No US trip needed: Dollar-priced menus are hitting Koreans at home

Koreans don’t need to take a trip to the U.S. to experience the pain of a weak won. A few restaurants at home already charge in U.S. dollars, turning a $110 buffet into a splurge of more than 160,000 won and giving diners a taste of American-style sticker shock without ever leaving Seoul. At the handful of restaurants that price their meals in dollars, the won’s slide has simply made those figures feel heavier. The menu hasn’t changed, but the exchange rate has, pushing meals that already leaned pricey into noticeably more expensive territory for locals. Among the small group of establishments that rely on dollar-based pricing are seafood buffets like Viking’s Wharf — known for its $110 buffet — and Crab52, where dinner runs $200 per person, as well as Noryangjin101, a high-end spot that opened earlier this year in Seoul’s fish market district. All three have been listing their prices in U.S. dollars, a practice the company says stems from relying heavily on imported seafood, whose costs are tied to global markets. Notably, the restaurants belong to the same parent company,

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