Emart24 Osaka-Style Yakisoba & Karaage Review [Korean Food]

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Today’s new lunchbox from Emart24 recreates an Osaka Dotonbori vibe: the Yakisoba & Karaage lunchbox. It’s the single-item entry among the several menus Emart24 rolled out under a “Japanese-style lunchbox” concept. Among the various yakisoba lunchboxes released so far, this one nails the reproduction and quality surprisingly well, and it turned out more edible than I expected. Convenience-store yakisoba, really? I know. So let’s take a look at what it’s like.

Table of Contents

📋 At a Glance

Product: Osaka-style Yakisoba & Karaage lunchbox
Store: Emart24
Price: 4,500 won (approx. $3.30 USD)
Weight: 396g
Calories: 808 kcal (sodium 125% of daily value)
Main components: Yakisoba (spaghetti noodles), 5–6 pieces of Brazilian chicken karaage, green onion, carrot, cabbage, bonito flakes, mayo
Verdict: ★4.0 — Great reproduction and value for a convenience-store yakisoba, though the spaghetti noodles mean it isn’t the real thing.

Osaka-Style Yakisoba & Karaage: Price and Highlights

A while back I reviewed an Osaka night-market-style Japanese assorted lunchbox, and its lineup of fried items and pickles was quietly solid. It had yakisoba too. So when I first bought this one, I assumed it was just that yakisoba with a bigger portion — but the short version is that the quality went up along with it. Haha. This one is priced at 4,500 won, which is on the cheap side even for a single-item convenience-store lunchbox.

You have to cook this one with the lid open. The total volume is 396g at 808 kcal, which is heavier than you’d think — it lands at about the calorie level of a full multi-side lunchbox. Sodium sits at 125% of the daily value, so it’s fairly salty.

Likely due to durability issues with true Chinese-style noodles, this menu again appears to use spaghetti for the noodles. The chicken karaage uses Brazilian chicken thigh. The rest of the ingredients are nothing especially unusual.

What’s in the Box

Let’s take a quick look at the makeup. You can tell at a glance that among the yakisoba lunchboxes out so far, this one is quite something in both composition and quality. It’s a world apart from the dull brown (or black) noodles of a soy-and-yakisoba-sauce combo with a few sausage slices on top.

Karaage on Top

On top of that, this isn’t just plain yakisoba — it’s yakisoba & karaage. So there’s karaage laid over the noodles. Think of it as a side to eat alongside; it feels like about five or six pieces are included.

Toppings and Sauce

The yakisoba fillings seem to be green onion, carrot, cabbage, and bonito flakes, with mayo drizzled on top. Picture what you’d get at a specialist shop and it may seem like nothing, but for a convenience-store lunchbox it’s a quietly high-quality setup.

The main sauce is, of course, yakisoba sauce. It looks like a soy base with teriyaki sauce and oyster sauce added on top. The sauce color is fairly bright overall — I’ll check how it actually tastes during the taste test.

Taste Test

Now let’s dig in. First, you need to mix the warmed ingredients together well before eating, right? Since I’ve had trouble getting menus like this to mix well before, I ran it about 20 seconds past the recommended 1 minute 30 seconds in a 1000W microwave. As you can see, it mixes surprisingly well.

The Yakisoba and the Mayo

To start, the basic flavor is a pretty simple yakisoba taste with a bit of extra savory depth layered in. The fillings inside weren’t distracting at all — I’d call it a quietly enjoyable style of yakisoba. It goes down smoothly, and it didn’t feel too salty either.

The mayo drizzled on top was, to my taste, in just the right amount. It wasn’t too sour, and it didn’t push the salty savoriness of the yakisoba to an overpowering level. Sure, other convenience stores hand you a separate packet, but pre-drizzled works fine too. That said, before mixing, you might want to eyeball the amount and scoop a little off.

The Karaage Topping

The karaage was decent. Since this menu has no meat or sausage, effectively this is the main topping aside from the basic vegetables. The flavor itself isn’t much different from the karaage you’d see in a typical convenience-store lunchbox. But paired with the yakisoba sauce, it was quietly quite good.

Final Verdict

Personally, as a full meal, convenience-store yakisoba was a reasonably decent menu. What about you? Even though it’s not truly Japanese-style, among convenience-store lunchboxes it was a fitting pick as one where the teriyaki sauce isn’t too strong. If you’re curious, give it a try — it made for a solid single meal. For readers abroad, it’s an easy way to scratch a yakisoba craving on the cheap.

To learn more about yakisoba as a Japanese dish and its ties to Osaka and the Kansai region, you can read the Wikipedia yakisoba entry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How much is Emart24’s Osaka-Style Yakisoba & Karaage lunchbox?

It’s 4,500 won. That’s cheap even for a single-item convenience-store lunchbox, and it totals 396g at 808 kcal.

Q. What’s in the yakisoba and karaage box?

The base is yakisoba noodles topped with five or six pieces of Brazilian chicken karaage. The fillings are green onion, carrot, cabbage, and bonito flakes, with mayo drizzled over the top.

Q. How does the Osaka-style yakisoba taste?

It’s a simple yakisoba with an extra layer of savory depth, and it goes down easily. The teriyaki sauce isn’t overpowering and it’s not too salty, making it a surprisingly faithful convenience-store take.

Q. Is it a good convenience-store yakisoba box?

Yes, it works nicely as a full meal. Just note it uses spaghetti noodles rather than true Japanese chukamen, but at 4,500 won the quality is genuinely good.

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