[Korean Food] King Dumpling Tteokguk, Assorted Jeon & Japchae GS25

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Hello. Today I’m introducing two new GS25 holiday items for Lunar New Year: King Dumpling Tteokguk and Assorted Jeon & Japchae. For Lunar New Year 2026, GS25 was the first among the convenience store chains to roll out the widest variety. GS25 has always been pretty solid with holiday lunch boxes and assorted jeon, and they occasionally release tteok-mandu soup as well, so the overall lineup is usually one of the better ones. This time, you can also pre-order through the GS25 app, so you can reserve and pick it up as needed. I placed a reservation order and tried them right away. Let’s take a look at what these items are like.

Table of Contents

King Dumpling Tteokguk Price and Features

First, let’s check the price and features of the King Dumpling Tteokguk. Convenience stores have released so many soup and stew items by now that it doesn’t feel all that unfamiliar anymore. CU recently launched a similar Bibigo tteok-mandu soup, so I was curious how this one would compare. The price is surprisingly affordable at 4,500 won.

The total weight is 364g, with 789 kcal, and sodium at 110% of the recommended daily intake. With rice cakes plus meat-filled king dumplings, the calories are fairly high for the portion size, and considering the price, the value is quite good. The sodium is probably unavoidable because of the soup base.

Tteokguk rice cakes: a symbolic food for prosperity and good fortune

Speaking of the soup base, the reason this one is priced a bit lower is that it doesn’t use the gelatin-set style that’s been trendy in recent convenience store meals. Instead, it uses a powdered soup base. It’s a powdered broth based on beef bone extract. That may be why it’s a little cheaper than some of the newer soup and stew items.

Enjoying special holiday foods conveniently

King Dumpling Tteokguk Contents

Now let’s quickly check what’s inside. There are hardly any vegetables, and as soon as you open the lid you see three large king dumplings and a pretty generous amount of sliced tteokguk rice cakes. It does include some shredded egg garnish and seaweed flakes, at least. The powdered soup base is inside, and a plastic spoon is provided by default. If you need chopsticks, you’ll have to ask for them separately at checkout.

Growing demand for holiday convenience meals

Convenience store holiday spread value for money

Since it’s a powdered-base soup where adjusting the water isn’t too tricky, they were pretty generous with both the rice cakes and dumplings. It’s a bit less than what you’d get at a snack shop, but it still seems filling enough.

How convenience stores respond to rising prices

Following the instructions, I sprinkled the powdered soup base over the toppings, then poured hot water up to the fill line. Using a 1000W microwave, I heated it for just under 2 minutes. I prefer it well heated.

Japchae varieties and ingredient combinations

Tteokguk: a 대표 holiday dish and its symbolism

This is what it looks like after heating. There’s more than I expected, including the broth. There are plenty of toppings and a good amount of soup, so as long as it doesn’t taste too bland, it should be just right.

Assorted jeon: balance of meat and vegetables

Assorted Jeon & Japchae Price and Features

Next, let’s check the price and features of the Assorted Jeon & Japchae. Since it’s a menu that comes around every year, the lineup will likely be similar, so it’s worth focusing on what—if anything—has changed. The price is 6,500 won.

Assorted jeon taste comparison and review

This item weighs 286g in total and has 445 kcal. Both the portion and calories feel a bit on the small side. Sodium is 70% of the recommended daily intake, so it’s not especially high. For Lunar New Year items like these, tteok-mandu soup is often more of a “hook” product, while assorted jeon tends to sell better. And since you’re unlikely to eat only this, once you factor in pairing it with other items, the price isn’t exactly low.

Japchae convenience meal with plenty of ingredients

Assorted Jeon & Japchae Contents

Let’s take a quick look at the contents. While it’s called Assorted Jeon & Japchae, the key feature is that it focuses on familiar jeon varieties you’ve probably seen at least once, and ones that generally don’t divide opinions too much.

