Seoul has cuisine database for foreigners

The Seoul City Hall has made a database on foods available in the city, the first of its kind, for the convenience of foreigners.

The database contains the names of dishes and their characteristics at a glance for foreigners in six languages, including Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese.

The city government conducted a survey of about 250 restaurants in the city to produce the service, which carries about 130 Korean dishes, including grilled beef ribs and ¡°sinsollo,¡± and about 130 Western, Japanese and Chinese dishes available in Seoul restaurants. The database carries the names of dishes, main ingredients, features of specific cuisines, information on calories and pictures. Search is possible by the names of foods, methods of cooking and names of ingredients.

Restaurants are expected to create diverse menu boards for foreigners by making use of the database. The city government plans to produce CDs with the database and to distribute them to related government agencies and restaurants. The information of the database also will be listed on the city¡¯s Internet site (www.metro.co.kr). The city also plans to publish booklets and cards. For more information, call 82-2-3707-5111/2.

Park Yun-Chul yc97@donga.com