‘이 메뉴에 소고기 들어가나요? 제가 비건이라서 소고기를 못 먹어서요.’
Say ‘들어가다’ when an ingredient is included in the food menu. So, when you check to see if ingredients are included, you say, ‘이 메뉴에 (ingredient)이/가 들어가나요?’.
In Korea, people who avoid meat and eat mainly vegetables and fruits are called ‘채식주의자(vegetarians)’. Vegetarianism in Korea does not have a long history, so there is no detailed classification such as ‘vegan, vegatarian, freegan, fruitarian’. Recently, restaurants for vegetarians have been popping up, but there aren't many of them yet.
So, if you're a vegetarian, tell the restaurant you're vegetarian and then explain what you can and can't eat. For example, ‘저는 채식주의자예요. 그런데 계란은 먹을 수 있어요.(I am a vegetarian. But you can eat eggs.)’
And if you have an allergy to a specific food, just say ‘저는 00 알레르기/알러지가 있어요.(I have 00 allergies/allergies.)’
‘소고기 빼 주실 수 있어요?’
Excluding ingredients from food is expressed as ‘빼다’. So, when I politely ask for a dish to be made without certain ingredients, I can say, ‘(ingredients) 빼 주실 수 있어요?’ There is the same expression, ‘(ingredients) 빼고 만들어 주실 수 있어요?’.
Alternatively, if you want to get a recommendation for a dish that doesn't contain ingredients you don't want at all, you can ask, ’(ingredients) 안 들어간 음식이 있어요?’
‘물은 셀프고요’
means that you bring your own water and drink it. In Korea, ‘셀프(self)’ means ‘Self-serve’. Likewise, ‘반찬은 셀프예요’ means to bring your own side dishes and eat them. In addition to this, if you put '셀프(self)' in front of words such as '셀프 계산대' and '셀프 주유', it means that you do it alone without the help of an employee.
