Hello! Today, I am introducing CU’s new lunchbox menu, released as part of the Metamon series, the Metamon Pork Cutlet Set. This menu is a unique lunchbox featuring the Pokémon character Metamon! It seems like it might have been launched as part of a franchise promotion using the Metamon character. I’m also a bit curious about the connection between the Metamon character and convenience store pork cutlets! Let’s take a look at what this menu is all about.
Metamon Pork Cutlet Set Price and Features
Metamon seems to have emerged as the most popular character among Pokémon characters between 2024 and 2025, and this menu appears to be a collaboration with CU to commercialize this character. The price is 5,700 won.
Note that this menu does not include chopsticks by default, so you must prepare them separately. The character used in the packaging is quite cutely designed!
The content weight of this menu is 421g, with a calorie count of 793Kcal, and sodium content is 58% of the daily recommended intake. It seems to have a reasonable calorie level and relatively average sodium content for its price. It looks sufficient as a meal replacement.
Composition of Metamon Pork Cutlet Set
Let’s take a quick look at the composition. This menu consists of a total of 5 side dishes! There is pasta under the pork cutlet, making it effectively 6 side dishes, but there seems to be no need to separate them! The use of a light purple container in this menu felt refreshing. Typically, such menus include a sticker, but it was surprising that there wasn’t one this time.
The pork cutlet is said to use domestic pork, and pasta noodles are placed underneath. The sauce is not the usual pork cutlet sauce but reminds me of the sauce that comes with seasoned chicken or Pikachu pork cutlet from snack bars! However, I’m curious if it’s correct that there’s no special sauce for the pasta.
The other side dishes include corn salad, stir-fried kimchi, and Vienna sausage stir-fry, which are very common combinations in convenience store lunchboxes, along with mashed potatoes.
The mashed potatoes seem to be about two spoonfuls, and while they seem to be provided to be eaten with the pork cutlet, they also seem a bit out of place!
I thought there was furikake sprinkled on the rice, but it didn’t have a special taste, and it seems like it just had some black sesame seeds and a few seasonings. I almost realized just before eating that the pork cutlet was shaped like Metamon. I wonder if this was a test product before the official release.
Taste of Metamon Pork Cutlet Set
Let’s taste it right away! As unique as the lunchbox container is (even though there was no sticker), it seems important to see if the taste is quite good!
I first tasted this Metamon pork cutlet, and as expected, despite being a convenience store lunchbox, the quality of the pork cutlet was very low for its price. The taste and texture reminded me of the old Pikachu pork cutlet. The sauce was also too sweet and salty, far from a pork cutlet sauce.
Even though most convenience store pork cutlet menus are similar, there are menus using fresh loin, and some are made to blend well with the sauce to make the taste somewhat decent, but this sauce was a bit awkward. If it had been described as the old Pikachu pork cutlet taste, I might have understood to some extent.
Although a lot of sesame seeds were sprinkled on the rice, it was essentially no different from plain white rice. If it had been furikake, the price of 5,700 won might have been understandable…
The other side dishes were too ordinary, but the mashed potatoes were the most decent part of this menu. However, it was also a bit salty. Additionally, since it’s mashed potatoes, it didn’t pair well as a rice side dish.
I’m not sure why this pasta is under the pork cutlet. While I’ve seen concepts where pasta is placed under hamburger steak or pork cutlet to be eaten with sauce, the sauce in this menu didn’t match. Moreover, there wasn’t much sauce, so it felt like eating plain pasta.
Even if a convenience store lunchbox has 5, 7, or 9 side dishes, I tend to evaluate it positively if it meets the basics. This menu had nothing particularly noteworthy besides the cute packaging and unique container. Unless there are no other options at the convenience store, it was a menu I found difficult to recommend personally.
