At a store?
Basic groceries like bread, meat, veggies, snacks, cheese?
A bus or subway ride? A 15 minute taxi ride?

Thanks for the help!

[ktkates87]

A meal from Korean "fast food" or street vendor?

I buy a shanghai chicken burger set at McD's for 4,000 won

A meal at a restaurant, Korean and Western,

At most western places (and many korean places), 10-15,000 won per person at most places without beer? Maybe a little more or a little less if you're drinking and doing apps. My husband and I eat Korean BBQ for about 20,000 total. If you do korean chinese food, jajangmyun is like 4,000 won a person for a huge bowl of noodles. Most Korean places are 5-7,000 per person for donkas and different noodle bowls. Theres lots of korean restaurants that are crazy cheap if you want kimbap or bibimbap and so on. Usually the bill for the two of us at most restaurants rarely goes past 30,000 won, and we consider that somewhat steep.

A beer in a bar? At a store?

3,000 won for a beer at the bar (draft pint), around 1,750 won for a tall boy? This is if you're drinking Cass, Hite and so on.

Basic groceries like bread, meat, veggies, snacks, cheese?

I'm going to go with costco prices....
meat: 25,000 for a big thing of chicken breasts, 1500 grams of ground australian beef is 20,000 won.
cheese: 9,000 for a big brick (900 grams) of chedder. (I just went shopping, lol)

A bus or subway ride? A 15 minute taxi ride?
Most subway rides are 900 won in Seoul, they go up a bit depending on how far you're riding. I get from Ilsan to my place (about 15 mins ride) for about 7,000 won in a taxi.

Veggies: (at emart) 4-5,000 won for 3-4 colored bell peppers, puny bag of about 5 new potatoes about 1,000 won....alot of the veggies are about on par with Canada (where I'm from) Strawberries are 7,000-9,000 won for a big box of them.

Bottle of wine: as little as 5,000 to 15,000 for your average bottle

These are off the top of my head mostly, I appologize for any innacuracies.

I'm from Goyang.

[Z]

Thanks very helpful!

[Triban]

10kg chicken breast 60k on gmarket.

[furtakk]

A meal from Korean "fast food" or street vendor?

Gimbap Nara/Chungook (Korean fast food take out place)
3000-6000 won for a pretty big meal

Street Vendors
500-2000 won depending on what you're buying

A meal at a restaurant, Korean and Western

Korean
6,000+ four soups. stews, bibimbap, other rice dishes
10,000+ for barbecue places, and other 'shared meal' (gamjatang, shabu shabu, jimdalk, etc) places

Western
Take out (fast food, Mexican, etc)
6,000+

Sit down
10,000-25,000 depending on what and where you're eating

A beer in a bar? At a store?
At a bar it varies obviously, but I'd say as low as 3,000 but typically around 4-5,000 for Korean draught. Add another 1-3,000 for international beers.

At a store, around 1,500-3,000 depending on the beer/size.

Basic groceries like bread, meat, veggies, snacks, cheese?
Groceries can be quite expensive. These are Homeplus prices, but it would be best to shop for your meats/cheeses at costco.

Meat
4 chicken breasts: 9,000
Small thing of ground beef (sorry don't know how many grams): 9,000~
Small thing of pork (ground, chunks, loins, etc): 4-7,000

Veggies
Korean veggies commonly used in Korean dishes are quite cheap. Things like carrots, onions, garlic, gochu (spicy) peppers, green onions, certain mushrooms, potatoes.

A bus or subway ride? A 15 minute taxi ride?
Bus/Subway: 900-1,100 won.
15 minute taxi ride: about 7-10,000 I'd say.

[ssuprnova]

This is a great thread. Would be nice if people living in other provinces chimed in. I'm in Gyeonggi, so the prices are the same as in Seoul.

[RobertGR]

I rarely pay over 10,000 won for a meal in a Korean restaurant (barbecue). Beer is about the same though.

[West Coast Tatterdemalion]

A dollar fitty...

[rhinofinn]

How big are typical fridges in Korea? Same as in the West?

[crossmr]

Sounds like someone is trying to write another one of those "most expensive cities" articles and can't be bothered to do any proper research..not like I've see a well researched one yet..

[myenglishisno]

[nukeday]

[Z]

or someone is considering a year in korea and wants to gauge their living expenses?[/quote]

Ding!

Appreciate all the helpful feedback

[Z]

Anyone who can chime in on Jeju or other tourist/ Korean vacation destinations?

[the ireland]

Geoje Do, (an Island on the south east coast for people who aren't familiar with Korea)

A meal from Korean "fast food" or street vendor?

Local gimbap Nara - 4 or 5,000 for a donggas, omarice, jay yuk dop bap etc etc. You'll not pay more than 6,000 for any item on the menu.

A meal at a restaurant, Korean and Western,

Vips - about 40,000 for the steak and salad bar.
Indian - about 30-35,000
Turkish - 15,000
Italian - 15-20,000
French - 20-30,000 (though the portions were small and not that great)
Russian - Think about 10-15k, but I've nevr eaten there
Irish bar - 20k for a sunday roast and it was pathetic. Most meals are around 15-20 in there.
McDonalds / KFC etc - about 5-6k for a set

(all the above prices are per person without alcohol)

Korean BBQ - the more people you have with you, the cheaper it becomes. A meal for 2 in my favourite samgyupsal place is about 12k each (without beers). Bring a group of 5-6 people and that will drop to about 8-9k each and will typically include beer.

Add a another 2-3k for galbi to that price above.


A beer in a bar? At a store?

Beer in a bar in geoje is more expensive than on the mainland. 4,000 a pint in WA Bar, though because we're white they try to charge 5k as they don't want us in the place. the local german bar has pints for the same price but they are more welcoming to the large number of people that come and will often supply free food as well.

Some other places are 5,000 a beer.

Not sure how much beer costs in the stor (I don't drink)

Basic groceries like bread, meat, veggies, snacks, cheese?

bread - 2,200 - 2,500 for a small sliced bread from the bakery.
12,000 for about 12 chicken fillets in homeplus.
approx 1800 for a large red / yellow pepper. 900 for a small green one.
red onion - 800 each
cheese - go to any of the foreign markets and you can get those big massive blocks for about 14k or so. Homeplus also does imported cheese but they are quite expensive. I'm not a big cheese eater. I only ever get the packets of grated cheddar to put on fajitas.
Snickers bar etc are usually 1000 each when buying individually


A bus or subway ride? A 15 minute taxi ride?

we don't have a subway, though a bus from our island to busan is 6,700 for 50 minutes. Then it's the usual subway prices.

15 minutes taxi will cost about 7-8k. I'm not too sure though as I never needed to get one. They start off at 2,200 before you go anywhere.