![[RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK] Calling all bearded bikers... 3 Inside a Lotteria in central Seoul in 2021 / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar](https://newsimg.koreatimes.co.kr/2025/01/10/fff3324f-438f-4a0b-9d33-2830fc22c369.jpg)
Inside a Lotteria in central Seoul in 2021 / Korea Occasions picture by Jon Dunbar
Lotteria has been synonymous with numerous what’s flawed with Koreanized takes on Western quick meals. With its overly candy bulgogi sauce, odd condiment choices and insistence on giving most of its menu gadgets an pointless Korean contact, it is nonetheless simple to have a nasty expertise there. However it might be time for a revisit.
Regardless of its notoriety amongst overseas residents, I’ve some associates who swear by it, claiming Lotteria’s Basic Cheese Burger is superior to its counterparts at main U.S. fast-food eating places working right here.
I would not go that far, however I’ll admit the Basic Cheese Burger is primary and stripped down sufficient to be inoffensive to most burger eaters‘ palates. It is not loaded up with any overly candy fixings, only a bun, burger and a slice of processed cheese. You may also get a Double Basic Cheese Burger, and it is potential to customise it by means of the restaurant kiosk; including a slice of bacon makes it somewhat extra thrilling.
In 2018, the burger’s sudden reputation grew to become broadly mentioned on English-language meals communities right here. „This transformation is disturbing,“ Joe McPherson wrote on his blog ZenKimchi. „It’s difficult every part I do know.“
It is price including that Lotteria additionally has respectable fried hen and ice cream desserts. Round 2020, they even launched a vegetarian possibility, the Miracle Burger.
![[RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK] Calling all bearded bikers... 4 A Double Classic Cheese Burger from Lotteria, Dec. 19 / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar](https://newsimg.koreatimes.co.kr/2025/01/10/ead32028-5240-4b44-a623-ba1604cc6bcf.jpg)
A Double Basic Cheese Burger from Lotteria, Dec. 19 / Korea Occasions picture by Jon Dunbar
However the menu isn’t the one motive why it’s this week’s Restaurant of the Week.
Late final yr, the Lotteria nearest to my house closed down for renovations for just a few days. After it reopened, it seemed principally the identical. However then I discovered what was lacking: that asinine poetry that had embellished the inside.
„Bearded (or typically Redneck) bikers munching sliders,“ it started — and earlier than you ask, no, Lotteria doesn’t serve sliders.
Crafted with all of the care of a 2,000 received shirt at Dongmyo Flea Market, it dates again to a minimum of 2013.
For posterity, I current the remainder of the textual content right here, with punctuation added for considerably improved comprehension: „…look to the previous for higher riders, stars and stripes and ladies in stetsons, cows in buns and boys in westerns, rock then roll for large examine paydays, mountain ranges, ten lane freeways, this land is our land however as soon as was their land, the untamed meals of gold rush miners, the meat, the fries, the roadside diners, oh say are you able to see from the nation of evening its present to the world the burger is would possibly!“
It really comes off somewhat extra coherently when introduced all collectively in correct sequence. Now I believe I prefer it greater than Lotteria’s more moderen phrase, „Scientifically one of the best burger you will ever eat,“ which is scrawled on the partitions of some Lotterias.
![[RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK] Calling all bearded bikers... 5 Inside a Lotteria in central Seoul in 2021 / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar](https://newsimg.koreatimes.co.kr/2025/01/10/98da53f3-d8cc-4587-a2dc-4212ac58a9bc.jpg)
Inside a Lotteria in central Seoul in 2021 / Korea Occasions picture by Jon Dunbar
Has this off-beat poetry disappeared from each Lotteria in all places? I am undecided. Why did it exist within the first place? Who wrote it, and why was it chosen for a burger chain in Korea? And what’s with the way it was at all times displayed, chopped up and scrambled so it makes even much less sense?
Should you’re wherever in Korea, there’s most likely a Lotteria someplace close to you.