Review: Buldak Bokkeum Myun

I must admit I was quite sceptical when I first came across Buldak Bokkeum Myun (불닭볶음면). There are a number of videos on youtube showing some quite hilarious reactions to non – Korean people eating these noodles for the first time, with many people acting as though they’d just swallowed a mouthful of hot lava! I’ve eaten a lot of spicy food in the past including a wide variety of spicy Korean instant noodles and I thought that they either can’t be as bad as these people are making out or they really are insanely spicy which quite often means they have no real flavour to enjoy. I was wrong on both counts.

I can quite honestly say that Buldak Bokkeum Myun are THE spiciest instant noodles I’ve ever eaten – but – are also some of the tastiest too! The initial couple of mouthfuls are quite pleasant. They have a nice spicy chicken flavour to them, have a nice chewy consistency and don’t appear to be too hot. Working my way through the bowl things start to change quickly. The build up of heat is very intense and it wasn’t long before I was reaching for the emergency glass of milk I had pre-prepared. Oddly though, despite the searing pain I was feeling, the flavour made me want to keep eating. Before I knew it I had finished the whole portion. Despite the sweat rolling off my forehead into my eyes and the numb pain I had in and around my mouth I felt as though I had accomplished something that most people struggle to do.

As a general tip for eating these I found it best to just keep eating. If you stop for a few seconds in between mouthfuls the heat quickly builds up. Eat them continuously and deal with the consequences once they’re all finished.

The packs that I buy have cooking instructions on the back in English. If you’re feeling brave and decide to try a pack but find that it doesn’t have any English instructions then here they are:

• Boil 600ml of water in a pan.
• Add the noodle block to the pan and boil for 4 – 5 minutes.
• Remove from the heat and drain off all but around 8 Tbsp of water from the pan.
• Add the packet of liquid seasoning (red pack) to the noodles in the pan.
• Stir over a low – medium heat for 30 seconds.
• Serve in a bowl and sprinkle the contents of the garnish packet (black & white pack) over.
• Probably pour yourself about a pint of milk 😀

Richard

Passionate about cooking, eating and promoting Korean food in the UK.