2.090

5 (Tue) April 2011

Smoked Salmon High Rollers

1.5

at Costco

-Yangjae, Seocho, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

solo

The High Roller is a Costco Korea product.  Consists of smoked salmon (a ham version is also available), cheddar cheese, tomato, romaine lettuce, a mayo-based white sauce, all wrapped in a tortilla.  In theory, they work in party situations when utensils and/or plates aren’t readily available, or while shopping at Costco, eaten with hands, straight out of the box, to stave off starvation delirium and prevent hunger-induced purchases of things like a 10-can box of Chunky Soup New England Clam Chowder.

The problem is, they’re not very good.  The tortillas are dry.  The fillings are flavorless.  And each piece is too big to be taken in one bite, but the roll doesn’t hold together very well after the first bite, so it gets pretty messy (especially when consumed over a shopping cart).

Incidentally, I’ve always been curious about the placement of Costco’s food courts, both here and abroad. At the Costco branches where I used to shop in California, the food courts were located at the entrance.  While this may be better for customers by encouraging them to eat in advance and thus shop more rationally and thus buy less, I would think that the store would prefer the opposite.  By contrast, at the Costcos in Seoul, the food courts are located after the cash registers.  This forces customers, except those who violate store policy and eat ready-to-go items from the cart without first paying for them, to do their shopping on an empty stomach and then eat afterwards (if they so choose).

(For more details re food, see WHAT)

(For more details re venues, see WHERE IN KOREA)