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The hot water is free, the seat is free, and nobody minds you staying. Two questions and one thing nobody tells you about chopsticks.

Drink names are already English. These are the ten words that aren't — the ones that come up at the counter, at your table, and on the way out.

Leaving your cup on the table is fine in most countries. In Korea you take it to the return station — and one short question saves you from guessing.

The restroom is often outside the cafe, in a shared hallway, behind a locked door. Two questions get you in.

Korean cafes are built for people who stay for hours. Two questions get you a seat with an outlet and the wifi password.

You order your coffee, the barista asks one more thing, and you have no idea what it was. It's almost always this question — and the answer is two words.

Koreans drink more iced americano than anything else, and ordering one takes four words. Here's the phrase and the two questions you'll be asked back.

You can raise your hand for the bill all night and nobody will come. In most Korean restaurants you take the slip to the counter yourself.

Nobody will turn you away for dining solo — but most grill restaurants have a two-serving minimum. Here's how to order around it.

"A little spicy" in Korea is not a little spicy. Here's how to ask before you order, and the phrase that gets your food toned down.

Waiting to catch someone's eye will keep you waiting all night. Korean restaurants run on a button and one loud word — here's how both work.

The small plates that arrive before your meal are free, and so are the refills. Here's how the system works and the one phrase you need to get more.

You've learned the letters but reading is still slow. The reason is that Korean's unit isn't the letter — it's the block, and the blocks follow rules.

Korean food is not one cuisine. This is a region-by-region guide to the dishes worth seeking out, what makes each one local, and which ones actually work in a home kitchen.

Salt in Seoul, ssamjang in Busan, chili vinegar sauce in Jeolla. The dipping sauce for Korean blood sausage is regional, and so is the sausage itself.

Order ssambap and twenty plates arrive. It is not a set menu — it is a build-your-own wrap system, and knowing the order of operations makes it far less overwhelming.

Andong's salted mackerel and Jeju's hairtail are the two classic fish for Korean braising, and they behave completely differently in the pot. Here is how to pick and how to cook each.

Southern kimchi is saltier and redder, northern kimchi is mild and watery. The split comes from climate and salted seafood, and it explains why two jars can taste nothing alike.

Dakgalbi is cooked on a wide flat griddle at the table, which no home kitchen has. Here is the sauce ratio and the pan technique that gets you there anyway — plus the fried rice finish.

Jeju black pork is a breed, not a cut — which is why the comparison with samgyeopsal confuses people. Here is what changes, including the anchovy sauce nobody warns you about.