[Food] Hwe-Naengmyeon (회냉면, Korean Cold Noodle with Fermented and Seasoned Raw Sole on Top)

[Food]

[Food] Korean Cold Noodle with Fermented and Seasoned Raw Sole on Top

Jumunjin Port, Gangwon province (North-East Region), South Korea

Jumunjin is a very quiet, small port city in Gangwon province (North-East), South Korea. The city is famous for its Squid Festival (every summer) and as a filming site of many Korean dramas and K-pop music videos.

Raw flounder dish

As in other Korean port cities, the people of Jumunjin are very familiar with raw fish and seafood. They don't enjoy raw fish just by itself, but with cold noodles and spicy sauce too. Today, I want to introduce you to one of my favorite restaurants famous for Hwe-Naengmyeon (Korean cold noodle with fermented and seasoned raw sole on top).

Entrance of the restaurant. It just looks like a modern Korean house

Kitchen of the restaurant where everything is cooked

Menu, it's not expensive

Guideline for eating hwe-naengmyeon
1. Put as much mustard/vinegar/sugar as is desired
2. Pour meat broth onto the noodle to be mixed with the sauce
3. In case of buckwheat noodle, there’s no need to cut. In the case of sweet-potato noodles, it is convenient to eat them when cut 2-3 times.

Autographs of Korean celebrities who visited the restaurant

Appetizer. Traditional thin buckwheat pancake. A unique dish of Gangwon province.

Crispy outside, Chewy and soft inside.

Hwe-Naengmyeon. Thin and elastic noodle. Well-fermented and sweet, accompanied by spicy raw sole.

Raw sole's bones were intentionally left to give a crispy, hard and chewy flavor. On the other hand, its flesh is so tender as it is soaked in sauce, which some people dislike because of the bone and uncooked flesh.

Professional cold noodle cooks are reputed by the quality of the noodle; softness, chewy, elasticity etc.

Meanwhile, I’ve heard that cold noodles are one of the most unpopular Korean dishes for non-Koreans. I understand why (maybe, like cold soup, cold noodles are not familiar to non-Koreans), but it's worth a try! :)

Bon Appétit!

[Food] Bibim Guksu (비빔국수, Spicy sauce-mixed cold noodle)

[Food]

[Food] Bibim Guksu (비빔국수, Spicy-sauced noodle)

A typical spicy sauce-mixed cold noodle

It was a really hot summer's day in Korea and the cicadas were chirping louder than usual and the cool breeze from the air conditioner had just woken me up from a sweet nap at 2 p.m. I didn't want to eat at all though I was hungry. I did a little jogging around my block a few earlier in morning but the summer heat made me swelter and almost unconscious.

As I slowly opened my eyes, I missed my mom's tasty dish even though she wasn't a good cook at all. It was a very simple Korean-style noodle recipe. Cold, spicy, sweet and sour noodle that slides smoothly into my esophagus. Ah...with such imagination, saliva was pouring out like a flood.

I remember her boiling some dried noodle and mixing some chili paste, vinegar, sugar, chili powder and soy-sauce with cold water and ice cubes. When the noodles were all cooked, she showered them with cold water and ice and tossed them into a pre-made cold, spicy, sweet and sour sauce.

'Mom, I'm hungry. What do we have in the freezer?'

'You want some spicy cold noodles? We have some kimchi too'

'Hooray! I like noodles!'


Well, no one knows the origin of this spicy cold noodle in Korea but I think maybe it was a mother who loved her family so much - like my mom - who figured it out its recipe....or not :)

Spicy cold noodle with kimchi

I tried to remember her recipe but I failed. So I'm calling her today.

[Hello? Mom?]

[Hey, Jerry, How are you? what on the earth is happening? You very rarely call me, son.]

[Uhm...that's not true, mom. If anyone hears that they would think I'm a jerk who never calls his mom unless he has something to ask]

[Isn't that true...?]

[No, mom. I'm sorry that I don't call you frequently but I'm not a jerk like that. I've got something to ask you anyway.]

[See. You called me because you have 'something to ask'...tsut..tsut..]

Uhm...yeah...that's very true....:P

[Mom, what do you put in when you make sauce for spicy cold noodle?]

[Spicy noodle? hm.....not much.]

[Not much? what's 'not much'?]

[Not many things, just what I just said, son. Chili paste, chili powder, sugar and some soy-sauce. That's it.]

[That's it? Is that it?]

[Yeah...you loved the noodle so much. I was so happy when you finished it to the end.]

Yeah...the recipe is very simple but....that's amazing...she made a fantastic flavor with these few ingredients. Is this so-called 'power of love'?


However many times I tried, I couldn't re-create the same taste that I had tasted from her. Darn, she was so good. However, even if she had to leave this world someday in the future, I'm satisfied that I have something to make me think of mom - like a gimbap that she made for us.

A typical bibim guksu of a famous noodle restaurant in Korea.

Maybe, someday, she will let me know the exact recipe of her bibim guksu so that I can share it with my family and friends in future. Till then, I won't try to find out her secret recipe :) because, you know, a treasure box is hidden to be discovered someday, so the recipe will come to me like a treasure :)

An instant bibim guksu ramen

Spicy, sweet and sour sauce for bibm guksu

Bon appétit!