About Us

Bap House is proud to serve homemade Korean favorites. Our menu is a product of decades of cooking, rooted in tradition and hospitality. We’re different from your typical restaurant — rather than ordering a single dish, you get to mix and match your favorite menu items to cater to your own needs and tastes. 

But, you may be wondering — how do I know what I’ll like? How much should I order? What are the portion sizes? What do all of these Korean words mean?

This page functions as a history, dictionary, and instruction manual. Scroll to learn more about Korean culture, the significance of our dishes, the different parts of Korean food, suggestions for placing orders, and more!

Significance of Korean Food

Korean food is heavily rooted in tradition, hospitality, and community. Recipes and cooking practices are passed down through families. The intentionality and hard work that goes into Korean meals gives them a very personal significance. Being welcomed, fed, and taken care of is crucial for Korean culture, and hearty, healthy meals are a way to communicate these virtues.

Our Approach to cooking Korean food

Our founder, Esther, grew up cooking for her family. Her mother’s family is from North Korea and her father is from South Korea, and she was raised abroad in the Congo. Her cooking has a range of international influences but still focuses on central Korean traditions and flavors. 

However, when starting Bap House, Esther wondered how she could market “authentic” Korean food that came from a range of cultural backgrounds. Fortunately, her husband Gi is a foodie with a very specific taste and a very high standard. Esther built the Bap menu from years of cooking for Gi. She’s serving the Korean dishes that Gi loves best — which means they’re as good as they come!

Korean Meals

Korean food relies heavily on balance. Intentional combinations of sweet, spicy, and salty foods interact to create bold flavors and contrasting tastes. Texture plays a big role as well — you’ll find a mix of crunchy, soft, chewy, and crispy foods. 

The main component of Korean food is bap (rice). Everyone gets a serving of rice. We keep our rice plain so our more flavorful main dishes and banchan complement it.

Banchan are the side dishes. They have different flavor profiles and textures. These dishes are quicker to prepare and are more versatile from meal to meal. They’re often served family style.

Guk or Jjigae (soup or stew) is often included to complement the bap and enrich flavor. They also have numerous health benefits.

Main dishes tend to be more flavorful and protein-central — often some sort of chicken, pork, beef, or fish.

Kimchi — fermented vegetables — is found at nearly every Korean meal. 

Aside from the staples of rice and banchan, core pieces of Korean food are gochugaru (pepper flakes), gochujang (fermented red chili paste), soy sauce, fish sauces, sesame oil, green onions, ginger, and garlic. Maesil cheong (green plum syrup) and doenjang (fermented bean paste) are other popular ingredients. 

Korean food is often served family-style, with shared dishes at the center of the table. Community is essential for a good Korean meal.

Bap House Way

Most Korean restaurants in the United States only serve the main courses of a meal, like Bulgogi or Japchae or Samgyeopsal. Bap House focuses on banchan — the side dishes — for variety and flexibility. Instead of picking one dish to order, you can select multiple banchan to eat throughout the week in addition to your main dish. This allows you to mix and match sides to pair with other meals, combine into other dishes, or eat the sides on their own. 

For example, a fish cake (Korean) is a typical banchan. You could absolutely have a meal with just rice and fish cake — but you can also order other banchan like spicy cucumber salad and the trending Korean marinated eggs, or you can pair your more mild fish cake with a spicier main dish like Korean spicy stir-fried pork.

Ordering at Bap House

Check out our menu for flavor profiles and texture descriptions — but get creative, too! If this is your first experience with authentic Korean food, we invite you to step out of your comfort zone.