This is not a drill:
Yes, you saw that correctly. Burgers. In LEGO brick buns.
Perhaps a year or so ago, my sister forwarded me the link to a place that sold a whole range of burgers in buns that resembled LEGO bricks.
The place was called Block Burger and the food looked delicious; if you don't mind indulging yourself every once in a while.
Being a fan of the LEGO brand since childhood and generally being a huge foodie, I was extremely keen to give it a try.
The downside, however, was that this new joint was several thousand miles away from London, in Seoul, South Korea.
It therefore seemed something that sadly would realistically not be something I could visit anytime soon.
Well, isn't life funny?
Many, many months later I was offered a chance to attend FISM, the World Championships of Magic, which in 2018 was to be held in South Korea.
I ended up booking the entire trip to Seoul, Busan & Jeju quite spontaneously, and planned the majority of the trip around Busan and attending FISM.
As a result I almost entirely forgot to plan anything for Seoul, and had no specific inentions of things to see or do.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I'm aimlessly walking down the street in Hongdae, Seoul's famous trendy neighbourhood known for its socialising and nightlife, when I spotted nothing less than the very same burger joint!
It's hard to miss this guy at the entrance and as soon as I saw him, I knew I'd hit the jackpot.
Seoul, home to around 9.8 million people, and 25 million in its wider region, is HUGE.
The chances of walking past anything as small and random as a burger joint you had briefly looked at online once a long time ago is pretty slim, so the fact I did exactly that was remarkable.
It really was a chance encounter like that, and had it not been for the giant figure outside, I might not even have noticed it, walking straight past.
The restaurant was a single small room, decorated with LEGO minifigs and bricks decorating the room. Check out the top right hand corner of this pic, with a staircase I didn't even notice at first.
The header board above the ordering point was neat, too:
So, how was the food?
1. Choice
First off, if you're vegan or looking for something healthy, this probably is not for you. There's nothing wrong with either of the above, this just won't be a restaurant that will makese sense if they're a priority.
The selection of burgers available was decent, with 13 burgers on the menu (there were a few I forgot to include in the photo, but you can see these in the third picture shown above).
I opted for the single-patty Onion Ring Chicken Tower Burger, which looked delicious. This included an onion ring, two slices of bacon, lettuce and friend chicken. Not light on calories, that's for sure!
Spoiler alert: it tasted amazing
2. The Sides
In hindsight, I'm not sure I needed a side dish.
In hindsight, I'm definitely sure that I did not need to order chilli fries.
I misread the menu at the time, but they seemed like the only options for fries, so I went ahead and ordered them.
I was surprised that this was the case, and it quickly dawned on me when I saw other customers' food orders that the regular fries were indeed on the menu, but under a different name, potentially an incorrectly translated one.
In any caase, the chilli fries were absolutely killer and, while unnecessary on top of the burger, tasted great.
3. Extras
I decided against a drink as, to be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure my stomach would even allow for the food I'd ordered.
That being said, I did upgrade the bun from the standard brown brioche-type bun for 900KRW (Korean Won), which equates to about £0.6 / $0.8 / €0.68 at the time of writing.
To be perfectly honest, the bun is what drives the branding of the place, so choosing not to upgrade would seem like a strange choice, if the (unofficial) LEGO connection was part of your reason for going.
As you will have noticed from the photo above, I opted for the brick bun in black, as it looked most interesting.
4. Decor & Atmosphere
The venue itself was tiny, with seating for no more than about 8 people, and as such it's hard to create a lively and exciting atmosphere.
The art on the wall, however, was very much in keeping with the theme:
5. Cost
In total, my meal of burger and fries came to 12,400 KRW (Korean Won), which equates to about £8.37 / $11.03 / €9.46 at the time of writing.
This is more expensive than traditional meals in the area, and more expensive than fast food places, but certainly not breaking the bank and actually well below the cost of meals at other chains I've seen and eaten at in Korea.
All in all, this isn't in my opinion comparable to the likes of McDonalds or other fast food, so it can justify the premium pricing.
6. Taste
I had high hopes, but this Onion Ring Chicken Tower burger really delivered in style.
The size of the portion of chicken was enormous, the taste was delicious (thanks to a special sauce they included which I forgot to ask about), and the right level of salad and of course the onion rings on top, which were crispy and not overly greasy. The bread bun was firm and not flimsy, whilst still tasting good and not taking away from the burger.
In short: it tasted great.
The chilli fries were nice, though not necessary with such a big burger. They had a good level of kick to them, without being overtly spicy or taking away from the main meal.
In summary
My breakdown of Block Burger is as follows:
- Location - trendy Hongdae gives this a 4
- Choice - a decent selection of burgers, and a good selection of sides & buns, but lack of alternatives to burgers means a 3 on choice
- Taste - the sauce in the burger really made it, and the burger itself was everything I hoped for and more 5
- Value - the burger was so big it felt like it lasted forever, in a good way. 4
- Atmosphere - while in keeping with the theme, it was a little cramped and had potential for more 3
- Overall - 4/5
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