CU Triple Jeongsik Tangsuyuk & Gochujapchae [Korean Food]

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Korean convenience store lunch boxes keep getting more ambitious, and CU’s latest aims at a full spread from a Korean-style Chinese restaurant. Today’s pick is the Triple Jeongsik Tangsuyuk & Gochujapchae with Jjamppong Soup (jeongsik means a set meal). It is the second menu in CU’s Triple Jeongsik lineup, following the Triple Jeongsik Ganjang Bulbaek & Donkatsu with Sagol Kimchi Stew I reviewed earlier. One box holds tangsuyuk (Korean sweet and sour pork), gochujapchae (shredded meat stir-fried with bell peppers and onions) and jjamppong soup (a spicy soup in the style of jjamppong, a Korean-Chinese noodle dish). Egg rice and mandu tangsuyuk (dumplings with a tangsuyuk-style sauce) are tucked in as well, so it turned out to be a surprisingly solid meal. Let’s find out what’s inside.

Table of Contents

📋 At a Glance

Product: Triple Jeongsik Tangsuyuk & Gochujapchae with Jjamppong Soup
Brand: CU convenience store lunch box (Triple Jeongsik lineup)
Price: 5,900 won
Weight and calories: 409 g · 698 kcal · sodium 2,170 mg (109% of the daily recommended value)
Main components: seven items: egg rice, 3 mains (tangsuyuk, gochujapchae, jjamppong soup) and 3 sides: mandu tangsuyuk, stir-fried kimchi and danmuji (yellow pickled radish)
How to heat: microwave with the lunch box lid removed and the soup lid left on
Verdict: ★4.0 — tangsuyuk, gochujapchae and jjamppong soup, three popular Chinese-restaurant dishes, in one solid spread; the sodium is high and the fried sides are plentiful, though, so anyone wary of salty food may find it a bit heavy.

Triple Jeongsik Tangsuyuk & Gochujapchae: Price and Highlights

CU revamped its ready-meal lineup from September for the start of the university semester and the new school term, and Triple Jeongsik is one of its new arrivals. The last menu, ganjang bulbaek & donkatsu, was like a table at a baekban (Korean set-meal) restaurant. This one is stuffed with Chinese-restaurant dishes instead, so I bought it right away. Ha. The price is 5,900 won, exactly the same as the previous menu.

Review of a Chinese-style convenience store lunch box

The box weighs 409 g and has 698 kcal, with 2,170 mg of sodium, which is 109% of the daily recommended value. The weight is nearly identical to the ganjang bulbaek & donkatsu box (406 g), but the calories run about 100 kcal higher. With a soup and fried side dishes in the mix, the sodium goes past the daily recommendation, so it is on the high side. There is a soup, yet no spoon is provided, so it’s best to ask for one when you buy. To heat it, remove the lunch box lid and keep the soup lid on.

Look of the mandu tangsuyuk and its tangsuyuk sauce

What’s in the Box

Here is a quick look at the contents. True to the name “Triple,” the container is quite large. A soup sits alongside the main lunch box, which makes the whole thing clearly heftier than an ordinary lunch box. In total there are seven items: egg rice, three mains and three sides.

Features of the Chinese-style convenience store set

The first main, tangsuyuk, is fried pork topped with sweet and sour tangsuyuk sauce. A Chinese-style lunch box would feel incomplete without it, so it anchors the whole set. The second main, gochujapchae, isn’t a huge portion… It is shredded meat stir-fried with bell peppers, onions and more, and its savory saltiness contrasts with the sweetness of the tangsuyuk. The sides are mandu tangsuyuk, stir-fried kimchi and danmuji (yellow pickled radish). Including danmuji shows how seriously this set takes its Chinese-restaurant concept.

Look of the gochujapchae stir-fried with bell peppers

The third main is the jjamppong soup. Like the sagol kimchi stew last time, it comes in a separate container. Once heated, it looks good for a few spoonfuls of hearty, spicy broth. With a soup on board, a lunch box clearly feels more complete as a meal.

