Convenience Stores
Convenience stores act as life support for many Koreans. On every city block, their doors welcome cold and hungry refugees every hour, day or night.
Got problems? They’ve got solutions.
Thirsty? Grab some water (or a tallboy). Dying phone? Grab a portable battery or charger. Long fingernails? Grab a pair of nail clippers in the toiletries section.
Check out our treasure map of nutritional wonders found in Korea’s convenience stores.
The Lists
Meals
From gig to desk jockeys, convenience stores supply the time-crunched workforce with a variety of prepackaged meals. These offerings can complete a balanced-ish breakfast, lunch, dinner, or in-between.
Here are some highlights.
Instant Ramen
Instant ramen claims a good chunk of physical space in most stores. Cups and packages jam aisles with endless options.
You’ll find classics like Shin Ramen. Oddities like the Cheese Paldo. Some “how’s” like jajangmyeon (black noodles). And “why’s” like jjamppong (seafood).
Want to burn off your taste buds? Find a cup of Buldalgbokk Eummyeon (불닭볶음면). Its legendary spice brought many teenagers to the soda aisles for relief.
Dining In
So you’ve chosen and paid for your cup of noodles (and sodium). Now what? Look for meter tall towers of cylindrical metal. These aren’t drink dispensers.
Peel back the corner to your cup ramen and take out the flavor packet. Now, slip the dispenser nozzle inside and let loose a torrent of steaming water. Use your chompers to tear the flavor packet. Sprinkle and mix. A few minutes later, your sub-₩3,000 lunch is ready.
Triangle Gimbap
Convenience stores stock plenty of rolls of old fashion gimbap (김밥). But don’t skip the triangle gimbap (samgak; 삼각김밥).
The palm sized snacks follow the same recipe. Rice, veggies and meat wrapped in seaweed.
Look at the top of the triangle. There’s a tab. Peel it back. The cellophane strip will follow pre-cut lines, presenting the crispy seaweed shell.
Lunchboxes
Below the gimbap and crustless sandwiches, you’ll find plastic wrapped trays. In the west, they’re called lunchboxes. In Korea, they’re known as dosirak (도시락), what wives and mothers prepare for their familial workers.
Inside a typical convenience store dosirak, you’ll find a plot of rice, a main meat dish, and various banchan (side dishes; 반찬). These side dishes might include kimchi, jeon (전), sliced egg roll, and more.
Beware! Some lunch boxes have spicy surprises.
Hot Bar
Mill around the street vendors in Seoul’s Myeongdong (명동). You’ll discover many varieties of what we would call ‘meat on a stick.’ Koreans refer to it as hot bar (핫바), as in ‘a hot bar of meat.’
Convenience stores also serve up hot bar. However, they don’t earn the ‘hot’ title like their flame-licked cousins.
In the open refrigerators hang vacuum sealed sticks of meat. There are many unique flavors to try. Quattro cheese. Garlic sausage. Tteokgalbi (떡갈비; spicy meat).
Boiled Eggs & More
Training for a big boxing match? Need protein? Don’t want to slurp down a glass of raw eggs. Convenience stores are on it! Try some hard-boiled eggs.
Eggs come in a pair with a variety of textures and flavors. The core recipe? Same. Take an egg. Boil it in water. Package it up.
& More
You thought the fun ended there? Oh, you’re wrong. Fill your gullet with some pre-packaged hamburgers. Pop it into the microwave and nuke them for a few minutes.
And want a more conventional approach? Convenience stores stock sandwiches, both familiar and unfamiliar. They have egg sandwiches. Ham and cheese. Chicken. Even strawberries and cream. Simple. Delicious. Crust-less.
Microwave Magic
Got a frigid hamburger? Chilly bowl of rice? Cold plate of mandu? Convenience stores, once again, save the day!
Most convenience stores have a microwave tucked away somewhere. In smaller stores, they might be behind the counter. Larger stores center their food reactor in a small kitchenette, available for all customers.
