Jibbap CU Court-Style Neobiani Grilled Beef Lunchbox Review

A new convenience-store lunchbox item recently released for the Chuseok holiday.

Price: 4,200 won / T Membership users can get a 200-won or 400-won discount (regular, silver / VIP).

The amount of rice doesn't really matter to me, but personally I like namul (seasoned vegetables), and this lunchbox had a lot of them, so I gave it a try. The neobiani wasn't really the main reason. Among lunchboxes packed with namul, I think the ones I've seen were the 7-Course Meal (CU) and the Kim Hye-ja Lunchbox (GS). The rest are hard to find.

Let me break down the taste a bit.

Neobiani: Thinner than I expected, and very sweet. I feel like convenience-store lunchboxes are all heavily on the sweet side.

Braised tofu: So-so... Personally I could barely taste the tofu either. Such a disappointing item. Wouldn't it have been better to have a rolled omelet in that spot instead?

Donggeurangttaeng (meat patties): Surprisingly decent. They were tasty. The seasoning was just right, too.

The top-left one seemed to be chwinamul, the middle-left was some kind of namul (I can't remember the name), and the bottom-left was also some namul that was okay. Not too salty, and the seasoning was about right. The second item from the top-left was kimchi. It was stir-fried kimchi, which made it even better.

But whether it lives up to being a 4,200-won lunchbox, I'm not so sure.... It's a bit ambiguous.

The ambiguous reasons:

1) The neobiani isn't great. Too thin. And the texture was disappointing. You kind of need that texture you can sink your teeth into at first.

2) The namul falls just 2% short. They're not the tasty kind of namul. Is that the limit of a reheatable lunchbox..

As for the good points,

1) You can eat tofu, which isn't all that common.

2) The stir-fried kimchi is decent.

3) With a discount, it drops down to 4,000 won anyway.

I'd give it ★★★.