Hello! Today, I am introducing CU’s new lunchbox menu, the traditional Beef Bulgogi Bibimbap from the K-Food series. While this beef bulgogi bibimbap menu is familiar to us, it seems it was released with the ‘K-Food’ label, thinking it might not be as familiar to foreigners. Since there hasn’t been a basic bibimbap lunchbox at CU lately, I’m glad to see this menu. Let’s find out what this menu is all about.
Traditional Beef Bulgogi Bibimbap Price and Features
Recently, in convenience stores in areas frequently visited by foreigners, such as Hongdae, quite a few foreigners are looking for lunchboxes from the morning. CU has introduced the K-FOOD lunchbox, possibly targeting these consumers. It’s uncertain if this will continue as a series, but the first menu is beef bulgogi bibimbap. The price of this menu is 5,500 won.
The total weight is 372g, and the calorie content is 544Kcal. The sodium level is about 61% of the daily recommended intake. It’s suitable as a typical convenience store bibimbap lunchbox and seems sufficient for a meal. For reference, it is recommended to remove the lid and only put the rice, egg, and meat in the microwave when preparing this menu.
Traditional Beef Bulgogi Bibimbap Composition
This menu comes with a basic plastic spoon. When you open the lid, you can see five types of toppings and bibim sauce! The bibim sauce includes gochujang and sesame oil!
When we think of bibimbap, the first toppings that come to mind are bean sprouts, stir-fried carrots, stir-fried shiitake mushrooms, stir-fried zucchini, and beef bulgogi. It’s a very familiar sight to me as a Korean, but I wonder if it feels different to foreigners. Haha.
When bibimbap was first introduced to foreigners, the reaction wasn’t great, but now many people are looking for it, and it seems the status of K-Food has risen significantly! (Tteokbokki is in a similar situation, haha.) However, to be fair, it should be called Korean Food, as the term K-Food might not be familiar to tourists yet.
When you open the lid, there’s an egg on top of the white rice. There are five types of toppings, including the egg, and the sauce is a very basic combination of gochujang and sesame oil, which is ordinary, but it can be a good substitute when you suddenly crave bibimbap!
It is recommended to cook only the rice, egg, and beef bulgogi in a 1000W microwave for 1 minute and 40 seconds, but I took it out of the fridge for a while, added all the vegetables, and microwaved it. Finally, I added gochujang and sesame oil.
When you add the toppings and sauce, it looks like this. Doesn’t it look quite decent for a convenience store lunchbox?
Gochujang and sesame oil mix well with just the heat of the hot rice! Except for the bean sprouts, there was no major difficulty in mixing. When eating at home, you can cut the bean sprouts with scissors or spread them out well before mixing!
Taste of Traditional Beef Bulgogi Bibimbap
Let’s taste it right away! Usually, such basic bibimbap is released focusing too much on cost-effectiveness or with unique variations, so I wanted to try ‘proper bibimbap,’ and I’m glad to meet it even as a K-food menu. Haha.
First, I took a spoonful, mixed the vegetables, egg, and meat well, and took a bite! The taste was definitely closest to the typical beef bulgogi bibimbap you would expect! However, keep in mind that it is a convenience store bibimbap lunchbox!
The impression might vary slightly depending on the person eating it, and I’m not sure how the main target, foreigners, will feel about it, but personally, it matched the level of bibimbap I expected, so I enjoyed it.
It wasn’t excessively salty or spicy, and by adjusting the amount of sauce, it was a menu that could be enjoyed according to personal taste. The toppings were well-cooked, making it a well-balanced menu, and I was curious about how you would feel about it. Haha.
It was more than sufficient for a meal! It was a taste that foreigners might want to experience at least once. If you’re looking for a decent convenience store bibimbap for a meal, it would be worth trying at least once!
