The Cafe formerly known as Sobahn has reopened as Bibigo*. Along with Zen Kimchi, Fatman was involved in some early test marketing for both Cafe Sobahn and the new Bibigo concept. A concept that was really, roundly panned for having a silly name. Apparently, once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your marketing.
And it’s a darned shame.

The food isn’t too bad. It’s got a very corporate, packaged taste, but the veggies are fresh and the ingredients have been reasonably well thought out. For mains, there’s a choice of regular bibimbap, dolsot bibimbap, or the salad-heavy “bibigo.” For each of these you can chose from sprouted brown rice, white rice, black rice, or barley, and from a variety of sauces. The sauces are where things first start to get tricky, and show the weaknesses . . . do you want gochujang, ssamjang, lemon . . . or is it citrus soy? And is that sesame sauce green? What on earth is a green sesame??? Does that look green to you? If so, please adjust your monitor.

You can also chose to have beef, chicken, or tofu added to your bibimbap for an extra 1,000 won, making this a moderately expensive plate of food.
Things are just as confusing on their “tapas” menu. Leaving aside how on earth you can pass of any of these foods as tapas, the translations that have been done on this side of the menu are either careless or deceptive. The Korean menu is reasonably clear, although you could take issue with calling a stack of gareddeok and sweet potato covered in a candy-sweet gochujang sauce “ddeokbokkum” . . . but the English menu is completely nonsensical. What on earth are “Silver Noodles” ~ would you guess 잡채? Fatman wouldn’t. And 누룽지 셀러드 does not sizzle, thus negating the idea of calling a dish “sizzling salad.”

This wouldn’t be such a big problem if the main point of Bibigo weren’t a lynchpin of CJ Food’s grand plan to globalize Korean food. Perhaps the American and Chinese renditions will be different in tone, but the Korean flagship is far too upscale in tone and price to be accepted as “fast food” the way they’re aiming to join the market. Also, careless, stupid translations like “silver noodles,” “sizzling salad,” and “green sesame sauce” for products that aren’t silver, don’t sizzle, and aren’t green is going to damage them in the end. Other products aren’t explained enough for an outside audience (such as “ssam sauce” or even worse, “kohot” for gochujang) that isn’t familiar with Korean food. Even their English page isn’t terribly well edited. How can they expect to succeed overseas if they ignore the advice of people who know the industry, and then ignore basics like accurate descriptions of their very own food?
The food isn’t bad, and the dining space in Gwanghwamun is attractive . . . but without some quick moves, all CJ’s efforts to turn this into an international chain are going to be for naught. It doesn’t matter how healthy it is (not very, under all those sauces), fast (only if you’re getting bibimbap – tapas and side items all took time), or well-designed your interior is (although Sobahn’s was nicer).  Skimp on things like solid test marketing and editing, and you’re left with an overpriced K-town mall food court restaurant.

In other words, not so bad for a quick lunch downtown, but don’t hold your breath for the Bibigo chain to sweep the outside world and become the next McD’s.
To get there, head west from the south point of Gwanghwamun, towards the Hammering Man sculpture. Bibigo is on the ground floor of the Gwanghwamun Officia building, where Cafe Sobahn used to be. Prices for main dishes start at 7,000.

*Only the Gwanghwamun branch. Die-hard Cafe Sobahn fans can still get their fix on the campus of Seoul National University.

One of the special culinary pleasures of Korea, bulgogi (fire meat) ranks high.  Beloved by everyone from Koreans who have never left the peninsula to gourmands who’ve never made it to these shining shores, it has joined kimchi as one of the most symbolic foods of Korea.  And what else to do with such a deeply loved food but to sandwich it between buns and consume it as a hamburger?

