| People queue to enter Gordon Ramsay Burger at Lotte World Mall in Seoul's Songpa District, Jan. 7, when the restaurant opened to the public. Newsis |
By Ko Dong-hwan
British star chef Gordon Ramsay's burger joint "Gordon Ramsay Burger" at Lotte World Mall in Seoul has attracted YouTube influencers, a famous comedienne as well as a rambunctious CEO who shared their mouth-watering experiences online.
They visited the restaurant that opened to the public Jan. 7 after running a pre-opening event from Dec. 30 that saw 2,000 reserved guests. The pre-opening reservation event began Dec. 20, and its limited seats were completely booked within 30 minutes.
The influencers ate the restaurant's pricey burgers which started at more than 30,000 won ($25) and ran as expensive as 140,000 won. Such lavish price tags apparently provoked not just high-profile foodies with an army of online followers but also anyone interested in choice burgers to give it a try. YouTuber "Tzuyang" with 5.26 million followers posted a video Jan. 12 showing herself ordering the entire menu there, grabbing the head chef's attentions.
| A poster of Gordon Ramsay inside Lotte World Mall promoting the Gordon Ramsay Burger restaurant. / Newsis |
A chef with more than 1.5 million YouTube subscribers who was invited as a VIP to the restaurant posted a review Jan. 10. He said the 1966 Burger ― the most expensive one on offer ― used "high-end 1++grade Korean hanwoo beef" and was "so savory its after-taste dominated other burgers I had after that." Another chef who tried the same burger said it "was rather a nice cuisine than simply a burger." Funny woman Kim Min-kyung said eating the burger was "like having a steak at a good barbeque restaurant."
"For 140,000 won, I would rather go to a barbeque restaurant than coming here," she said.
Chung Yong-jin, vice chairman of conglomerate Shinsegae Group, let his 773,000 Instagram followers know, Jan. 8, that he visited the restaurant and had a 31,000 won-burger. The active social network user said it has been a long time since he visited a shopping mall of Lotte, his rival company, adding he enjoyed "tremendous freedom."
Some also mentioned that the restaurant's signature Hell's Kitchen Burger (31,000 won) had a good balance between ingredients ― a hanwoo beef patty, jalapenos, avocado, tomatoes and grilled cheese ― and wasn't too far off what they expected as a good choice burger.
The restaurant is the first Asian branch of the brand and the fourth in the world following Las Vegas, Chicago and London.