Say "it's raining" to a Korean around dinnertime and there's a fair chance the next words will be "pajeon and makgeolli." It sounds like a line from a TV drama. People mean it. A popular theory says the sizzle of batter hitting hot oil sounds like rain on a roof, and I won't swear that's true, but I know what happens when I walk past a pajeon place on a rainy evening. The smell of frying oil mixes with the sound of the rain, and my feet just stop.
Pajeon is a savory Korean pancake packed with green onions. Makgeolli is Korea's cloudy, slightly sweet rice wine. Together they're the country's unofficial rainy-day dinner, and for me a seafood pajeon with one big bowl of makgeolli is enough to make the gloom of a wet day disappear. So here's why the pairing sticks, what to order, how to drink makgeolli without regretting it, and why hikers leave the bottle for the bottom of the mountain.
Why does rain make Koreans want pajeon?
Nobody has settled this, and I'm not going to pretend I can. The sound theory is the favorite. Some people point to the old farming year, when a rainy day meant no field work and time to fry something filling. Others say damp air simply carries the smell of oil farther down the street. Pick the one you like.
What I find more convincing is that the habit shows up in sales data. When the 2021 monsoon started, the convenience store chain GS25 compared makgeolli sales over the first ten days of the season. On rainy days (days when rainfall added up across the country reached 50 mm, about 2 inches, or more) it sold 43.3 percent more makgeolli than on dry days. That wasn't a fluke. On the same basis the gap was 26.0 percent in 2019 and 31.5 percent in 2020, according to the chain's figures reported by Kyunghyang Shinmun and Herald Economy.
Here's the part I like. The snacks people carried to the counter with all that makgeolli weren't pancakes at all. Pyeonyuk (pressed, sliced boiled pork) came first, then jokbal (braised pig's trotters), bossam and tofu. Which makes sense if you think about it. Pajeon is best a few minutes out of the pan, so that half of the ritual happens at restaurants and home stoves, not in a convenience-store fridge.
Pajeon, haemul pajeon and the rest of the jeon family
Jeon (전) is the umbrella word for food coated in flour batter or egg and pan-fried in oil. Pa means green onion, so pajeon is the green-onion version: long stalks laid side by side in a thin batter and fried until the edges turn crisp and lacy. A good one is thin. If it arrives thick and pale like a cake, the pan wasn't hot enough.
The one most people picture is haemul pajeon, seafood pajeon, with squid, shrimp, clams or whatever the kitchen has that day. It's the one in the photo at the top, and it's my rainy-day order. You'll also see kimchi jeon, which is red, sour and sometimes spicy. Bindaetteok is the thicker cousin made from ground mung beans. Gamja jeon is made from grated potato and comes out chewy with crisp edges. And many places do a modeum jeon, an assorted platter of zucchini rounds, battered fish fillets and little meat patties, the same things families fry for the big holidays.
Portions are big. One large pancake is plenty for two or three people to start, and you can always add a second after you see the size. A couple of phrases help: pajeon hana juseyo (one pajeon, please) and makgeolli han byeong juseyo (a bottle of makgeolli, please). If you avoid seafood, ask haemul an deureogan geo isseoyo? (is there one without seafood?), and don't assume a plain-looking pancake is seafood-free or vegetarian. The batter usually has egg, and some kitchens add seafood or stock to it. I went through the questions worth asking in my post on vegetarian and allergy orders.
What makgeolli actually is
Makgeolli (막걸리) is rice wine brewed with nuruk, a traditional fermentation starter, then strained but not clarified. That's why it's milky. Let a similar brew settle and draw off only the clear top layer, and you get yakju or cheongju, the clear rice wines. The name is usually explained as "roughly strained" or "just strained," which tells you how unfussy it was meant to be.
Most everyday bottles are around 5 to 6 percent alcohol, a little stronger than most beer, though craft makgeolli can go well above that, so check the label. Many are lightly fizzy. Some are sweetened, some taste tart and yogurty, and a few are thick enough to feel like you're drinking rice.
The little red 生 (saeng) mark means unpasteurized makgeolli with live yeast. Keep it cold. Photo: A Korean's Take
That label is worth a closer look. Saeng (생, 生) means "raw," so a saeng makgeolli is unpasteurized and still has live yeast in it. It keeps fermenting a little in the bottle, has a short shelf life and needs the fridge. Pasteurized makgeolli, marked 살균 (salgyun), keeps much longer. Either way the rice sediment sinks to the bottom. Don't shake the bottle hard. Turn it upside down gently a couple of times, then open the cap slowly, because a lively saeng bottle can fizz right over the top.
