Food & Drink
Busan launches ‘2025 Taste of Busan’ guidebook showcasing 150 culinary hotspots
Haps Magazine Korea
April 1, 2025
(Photo by City of Busan. Courtesy of Haps Magazine Korea.)
The city of Busan has officially released the 2025 Taste of Busan guidebook, a comprehensive culinary guide that highlights 150 of the city’s most representative restaurants, blending tradition with contemporary flavors.
Published in Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese, the guide aims to enhance the dining experience for both locals and international tourists by introducing signature dishes, regional ingredients, and cultural food narratives.
In addition to restaurant listings, the guide features interviews with renowned local chefs who represent current trends in Busan’s food scene, detailed introductions to iconic culinary neighborhoods like Eat Streets, and educational insights into Busan’s local food heritage.
Thirteen traditional Busan dishes, including Dongnae pajeon (green onion pancake), black goat bulgogi, eel, and pork soup, are spotlighted along with locally sourced ingredients such as Myeongji green onions, Daejeo salted tomatoes, and Yeongdo sweet potatoes. Recipes using these ingredients are also included to offer readers an interactive food experience.
Notably, 50 of the featured restaurants now support multilingual menus via QR codes as part of Busan’s digital language support project launched last year. These menus are available in English, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Japanese, Vietnamese, Russian, and Arabic, greatly enhancing accessibility for international diners.
The 2025 Taste of Busan guidebook is available for download on the Busan Tourism Portal.
Physical copies are distributed across tourist information centers, consulates, participating restaurants, and food-related departments in local government offices. A pocket-sized “Gourmet Map” listing all selected establishments will also be available to tourists starting mid-April.
First produced in 2002 during the Busan Asian Games and World Cup, the guidebook has since become an annual publication and a key part of the city’s global tourism and gastronomic outreach.
In recognition of its culinary leadership, Busan’s gastronomy initiatives, including Taste of Busan, were presented as a best-practice model at the 2023 annual general meeting of the Délice Network, an international association of gourmet cities.