Bibimbap, Korea's most loved assorted vegetable dish has finally reached Paris.

Jeonju City Government of Jeollabuk-do (North Jeolla Province) and Jeonju Bibimbap Co. announced the opening of “opera branch” the first affiliate of Korean bibimbap restaurant in France last Friday on Oct. 16.

The new bibimbap restaurant, 289 square meters in size and sitting close to Louvre Museum, Opera Theater and other multinational companies is expected to contribute further to popularizing Korea's hot sauce-vegetable dish overseas.

Four kinds of bibimbap would be served with major ingredients supplied from hometown. The basic bibimbap dishes would include vegetable like bean sprouts and fern brakes. Bulgogi, seaweed or other ingredient would be added according to one's choices. Korean chefs would be dispatched to teach the home recipe and maintain its original flavor, together with the table setting. Bibimbap has been slowly gaining reputation as the convenient and nutritious in Europe.

Jeonju City looks to make full use of various bibimbap recipes developed by Bibimbap Research Center at home and let the Paris branch be a bridgehead to opening more restaurants in Europe in the near future.. 

Of the many Korean bibimbap restaurants overseas in the U.S, Japan and China, about a dozen bear the brand name Jeonju Bibimbap, after the particular city known to offer the best type of rice-dish. So far these places are mostly frequented by overseas Koreans and Korans studying abroad only, attesting to the need for proper marketing. 

“Jeonju Bibimbap is made up of gochujang (hot pepper paste) that represents fermented food and vegetables that is received well in Europe. We can make it if we take our time to come up with a good marketing strategy,” Hong Seong-yun the CEO of Jeonju Bibimbap Co., said. “We'll stand at the helm of promoting Korean food culture in Europe.”

“These days we are seeing a steady increase in the numbers of customers in countries like China and Japan who share a similar appetite with Korea,” said Park Gyeong-hee in charge of Hansik (Korean cuisine) affairs in Jeonju City Government. “We need to come up with customized bibimbap for all the regions to cater to local tastes and that is what we plan to work on.”

By Kim Hee-sung
Korea.net Staff Writer