GS25's buldak omelette gimbap sold 500,000 rolls in a month

Convenience store gimbap is having a moment in Korea again. GS25 says its gimbap sales from October 1 to 15 were up 36.2% from last year, and it's mostly down to three rolls.

The one in the headlines is the 명란통계란김밥 (pollock roe and whole egg gimbap, 3,900 won), a collab with 식물원김밥, a gimbap shop that went viral after celebrities visited it on YouTube. Black rice, a thick rolled omelette in the middle and whole pollock roe. 500 of them went up for pre-order on the GS25 app on the 13th and they were gone in 10 minutes. The second collab, 날치알묵은지김밥 (flying fish roe with aged kimchi, 3,700 won), sold out its pre-order in an hour and passed 100,000 sold in its first week in stores. Then there's the 불닭치즈오믈렛김밥 (buldak cheese omelette gimbap, 3,500 won), based on the buldak omelette that tourists keep filming in Myeongdong. Buldak sauce rice, sausage, cheese and an egg omelette. 500,000 sold in a month and number one in the category three weeks in a row. My honest verdict, from someone who has only eaten these through other people's phone screens: the myeongran one is the real deal. Salty roe, soft egg and nutty black rice is a combo that already works at home. If you can't find roe, a fat rolled omelette with a little gochujang mayo gets you halfway there. The buldak one is where I get suspicious. Spicy rice plus cheese plus sausage plus omelette is a lot of soft things in one roll, and cheese at fridge temperature is not melty cheese, it's an eraser. I would microwave it for 10 seconds and I know that's a crime against gimbap. Half a million people can't all be wrong though, so it stays on my list, right after the myeongran.