[News Terms] "Kalguksu Around 10,000 Won"... Lunch Price Surge 'Lunch Plation'

What lunch menu can you get for 10,000 won in Seoul? One of the representative affordable foods, Kalguksu (hand-cut noodle soup), costs on average over 9,300 won per bowl, and Naengmyeon (cold noodles) reaches 12,000 won. Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup), a popular dish during the hottest days of summer, has long been nicknamed "Geumgyetang" (golden chicken soup) as it costs over 17,000 won.

You can't even buy Bibimbap for 10,000 won. The average price of a bowl of Bibimbap in Seoul is around 11,200 won. The only relatively affordable option is Gimbap, which was surveyed to cost an average of 3,500 won per roll, but some well-known Gimbap franchises start their cheapest roll at over 4,000 won.

As the prices of popular dining-out menus that people frequently choose rise sharply, an analysis suggests that "lunch playseon" is intensifying.

With the rise in prices in the Seoul area, the prices of dining-out menus have been steadily increasing, with representative dishes such as gimbap, bibimbap, and kalguksu having risen last month. The photo shows a snack bar in a downtown Seoul shopping district on the 12th. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

Lunch playseon is a portmanteau of "lunch" and "inflation," referring to the situation where the burden of lunch expenses for office workers increases due to rising prices.

According to the Korea Consumer Agency's Price Information Portal, the prices of eight major dining-out dishes in Seoul rose by an average of 4% from January to November last year.

Gimbap rose the most, increasing 5.3% from 3,323 won to 3,500 won. Jajangmyeon (black bean noodles) went from 7,069 won to 7,423 won, and Bibimbap increased from 10,654 won to 11,192 won. Naengmyeon rose from 11,385 won to 11,923 won, and Kalguksu from 9,038 won to 9,385 won. Other dishes such as Samgyeopsal (pork belly, 200g equivalent; 19,429 won → 20,083 won), Samgyetang (16,846 won → 17,629 won), and Kimchi Jjigae set meal (8,000 won → 8,192 won) also saw consecutive price increases.

Dining-out prices have been steadily rising. According to the National Statistical Portal by Statistics Korea, last year's consumer price index for dining-out was 121.01, up 3.1% from the previous year (117.38). Although the rate of increase was about half of the previous year's 6.0%, it was still higher than the overall consumer price index increase of 2.3%. The dining-out price index rose by 7.7% in 2022 and 6.0% in 2023, marking three consecutive years of over 3% growth.

This lunch playseon is also analyzed to be closely related to the rising trend in prices of major ingredients. Last year, the price increase rate of agricultural, livestock, and fishery products was 5.9% compared to the previous year, more than double the overall consumer price index increase. Fruit prices rose 16.9%, vegetables 8.1%, and grains 3.3%. Amid the overall inflation trend, the sharp rise in the won-dollar exchange rate is expected to inevitably push up prices of major imported ingredients. Consequently, lunch playseon is expected to continue this year as well.