Have you ever tried a “Korean rice burger”? Lotteria, a Korean fast food chain, introduced its rice burger a few years ago. It’s “Veggie Rice Bulgogi” burger has rice buns (with bits of veggie) plus a “bulgogi” patty, pickles and lettuce. It currently sells for 3,900 won (less than 4 USD).
A few months ago, two “bob burger” restaurants opened in our neighborhood. Rice is ë°¥ in Korean and is Romanized as “bab” or “bob”. The “bob burger” is a fusion-style burger. Their sandwiches range from 1,500 won to 3,500 won.
The “bob burger” doesn’t have the ordinary beef patty in Western style burgers. Instead, they use different Korean meat filling like:
– dried anchovies or 멸치 (myul-chi)
– pork cutlet or ëˆê¹ŒìŠ¤ (don-kas)
– spicy pork stir-fry or ì œìœ¡ (je-yuk)
– Korean meat loaf or 떡갈비 (tteok kal-bi)
– spicy chicken or ë‹ê°ˆë¹„ (dak kal-bi)
– bulgogi or ë¶ˆê³ ê¸° (bul-go-gi)
The rice buns are mixed with shredded “kim” or dried seaweed and sesame seed. The condiments used are sweet pickled radish or 단무지 (dan mu-ji), chopped peppers, sauteed kimchi, and you can even have cheese!
I tried the “bob burger” last week and I ordered one of the specials ~ the 3,500 won Bob Burger Special 1. It has 떡갈비, ì œìœ¡ and tuna. It only took the “ajumma” two minutes to prepare the four-inch “bob burger”. Yup, it was really thick and I’m glad I took it home because it would be impossible to eat it with hands without making a mess.
So how was the taste? It was pretty tasty and I ate the whole thing. The 떡갈비 was sweetish as expected, but the ì œìœ¡ and the kimchi were spicy. The spiciness was mellowed down a bit by the 단무지. If I could compare it to a Filipino food, the 떡갈비 tastes similar to a sweet meaty longaniza.
Will I have a “bob burger” again? You bet. The Korean rice burger is more filling like a meal compared to the traditional hamburger. I might also try to make my own at home.
There are different “bob burger” restaurants in Seoul. I will try the other store next time.
That looks really unusual. But tasty 🙂
I think McDonald’s Philippines came up with a rice burger a few years back but it wasn’t a hit.
yup, yun din sasabihin ko. 😀
try ko gumawa hir sa Philippines. mukhang masarap. tyak magugulat friends. hehe
I haven’t tried Lotteria’s rice burger, but I don’t think I’ll like it. Kinda strange… but the “bob burger” is good.
Hi Ms. Betchay,
Would you know if there’s a Lotteria branch near Gyeongbukgung or Gwanghwamun Square? We plan to drop by when we visit these places in November. I can not find an English Map with Lotteria locations. Or is there one near Hongik Station also? We wanted to try their food offerings but we also want to maximize time so we opt to go there if there’s a branch near the places we will be visiting.
Hope you culd help us on this.
Thanks so much.
There is one near Hongik Station, it’s on the way to Hongik University. I don’t remember seeing a Lotteria near Gwanghwamun, but there are two along Jongro Avenue.