Not sure how to heat your food? Check the back of the packaging. You’ll see a microwave or circle with colon separated numbers (01:15). You guessed it. Minutes and seconds.
Pop it in. Beep, beep, beep. Chow down!
The Junkyard
Food is culture. Every culture is different. One exception? Junk food.
Korea’s junk yard haul may surprise. It may be horrifying. It may inspire awe. So dig in! You’ll find something to satisfy your sweet tooth or salty tongue.
Chips & Crisps
The chips (or crisps) in Korea go a little beyond your standard potato chip. How exotic are we talking? How about shrimp flavored chips? Chips sprinkled with crushed peanuts? Interested in squid and peanuts? (Not actually squid.)
If you want to play it safe, you can try the sweet and salty honey butter or honey apple chips.
O! Karto serves up french fry chips. That’s right! Potato chips in french fry form.
Pringles offer their typical bites, with some exotic additions. Want to try cola flavored? How about butter caramel?
And, if you’re a big fan of Bugles corn chips, Kko Kkal Corn (꼬깔콘) is Korea’s version.
Choco Pies and Peperos
Sweetness abounds in Korea. So don’t worry if you’ve got urges.
Choco Pies (초코파이) are moonpies’ Korean cousin. However, Korea stuffs them not only with marshmallows. You’ll find cream stuffed. Green tea stuffed. Banana stuffed.
Peperos (빼빼로) boast by far the best marketing team of any sweet treat. Come to Korea on November 11th (a.k.a. Pepero Day) and you’ll find sweethearts exchanging boxes of these chocolate covered cookie sticks. Why November 11th? 11-11. Four pepero sticks in a row.
Digets (다이제) are popular semi-sweet digestives in Korea. Chocolate coats one side. The other side goes bare. They go great with a hot cup of coffee.
Pastries & Bread
Like fresh bread? Tucked into the ends of aisles, you’ll often find a tiny bakery. You’ll find plastic packaged cream-filled delights, like chocolate topped doughnuts and frosted cookies.
A common sight is a sweet roll filled with red bean paste. Red bean? For parts of east Asian, red bean is their chocolate, a bitter plant infused with a ton of sugar.
Korean’s also love their roll cakes. They bring these cream wrapped sponge cakes to get-togethers and work celebrations.
Beware, the bread selection isn’t straight from the oven. But they aren’t week-old doorstops. The stock rotates out every evening, in every morning.
Quick Breakfast
Korea developed from hunger to Mercedes in record time. However, breakfast options lag. Most mornings, Koreans dine on a bowl of home cooked rice. Waffles and flapjacks are desert options at cafes.
If you want a quick carb load to start your day, visit a convenience store the night before. Grab an armful of pastries, a carton of milk, and a can of coffee. Bring them back to your motel, throw them in the mini-fridge. When you wake, stuff your face.
It’s not the healthiest option. But it’ll get you on the road fast.
Candy! Candy!
Remember being a kid? No. Well, swing by the candy aisle. You’ll find many new and old treasures to dig up long forgotten memories.
Search for a purple bag with animated worms. Written atop, find 왕꿈틀이. Translation: Big Gummy Worms. You guessed it. They’re Korea’s version of the good ol’ gummy worm.
Lotte is one of Korea’s mega corps. Besides their theme parks and apartment buildings, they also make sweet treats. Bars of milk and dark chocolate Ghana decorate every sugary aisle on the peninsula.
The Spanish confectionery Chupa Chups is another candy fixture. Their lollipops grabbed Korean children’s imagination. You’ll find trees with lollipop limbs on many checkout counters.
Crown Confectionery is a homegrown candy maker. Their most popular offering is 마이쮸 (Ma-ie-jju). Like Starburst, the taffy candy comes in grape, strawberry, and apple flavors.
Convenience Explosion
There are over 40,000 convenience stores in Korea. More open every day.
Find a nook, a closet, a spacious hole in the wall. Blink and a ‘New Store Coming Soon’ sign will appear.
