Experience Korea at home!

London

Seoulbox Inc.

One of the highlights of travel for me is seeking out local dishes and snacks with flavours that you won’t see at home on supermarket shelves. So I was super keen to try out the Seoulbox subscription box, which brings a mixture of authentic snacks, K-pop goodies and K-beauty products to your door. You can choose to receive a box either monthly or as a one-off.

I opted to review the Signature Box, which is primarily snacks but will always contain 1 K-pop item and 1 K-beauty item. Mine was a seasonal version which was themed “Back to School” to highlight Korean university life. Although my uni days are long past, many of the items can just as easily be used for work life, whether at home or in the office! Each Signature box will always contain unique ramen and drinks products. I can’t wait to try the spicy kimchi topped Teumsae Ramen, accompanied by Spam-flavoured (yes, Spam!) stir-fried kimchi as a side dish. That will be a memorable working lunch! And to keep me company is my K-pop item - a Tiny Tan figurine inspired by K-pop giants BTS - perfect to adorn your monitor or desk. There are plenty of fun sweet and savoury snacks to keep up your energy levels. I’ve already demolished the chilli & pork stuffing flavour crisps (I don’t know how they did it, but they really did smell and taste like my dad’s pork-stuffed peppers!). The roasted black bean snacks didn’t last that long either. They looked like chocolatey onion rings, but tasted like a mixture of roasted onions and a touch of something else equally savoury and moreish. For the sweet toothed, you can sample the likes of Moon Chip Choco Sand. The “moon chips” are the organic rice cakes sandwiched with smooth chocolate spread. I couldn’t resist the bright yellow packet with the cute bunny on the cover! I’m saving the Ace Sand Yogurt sandwich cookies for my next coffee break as apparently these pair well with sweet milky coffee. If you’re heading into the office, pop the Cha Cha Breath Mist Spray into your bag for minty breath at your fingertips, or chew some pineapple-flavoured Loppy chewing gum for sweet breath. The latter also comes with different stickers that you can use to personalise your daily face masks. Worried about people seeing you in real life without helpful Zoom filters to touch up your appearance? Use the Real Twinkle Mask Pack for 15-20 minutes to nourish and refresh your face. Each box comes with a magazine containing a tasting guide to the contents plus cultural insights. In keeping with the Back to School theme, there were stories about Suneung (the all important exam to be able to enter the top universities in Korea), drinking culture, an interview with a student and matching Korean celebrities to their universities. I loved my taste of Korean culture and will enjoy going through the remaining goodies. There are 2 other types of Seoulbox - one is a vegetarian and halal-friendly version of the Signature Box (Seoulbox V) and the other is called Life, focusing more on lifestyle, K-pop and K-beauty items. With delivery available in both the UK and Europe, do send a taste of Korea to someone who’s been dreaming of international travel! Instagram: @unboxyourseoul