Two things surprised me when I looked into it. First, the government treats making makgeolli as heritage that belongs to everybody. In June 2021 "makgeolli making" was designated a National Intangible Cultural Heritage, and unlike most listings it has no designated master or holding group, because people all over the country practice it (the heritage listing treats it as a shared custom, the way Arirang is). Second, the tax is tiny. Under the Liquor Tax Act, makgeolli (takju) pays 44,400 won per kiloliter. That's about 33 won on a 750 ml bottle. Beer pays 885,700 won per kiloliter, roughly twenty times more per liter, and soju is taxed at 72 percent of its factory price.
Takju and yakju shipments, 2005-2024. Source: National Tax Service via e-Narajipyo (checked Nov 10, 2026). Chart: A Korean's Take (CC BY 4.0)
Makgeolli also had its moment. Shipments of makgeolli and yakju (the national statistics lump them together) more than doubled from 204,000 kiloliters in 2008 to 477,000 in 2011, the years Korean media called the makgeolli boom. Then they slowly drifted down. Counting makgeolli alone, National Tax Service figures reported by Yonhap show five straight years of decline, to 318,000 kiloliters in 2025. That's still about 318 million liters, or roughly 84 million US gallons. A lot of rainy evenings.
How to drink makgeolli at the table
At a jeon restaurant makgeolli usually comes in its plastic bottle, though some places pour it into a metal kettle or a big bowl and hand out small bowls to drink from. Drinking from a bowl instead of a glass is half the charm.
The trap is how gentle it tastes. Makgeolli goes down like a sweet, slightly sour drink, and a 750 ml bottle shared by two people disappears faster than you'd think. Eat while you drink, take your time, and don't drive afterward, not even after "just a bowl." The pouring rules (fill someone's cup only when it's empty, turn your head away from an older person when you drink) are the same ones I described in the hoesik post, so I won't repeat them here.
Pajeon dipping sauce, and the onion
Pajeon comes with a small dish of soy-based dipping sauce, often sharpened with vinegar and sometimes with chili flakes or sliced green chili. Many places drop thin slices of onion into it. Don't ignore those. My favorite bite is a crisp corner of pajeon with a slice of onion fished out of the soy sauce. The raw onion cuts right through the oil.
Go easy on the dipping, though. The pancake is already seasoned, and if you soak it the soy takes over. A quick touch is enough.
After a hike, at the bottom of the mountain
Pajeon and makgeolli belong to hiking too. After a hike I almost always stop at a restaurant near the trailhead, and at the Dobongsan entrance there's a whole alley of restaurants where you'll always find hikers who came straight off the mountain to pajeon and makgeolli. It really does feel like the tiredness of the climb melts away. I wrote more about that trail-to-table routine in my post on Korean hiking culture.
What visitors often don't know is that the bottle is supposed to wait for the restaurant. Since March 13, 2018, drinking has been banned at designated places in Korea's national parks, including summits, shelters, some trail sections and rock-climbing spots, according to the Ministry of Environment. In the first 19 months the park service issued 411 fines, and Bukhansan National Park, which includes Dobongsan, had the most, 129 of them.
Quick answers
How much alcohol is in makgeolli? Most everyday bottles are around 5 to 6 percent alcohol. Craft bottles can be much stronger, so check the label.
Is pajeon spicy? Classic green-onion and seafood pajeon aren't. Kimchi jeon can be, and the dipping sauce sometimes has chili in it.
Is pajeon vegetarian? Not reliably. The batter usually has egg, and some restaurants add seafood or stock, so ask before you order.
Should you shake makgeolli? Turn the bottle gently instead, then open it slowly. Unpasteurized (saeng) bottles can foam over.
More from this blog
- Why Do Koreans Wear Full Hiking Gear? Korean Trail Culture Explained
- Hoesik: Korean Company Dinner Culture, Drinking Rules and Toasts
- Vegetarian or Food Allergies in Korea? How to Order Safely
So, would you rather have your first pajeon and makgeolli on a rainy evening in the city, or at the bottom of a mountain?
Top photo: haemul pajeon and kimchi jeon on wooden plates. Photo: sehoon ye / Unsplash, cropped
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