The yellow wheat noodles in a soup has many names depending where you ask its name. In China is it known as as lamian and in Japan it is called ramen. In Korea, the gift of East-Asia to the world is known as ramyeon (라면). Everyone in the world loves ramyeon!

Ramyeon in Short

We begin with answering a very simple question: what is ramyeon? Ramyeon is a Korean dish that serves yellowish wheat noodles in a soup. Most of us actually know it in its Japanese form, ramen, and some might know it in its Chinese form, lamian. The origin of this dish is very unclear and heavily debated so I do not wish to touch that subject even with a ten foot pole.

What I will say, however, is that ramyeon, the Korean style, is a distinct dish that has earned its place in the world. Koreans serve the noodles in a spicy soup. The spiciness of that soup can range from the mundane to the extreme. Fun is guaranteed when trying out the fiery versions. Nowadays these Korean noodles are often prepared using its instant variety of which there are countless varieties.

Ramyeon #1

Ramyeon love Korea!

Koreans eat ramyeon 74.1 times per year.

Koreans love to eat ramyeon. They are among the biggest consumers of the noodle soup in the entire world. The reason, of course, is obvious. Ramyeon, especially the instant version, is simple and quick to make. It is honestly the natural choice when you are busy and do not have the time to cook anything and yet want to eat something delicious.

You can actually order ramyeon at many diners in Korea. Some even specialize in serving the instant noodles! It might be strange for some of us that you can buy instant noodles at diners. However, these establishments will bring the delectable noodles with several toppings (an egg is a must!) to make it worth the visit.

Korean ramyeon is not only hugely popular in Korea, but it is popular all over the world. You can easily find the spicy Korean noodle soup in the U.S., Europe, Australia. Even in China and Japan they love to slurp the Korean noodles.

My Favorite Ramyeon

Samyang instant ramyeon

The humble Samyang instant ramyeon

I have to admit I love to eat a nice, hot bowl of ramyeon myself. Whenever I am too lazy to cook something, I just boil some water and throw in the instant noodles. My personal favorite brand of instant noodles? That would be the humble Samyang ramyeon. It might be that it is my favorite for sentimental reasons. It was the first I ever ate.

There are many more brands than just the Samyang ramyeon and I love them equally. I would urge you to try one if you haven’t yet. Try one of the many and there are innumerable brands out there for you to try. In fact, you can spend an entire year trying to eat all the brands out there and still discover there is one you did not try yet.

Do you follow a special diet because you are vegetarian or muslim? Do not fear that you will be left out! There are ramyeon brands out there just for you. If you are a vegetarian, then you can try Nongsim’s Soon instant noodles. These are the noodles that buddhist monks enjoy to eat who, as many of you know, live a vegetarian life. If you are muslim you needn’t worry since countless of ramyeon brands have been recognized by hallal authorities as being hallal. Just search for the hallal sign.

PS: Do you love tteokbokki and ramyeon? Then you will love rabokki, the marriage between tteokbokki and ramyeon.

Fire Noodle Challenge

To end this post about ramyeon I want to share one more brand. This brand of instant noodles is very popular for another reason than its taste. It is more of a challenge and you can find many videos on YouTube of people participating in the challenge. The challenge is called the Fire Noodle Challenge and it involves simply eating buldakbokkeummyeon, which means fire chicken fried noodles. These noodles taste somewhat like that other spicy dish, buldak.

It is fun to watch others people ( sometimes exaggerated) responses to this brand of fried noodles. They are not that spicy perse, but the sauce tends to keep sticking in your mouth which gives a long-lasting burning sensation that everyone loves so much about it. Here is one of those Fire Noodle Challenge videos:

That concludes my little post about ramyeon. I am now curious to know what brand of ramyeon is your favorite. Let me know in the comments. Perhaps you will direct me to the greatest discovery in my entire life! Also if you happen to have tried the fire noodles, let me know what you thought when you had your first bite.

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Nick is a someone who enjoys exploring new and different things. 2 years ago when he met his Korean friends he decided to go for it and learn Korean. Now he is struggling with the language while sharing an apartment with his Korean roomie.

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