Not that spicy.
The server smiles and says it: “Not that spicy.” Ten minutes later you’re on your third glass of water, staring at a bowl of kimchi stew. The server is still smiling. Nobody lied. For them, it really isn’t spicy.
That’s where the name comes from. Not That Spicy is about more than food: travelling in Korea is not as hard as it looks, once someone tells you how.
Not That Spicy started in that gap. The things Koreans find so obvious that nobody mentions them, and that every visitor runs into at least once.
The barbecue place that won’t serve one portion. The kiosk that spits out your foreign card. The shop the map swears is open, shutter down. Star ratings don’t tell you any of this. Only the person who got there first knows.
So we built a place where that person tells the next one. Here, a failed trip becomes useful information. Wherever someone got stuck, a fix gets pinned, and the next traveler walks right past it. Think of it as a Korea travel encyclopedia, written by people who were just there.
Meet the crew
SunnyAnchor of Korea This MorningDressed as a market storyteller from old Korea. Stays calm while everyone else falls apart.
DashField reporterDressed as a royal courier who ran messages across the country. Always late, always out of breath, always has a tip.
DJ MildHost of Mild FMDressed as the king’s undercover inspector. His badge is a chili that says “less spicy” in Korean. Judges food for a living. Cannot handle spice.
EchoCo-host and interpreterDressed as an official interpreter. Says everything twice, once in English and once in Korean.
StonyProducerDressed as an old-time constable. Never smiles. Shows up wherever travelers get stuck.
What’s here
Eats. Stars for taste, value and how foreigner-friendly the place was, plus what the staff said about the spice next to what it actually felt like.
Fixes. The moments Korea tripped you up, and how you got out. The more people got stuck, the higher it climbs.
Lounge. Trips, culture, things you tried, questions. Korean helpers answer directly.
Korea This Morning. Every morning at 8, Korea time: weather, festivals on today, three world headlines.
Mild FM. Every Monday night, the best story of the week, read out on the radio.
Who tells the stories
Nobody reads a pile of information, so we hired a cartoon crew. Their outfits come from old Korean jobs: a storyteller, a courier, a royal inspector, an interpreter and a constable.
What we promise
Real posts only. No made-up reviews, no inflated numbers.
Anything someone paid for is labeled Sponsored.
We never ask for your name or phone number. Your Google sign-in email and a nickname are enough.
This isn’t a place to trash a shop. It’s a place to help the next customer be less confused.
Korea is easier than it looks. Someone just has to tell you first.
Where you got stuck, what tasted great, what made you laugh. Leave one, and the next person’s trip fails one time less.
Share your Korea story