King dumpling texture and convenient cooking method

It includes vegetable jeon and kimchi jeon, of course. Along with those, you get saekdong jeon (multicolored jeon), donggeurangttaeng (pan-fried meat patties), fish cake jeon (basically ground seafood), neobiani (Korean-style marinated beef patty), japchae, and pickled onions. In the past, it used to include things like zucchini jeon and pollock jeon too, but it feels like it gets simpler and more plain each year.

Holiday features of assorted jeon and japchae

If you look at the japchae, the amount of vegetables has dropped a lot, and the meat is almost nowhere to be found. It feels like the side-dish japchae you’d get in a typical convenience store lunch box, just with a slightly larger portion. It’s at the point where I’m worried the vegetables might practically disappear before long. If prices stabilize, will it go back to the old quality?

How the King Dumpling Tteokguk Tastes

It wasn’t the holiday yet, but I tasted both items together to get into the Lunar New Year mood. First up is the King Dumpling Tteokguk. As you saw in the cooking step, since the broth is made from a powdered base, it had a slightly milky yet clear look.

Solo consumers’ preference for holiday convenience meals

Tasting it, you can’t completely hide that typical instant beef-bone powder flavor. Still, the dumplings are quite large, and they’re nicely filled with meat, so it’s totally fine to break one open and eat the rest with a spoon. The rice cakes are pleasantly chewy too. It kind of reminds me of the tteok-mandu soup you’d get in the military.

It’s not quite like what you’d get at a snack shop, but it’s good enough to compare quality to some extent. Considering the price and everything, it feels competitive. If the combined amount of rice cakes and dumplings doesn’t feel like enough for you, grab a cheap cup of instant rice and add it in—there’s no way you won’t feel full.

Assorted jeon: a traditional holiday food

King dumpling tteokguk feature breakdown

Personally, for this price, the portion and quality felt more than sufficient. Expecting premium quality at this price point would be a bit much. Still, since there’s no kimchi or side dish included and the portion might feel slightly small to some, it’s worth keeping that in mind—pair it with something on the side, or pick up a cup of instant rice as a backup.

A product that completes a holiday table setting

Assorted Jeon & Japchae Taste

I ate the assorted jeon as well. It’s true the assortment has been shrinking compared to the past, and since most of it is made by reheating pre-made frozen items, I don’t set my expectations too high. Still, maybe because I’ve eaten a lot of frozen jeon over the years (sometimes I crave it and pan-fry frozen donggeurangttaeng with an egg coating), I didn’t find it off-putting.

King dumplings: the advantage of easy preparation

As for the japchae, aside from a small amount of vegetables, it mostly felt like glass noodles tossed with soy sauce and sesame oil. And since the portion has shrunk too, it feels more disappointing as time goes on. I feel like they used to include a decent amount of meat before.

The rest of the components are in a similar state. With items like shiitake mushroom jeon, perilla leaf jeon, and pollock jeon removed, the remaining pieces have been swapped for things like fish-based jeon, donggeurangttaeng, and even saekdong jeon made by cutting the original pieces in half. Compared to before, it feels much more modest. It would’ve been fine if the price had dropped a bit too, but it hasn’t, so the value just isn’t there.

At least there’s soy sauce pickled onions in the sauce cup in the middle, so you can dip the jeon in it or eat the onions on the side. But since the jeon itself is salty, you may not really end up using it much, which is another downside.

Assorted jeon: a harmonious variety of flavors

I ate the tteokguk together with the jeon & japchae, and for a little over 10,000 won, I ended up very full. It was a bit salty overall, but it didn’t feel lacking for creating a holiday vibe, so I guess it did the job. Personally, the King Dumpling Tteokguk offered better value. With three king dumplings and plenty of rice cakes, the portion was satisfying. You can’t avoid that instant taste from the powdered base, but at this price, I think it’s more than good enough.

That said, the Assorted Jeon & Japchae was disappointing because the lineup keeps getting reduced. It feels less cost-effective, and it was a shame to see less vegetables and meat in the japchae, and to have jeon like zucchini jeon and pollock jeon disappear. Still, if you eat both items together, a little over 10,000 won is enough to get into the holiday spirit. I recommend these to anyone who wants to enjoy Lunar New Year foods conveniently from a convenience store.

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