12.315 Black Squid Burger

Cycle 12 – Cycle 315

16 (Tue) November 2021

Black Squid Burger

1.5

at Lotteria

(NC Department Store)

-Munjeong, Songpa, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

solo

Squid Game (Ojingeo Game) is a Korean mini-series, produced by Netflix.  It’s about a survival contest in which 456 contestants play various traditional children’s games in successive rounds, losers killed off, winners move on towards a cash payout of KRW 45.6 billion.

Not a regular customer of Lotteria, featured only twice on GMTD (once in Korea, once in Japan), but I drop by for a snack on the rare occasion of encountering a restaurant, far and few between.

The news topic that Koreans adore more than anything, more than all other topics combined, is Korean success on the global stage, be it sports (e.g., Son Heung-Min scoring a goal), music (e.g., BTS winning an American Music Award), technology (e.g., Samsung selling the most something-or-other in the world), culture (e.g., Kimchi designated as a super food).

While it doesn’t appear to be an official tie-in, various elements of the marketing (e.g., 456 promotional giveaways) suggest that it’s trying to appear so.  .

And so, Squid Game is beloved in Korea, not for the content of the program, but for making global headlines as the most-watched series in Netflix history.

Black Squid Burger is a new sandwich by Lotteria.  Deep-fried squid patty, topped with lettuce and cabbage and spicy sauce in a sesame seed bun.

It was not good.  The patty – hard and crumbly on the outside, kinda wet and mushy on the inside, with bits of rubbery squid – was entirely flavorless.  The black – presumably squid ink, though unconfirmed if actual ink were involved -contributed nothing beyond making the patty look weird.  The sauce – like a Thai-style spring roll dipping sauce – was so absurdly spicy that nothing else came through after a few bites.  I finished half of the sandwich.

(See also FAST FOOD)

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

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