Look of the crispy mandu in the mandu tangsuyuk

The rice is egg rice rather than plain white rice, so it eats like fried rice. Picture freshly stir-fried egg rice with jjamppong broth and a few side dishes, all laid out like a Chinese-restaurant table. Call it a set-meal lunch box from a Chinese specialty restaurant. Ha.

Taste Test: Jjamppong Soup, Tangsuyuk and Gochujapchae

Time to dig in. After a spin in the microwave, I lifted the lid. The sweet and sour aroma of the tangsuyuk sauce rose together with the spicy scent of the jjamppong soup. That combination alone felt like sitting in a Chinese restaurant. I started with a spoonful of the jjamppong soup, which had melted into a thick, rich consistency.

Features of the convenience store lunch box set

The jjamppong soup was spicy and sharp, and it cleared away the greasiness of the fried sides. The portion isn’t large. Even so, a spoonful now and then kept my mouth from feeling heavy until the very end. Without this broth, I think I would have tired of the tangsuyuk from the middle of the meal on.

Recommended menu: tangsuyuk and gochujapchae

Next came the tangsuyuk. It had been reheated, so the batter wasn’t fully crisp. Still, the sweet and sour sauce had soaked in well, and it ate like a poured-sauce tangsuyuk (the “bumeok” style, with the sauce poured over the fried pork). The mandu tangsuyuk belongs to the same sauce family, so alternating it with the tangsuyuk made the fried sides quite satisfying.

Chinese-style set of the CU Triple Jeongsik

Meat-to-vegetable ratio of the gochujapchae

Past the halfway point, a routine forms on its own: gochujapchae on the egg rice, a piece of tangsuyuk, then a spoonful of jjamppong broth. Because the sodium is high, the whole meal runs salty. Add the stir-fried kimchi and danmuji bit by bit, tasting as you go. Ha.

The gochujapchae carried a salty, oyster-sauce-style seasoning, and the vegetables kept their crunch. That made it a natural topping for the egg rice. With the tangsuyuk’s sweetness and the gochujapchae’s saltiness taking turns, mixing the two mains was quite fun.

Introducing the Chinese-style CU Triple Jeongsik

Final Verdict: A Chinese-Restaurant Spread in a Convenience Store Box

Personally, I felt this is a great fit for anyone who loves Chinese food, since tangsuyuk, gochujapchae and jjamppong soup, all popular Chinese-restaurant dishes, come together in one box. That said, the sodium runs above the daily recommended value and the fried sides are plentiful. Anyone who finds salty food a burden may find it a little heavy. I’d recommend it to people who want several Chinese-restaurant dishes at once, those who insist on a soup in their lunch box, and tangsuyuk fans. And at 5,900 won, it is an easy way to get that Chinese-restaurant feel without sitting down at one.

Review of the spicy jjamppong soup broth

The Triple Jeongsik lineup, which CU rolled out while revamping its ready meals for the new semester, is covered in this (Korean source) Newspim report on CU’s back-to-school ready-meal overhaul.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How much is the CU Triple Jeongsik Tangsuyuk & Gochujapchae with Jjamppong Soup?

It costs 5,900 won, the same as the previous Triple Jeongsik menu. The box weighs 409 g with 698 kcal, and the sodium is 2,170 mg, or 109% of the daily recommended value.

Q. How does the CU Triple Jeongsik Tangsuyuk taste?

In my experience, the jjamppong soup is the star: its spicy broth cuts through the fried sides, so my mouth never felt heavy until the end. The tangsuyuk lost some crunch after heating but ate like a poured-sauce version, and the gochujapchae kept its vegetable crunch under a salty oyster-sauce-style seasoning. The sodium is high, though, so add the kimchi and danmuji gradually.

Q. What comes in the box, and how do I heat it?

It holds egg rice, three mains (tangsuyuk, gochujapchae and jjamppong soup) and three sides (mandu tangsuyuk, stir-fried kimchi and danmuji), seven items in all. To heat it, remove the lunch box lid and keep the soup lid on. No spoon comes with it, so ask for one when you buy.

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