Diet meal prep salad takeout in Jung-gu, Busan: PARENTS Coffee & Salad

I went to PARENTS Coffee & Salad 🌿, a lunch spot near Jungang Station in Busan known for salads and poke. I've been getting serious about my diet lately, trying to get back on track with both eating and exercise 😊 But weirdly, whenever I go to a regular restaurant I just can't control my appetite. Even when I feel like I'm already pretty full, if there's food in front of me I keep eating…😂

So lately I've been looking for meals that are relatively light but still filling. This time I picked up poke and salad to take home from PARENTS Coffee & Salad, a restaurant near Jungang Station in Busan.

Salads and poke near Jungang Station in Busan: PARENTS Coffee & Salad

PARENTS Coffee & Salad seemed like a solid pick for office workers near Jungang Station in Busan looking for lunch salads or lunch poke bowls. The space was bigger and more comfortable than I expected, so it's good for eating in, but also great for takeout like I did to eat at home. 🌿

🥗 The three bowls I ordered at PARENTS Coffee & Salad

I ordered three things this time.

• Seasoned shrimp salad
• Montreal seasoning skirt steak salad
• Seasoned pork neck poke salad

There were so many salad options that I had trouble deciding, so I picked three different ones.

When you're dieting, eating chicken breast every single time gets old fast, so being able to switch up the protein — meat one day, shrimp the next — is really useful for meal planning.

🥩 Montreal seasoning skirt steak salad after a workout

First I had the Montreal seasoning skirt steak salad after finishing a workout, to get in some protein. I went with the wasabi soy sauce since it was listed as the best recommended sauce, and it went really well with the skirt steak. 👍

The skirt steak was already seasoned on its own, so it was tasty even without much sauce, and eating it with the fresh salad made it more filling than I expected.

The bread that came with it was also great to use — I stuffed the salad and steak between the bread and ate it like a sandwich, which gave a totally different feel. 🥪

There were cherry tomatoes and potato salad too, plus kaymak, which I love — eating kaymak with the salad worked surprisingly well. With granola on top too, there was a nice variety of textures and it was pretty filling.

Coming home from a workout and eating a full bowl of salad like this actually made me think, 'okay, maybe I can actually stick with my diet this time.' 😂💪

🍤 Seasoned shrimp salad on day two

The next day I had the seasoned shrimp salad. I actually picked the shrimp salad thinking it would be easy to keep in the fridge and grab on a weekend morning, and I was glad I ordered it. 😊

I paired the shrimp with chili sauce — the shrimp was already seasoned on its own, so eating it with the salad wasn't bland at all, the seasoning was just right.

Besides the shrimp, there was corn, various vegetables, granola, kaymak, and cherry tomatoes — quite a substantial spread for one meal.

Salad alone sometimes leaves me hungry again quickly, but with the granola and other ingredients mixed in, the fullness lasted longer than I expected. I also liked being able to just grab it from the fridge whenever I couldn't decide what to eat for weekend breakfast or lunch. 🥗

🍖 Seasoned pork neck poke for when you crave carbs

Eating salad all the time, there are days you crave carbs. That's when the seasoned pork neck poke salad came in handy. Being poke, it felt heartier than a plain salad, and the seasoning on the pork neck was just right.

The savory, slightly sweet seasoned pork neck made it a lot more fun to eat alongside the salad. Rather than eating only vegetables just because you're dieting, mixing in dishes you actually want to eat like this seems better for sticking with a meal plan long-term. 😊

🌿 Worth it for lunch near Jungang Station, Busan

I tried several kinds of poke and salad at PARENTS Coffee & Salad this time, and overall the portions were generous, which I appreciated.

Even though it's called a salad, it wasn't the kind where you're hungry again right after — with all the different ingredients and protein packed in, it was plenty filling as a full meal.

For anyone like me who's starting a diet and trying to manage their meals, grabbing a packed salad like this seems like a better option than prepping ingredients and making salad from scratch every time.

It's good as a post-workout meal, and also convenient for busy office workers looking for a simple lunch near Jungang Station in Busan. The store is spacious and comfortable enough for dining in, and just as convenient to take home or to the office — this is my Jungang Station salad spot, PARENTS Coffee & Salad 🌿

If you're managing your diet these days and looking for a meal that's not too heavy but still filling, picking from the poke and salad menu here is a good option. 💚 I'm planning to keep switching up the menu so I don't get bored while dieting! 😊