Costco South Korea Sells Traditional Twists On Your Food Court Favorites

Going to Costco is an event, with its massive warehouse setting, mammoth shopping carts, and wholesale products. As you navigate through the aisles of electronics, camping gear, furniture, and food, munching on the free samples available throughout the store is certainly a perk of having a membership. However, you might be so worn out after such a large retail journey that you need to refuel with something more than snack-size samples. If this is the case, then visiting the Costco food court becomes a must.

American Costco food court items include pizzas, hot dogs, a chicken bake, a chicken Caesar salad, a turkey Swiss sandwich, and desserts such as ice cream and chocolate chip cookies. If you were to travel around the world to a Costco food court in South Korea, you would see menu items that are strictly Korean, but you would also recognize a few American menu items that have been given a unique spin. Rather than a cheese or pepperoni pizza, it serves a bulgogi pizza and instead of a chicken bake, it now has a pork bake. 

Bulgogi, a Korean essential, is thin-sliced beef marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, onion, and sugar or honey. It is then grilled and usually served with stir fry, but putting it on top of pizza is a delicious and unique twist on the American Costco food court item. This bulgogi pizza is most similar to the formerly available American combo pizza that was discontinued during the pandemic, which had mushrooms, onions, and peppers in addition to the meat. 

Since this barbecued beef is so popular, it also once had a place in South Korea's version of the American chicken bake, the bulgogi bake. However, a switch was made and it is now a pork bake, with marinated bulgogi pork and scallions wrapped in a cheesy, calzone-like bread. Along with these Korean-American combination items, the Costco food courts in South Korea also serve bubble tea, sweet pumpkin soup, abalone porridge, chicken teriyaki, and most recently, they've added tteokbokki, a spicy rice cake which is a very popular Korean street food. 

Seemingly, going to the Costco food courts in South Korea is an even more intriguing event than going to the ones in America. But if you can't make it there, you can always make bulgogi or spicy tteokbokki at home to try and recreate these food court delights.