About Knowaboutkorea
A two-person team, based in Korea.
We aggregate verified restaurant data from 10+ authoritative Korean sources so international visitors can make confident dining decisions — without guesswork.
Two people. One mission.
Eric
Data Engineer
Based in Korea
Builds and maintains the verified database of Korean restaurants. Aggregates data from Google Places, Naver Local, Kakao Map, and Korean public data sources. Every data pipeline and scoring formula is his work.
Joyce
Local Reviewer
Based in Korea
Visits and reviews every restaurant featured in our Local Reviews. Every recommendation is based on first-hand experience — not aggregated data.
How We Score Restaurants
Our composite score combines data from three verified Korean platforms, weighted by signal quality. The formula is public and updated when sources change.
How we calculate: Composite Score
Full methodology(Google × 0.4) + (Naver × 0.4) + (visit_count_normalized × 0.2)A weighted average of Google Places ratings, Naver Local ratings, and normalized visit counts. Scores range from 0–5.
How we calculate: Foreigner-Friendly Score
Full methodologyEnglish menu (40%) + English reviews ratio (30%) + English website (20%) + International rating coverage (10%)Measures how accessible a restaurant is for non-Korean speakers based on verified data points across multiple platforms.
Update frequency
- Ratings & reviews: updated daily
- Michelin / Blue Ribbon: updated annually
- Government hygiene grades: updated when new grades are published
Local Reviews by Joyce
Joyce visits every restaurant featured in our Local Reviews. Each review is written based on first-hand experience, not aggregated data. Reviews are added regularly.
Maintained by Eric
Eric builds and maintains the verified restaurant database. Data is aggregated from 10+ authoritative sources and updated daily. Every data point is traceable to its origin.
Our Data Sources
We aggregate verified restaurant data from 10+ authoritative sources. Every data point is traceable to its origin.
- Restaurant ratings
- Review counts and review content
- Business hours
- Place IDs (unique restaurant identifiers)
- Google Places photos (TOS prohibits permanent caching)
- Places API photos served from our own hosting
Restaurant Data
Government & Public Data
Editorial Content
- Local Reviews — first-hand visits by Joyce
- Database — built and maintained by Eric (data engineer)
All public data is used in compliance with 공공누리 1유형 (KOGL Type 1), which permits free use with source attribution.
Michelin Guide Korea
Source- Restaurant listings
- Distinction levels (Bib Gourmand, 1 Star, 2 Star, 3 Star)
- Award years
- Michelin's editorial descriptions
- Copyrighted review text
- Official Michelin photos
- Michelin Man (Bibendum) logo
Our Editorial Independence
- Advertising and editorial content are kept strictly separate.
- No restaurant can pay to improve its ranking or visibility.
- All data sources and licenses are disclosed on this page.
- 29,400+ restaurants indexed with transparent, public scoring methodology.
- Local Reviews are based entirely on first-hand visits — no sponsored content.
Start Exploring
Browse restaurants by region, check ratings, and plan your meals before you land.
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