Fatman, along with a small cast of brave taste testers set out to find the best of the bulgogi by taste testing burgers from all the major fast food chains of Korea:  McDonalds, Burger King, and both the regular and hanwoo (all Korean beef) burgers from Lotteria.  We risked life and tongue to discern the truly delicious from the merely adequate and the truly vile.  Our results, from worst to best:

Burger King Bulgogi Whopper

Fatman’s taste testers were shocked by the low finish of this entry, anticipating that flame broiling and a healthy set of condiments would make for a satisfying burger. Instead, the bun and patty were dry, and the raw onion overpowered the less potent condiments, in particular the anemic tomato. It was slathered with mayo, but nothing was strong enough to mask the very unpleasant “faux smoke” BBQ sauce “that’s gone off” flavor of the bulgogi sauce itself.

Average Scores (on a scale of1-5, with five being the best)

Meat: 2

Condiments: 4

Bun:  3

Overall: 3

Judges Comments:  “Fake-y smoked flavor”  “Tasty condiments”  “Looks great, but not enough bulgogi flavor”  “Nice tomato”  “Looked better than it tasted”

Lotteria Bulgogi Burger

This was the least substantial feeling of the burgers, with a very flimsy bun that almost immediately disintegrated under the weight of mayo and sauce. The sauce itself was overpoweringly sweet, but lost under the cloy of the mayo. Some testers preferred the taste of the patty compared to some of the others in the tasting, finding it meatier than the other offering from Lotteria, but were in the minority.

Meat: 3.5

Condiments:  2.5

Bun 2.5

Overall:  3

Comments:  “More bulgogi flavor”  “Lots and lots of mayo”   “Beef is lower quality, but somehow tastier”

McDonald’s Bulgogi Burger

The much maligned mickey d’s proved to be surprisingly inoffensive to the tasters. Comments like “I might be willing to eat this again” peppered the conversation, and the biggest complain related to the lettuce (note to Ronald McDonald: Try to find lettuce that doesn’t look like it’s in an advanced stage of kimjang. Something with a little crunch and some actual green color will go much further than brown-tinged goo.) The bun was no great shakes, and yet again there was too much mayo, but overall the sauces were more balanced than some of the other entries and it didn’t immediately turn to mush in the hand.

Meat: 3

Condiments:  2.5

Bun 2.5

Overall:  3

Comments:  “Bread-y, mayo-y”  “Not bad for a cheap burger”

And the grand winner is . . .

Lotteria’s Hanwoo Bulgogi Burger

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Hanwoo Bulgogi Burger won top honors in our test.  The native son may have an instinctive feel for the right balance for the bulgogi sauce, which was sweet but not overly so.  There was also a drizzle of spicy sauce to liven things up where too much mayo weighed down many of the contenders (although this too featured a not-so-healthy serving of the great white condiment).  It also won points for having a goodly number of tomato slices and lettuce to provide some crunch and texture.  Perhaps most importantly, the all-Korean beef patty was substantively thicker and better seasoned than the others.  It was the only burger to have some heft and weight to the meat, making it the beefiest of our entries and the hands down winner among our testers.

Meat:  4.5

Condiments: 3

Bun: 3

Overall: 4

Comments:  “Spicy/zesty”  “Very tender, but overall lack of texture”  “Needed some crunch, but the meat was easily the best”

So, the next time you reach for a bit of bulgogi on the go, Fatman recommends the Lotteria Hanwoo Burger.  Many, many thanks to our brave taste testers, Wanderchomp and Jaim, for putting their tongues on the line to help bring everyone the best possible burger options!

Because sometimes fast food just isn’t fast enough!

Introducing McDelivery! Now you can call and place your order, which will be zipped to you by scooter in a matter of minutes.
Because real estate is at a premium, McDonald’s Korea simply doesn’t have many drive-thru establishments (How rare is it?  Rare enough that the McD homepage has instructions on how to order at one!)  Virtually all McD’s are walk-in establishments, so your only choice is to eat there or carry it out with your own two feet for locomotion. However, even many traditional restaurants in Korea have delivery services – McD’s just decided to hop on the bandwagon to make getting your Big Mac even easier. More and more locations are adding the service, so check to see if you too can get a side of fries delivered to your very doorstep.

For delivery, dial (area code) 1600-5252