Beverage Bar
Thirsty! Convenience stores stock their coolers with everything from Coke to strawberry milk. You can find something hydrating. Something to keep you up. And something to liven up the night.
Coffee, Tea & Herbs
Coffee, the forbidden drink. Besides Starbucks and the thousands of coffee shops in Korea, you can also find rows and rows of canned coffee in convenience stores.
From cold brew to mocha to latte, Barista Rules serves up a variety of flavors. Some are sugary. Some are super sugary.
Vita 500 Gold (비타500골드) is a popular vitamin C drink. The 500 shows the amount of vitamin C in this sucker: 500% your daily dose.
If you’ve hit the soju a little too hard last night, try a bottle of 헛개차 (heot gae-cha; hovenia dulis tea). Though the flavor is bitter, the tea is a famous hangover cure in Japan, China, and Korea.
Pouch Drinks
Summer here? Sun hot? Convenience stores giveth.
Find a freezer full of cups of ice in the drink aisle. Grab one. This is part one.
Nearby, you’ll spot a box filled with plastic pouches. They’re labeled lemonade, latté, grapefruit, and more. The sweet nectar inside is part two.
Pay first. Then, put the parts together. Rip the top off the pouch and pour it into your cup of ice. Voilà!
Wasteful? You bet. Colder than the refrigerated drinks? Marginally.
Milk & Yogurt
Got milk? Need milk? Which flavor?
Convenience store options will overwhelm you. Banana milk. Strawberry Milk. Coffee milk. Red bean milk. They also have exotic flavors called chocolate milk and milk milk (it’s milk).
Yogurt (요구르트) is beloved among kids from six to sixty. Everywhere you’ll find palm sized, foil topped bottles carrying sour yogurt shots.
Adult Beverages
For good or bad, alcohol’s fame burns bright in Korea. The trifecta of spirits includes beer (맥주; maekju), soju (소주), and makgeolli (막걸리).
Beer
In the early 20th century, western nations introduced beer to Korea. In less than a century, it burrowed deep into the culture. Now it’s flowing in every restaurant, company dinner, or picnic in the park.
The most popular beer is a domestic tallboy (500 ml) lager. But, with relaxed import laws, you’ll find more German, Japanese, and American brands at your local convenience store.
Cass (OB) and Hite dominate the domestic beer market. Notorious for their “lighter taste,” price and national pride help push tankers of their brew into thirsty stomachs.
Soju
If beer is the foreign prince, then soju is the homegrown king. This humble rice liquor anointed Korea “one of the most hard liquor consuming countries on earth.”
Korea birthed soju in the 13th century after Mongols introduced distilling techniques. The old-school process involved distilling alcohol from fermented grains, like rice. This gave a 30-35% ABV rice liquor.
Today, companies tamed down the alcohol content. The rice spirit hovers around 15-18% ABV.
Many foreigners underestimate the power of soju. They think, “it’s only 17%. That’s like a strong wine.” Be nice. Leave a pillow in the storm drain. That’s where they’ll regain consciousness.
Most Koreans drink soju from shot glasses for a reason.
Makgeolli
Makgeolli holds a special place in the alcohol pantheon. The cloudy rice wine is the oldest alcoholic beverage in Korea.
In convenience stores, they come in opaque 750 ml bottles near the soju. Somewhat sour, somewhat sweet, makgeolli‘s ABV hovers somewhere between 6-9%.
You can also find makgeolli restaurants that serve a chilled, fresh brew in an open pot. Use a ladle to fill your cup and chow down on buchimgae (부침개), a fried, savory pancake.
Somaek (소맥)
Do you enjoy a fine portmanteau? Korea has lots. Handphone (핸드폰), or smartphone. Officetel (오피스텔), or office hotel.
Try this one. Soju (소주) + Maekju (맥주; beer) = Somaek (소맥).
Pour a little soju in a glass. Fill the rest with Cass. What do you get? Somaek, the favored Korean cocktail.
