Hanna Lee (23), who just started working this year, packs a lunchbox whenever possible. If she doesn’t, she goes to a restaurant with a lunch special. She can’t afford the lunch menu prices at restaurants near her workplace, which have been rising over the past year.
Lunch specials have made a comeback in Koreatown due to the significant rise in the cost of eating out during the era of high inflation. People are now looking for cost-effective lunch options at restaurants.
The cost of a single lunch, including tax, has increased to nearly $20, which is why some are calling it the era of “lunch inflation.”
Lunch specials, which were popular before the pandemic for being one to three dollars cheaper than dinner, disappeared from Koreatown due to rising food and labor costs during the pandemic.
However, as restaurants in the area have seen a decrease in customers due to rising prices, many of them are now maintaining pre-pandemic prices or introducing new lunch specials despite the increased costs of food and labor.
These days, the cheapest lunch specials in LA Koreatown neighborhood range from $13 to $15, offering a great variety of flavors and portions for the price. The number of Japanese restaurants offering Japanese food for less than $20 is also increasing.
One example is Awon, a Japanese restaurant that offers a lunch special for seniors aged 70 and older. The special includes abalone porridge, sashimi rice bowl, roe rice, eel rice, and spicy fish soup for $15.95, which is $10 less than the usual price of $22.95 to $25.95.
“Inflation has increased the cost of lunch for Korean seniors, so to celebrate Father’s Day, we have drastically reduced the price of our most popular menu items for seniors,” said Peter Jung, CEO of Awon. “Due to strong demand from our customers, we’re planning to extend the offer until the end of this month.”
Another example is Hanu, a barbecue restaurant that offers lunch specials seven days a week. They attract people with their cheap lunch options on the weekends. Along with the hangover soup, made with short rib broth, the restaurant offers Ox Bone soup (seollongtang), Spicy beef and vegetable soup (yukgaejang), yukhoe bibimbap, and thinly shaved beef brisket (chadol) miso stew for $14.99. They also provide a selection of side dishes that are worthy of a traditional Korean restaurant.
Brothers BBQ is also offering a weekday lunch special with 12 dishes for $14.99, including Beef short ribs soup (galbitang), Ox Knuckle Bone Soup (doganitang), and hangover soup (haejangguk). Another best-selling menu item is the to-go-only Happy Bento ($15.99), which includes a set of side dishes along with main dishes such as LA marinated ribs, Spicy stir-fried pork (jeyukbokkeum), and marinated pork ribs. These options are popular among office workers. “We use high-quality ingredients, such as the same meat we’ve been using for eight years,” said Ju Bu Kwon, CEO of Brothers BBQ.
BBQ Garden, known for its value for money, specializes in barbecue and offers more than 10 lunch dishes for less than $15. Their best-selling item is the grilled mackerel and miso soup combo ($14.99).
Tokyo Hamburg and California Market Gimbap and Udon, which have been offering lunches under $13 since early spring, have also maintained their prices.
BY EUNYOUNG LEE [support@koreadaily.com]
