Samyang Fire Noodles: Buldak Flavors Reviewed

This is the one that started it all: noodles plus the famous Buldak spicy sauce, with a dry topping sachet to scatter over at the end. I like adding extra seaweed at the table, but it is already good on its own. With chewy noodles and a punchy sauce, it is the sensible starting point before you work through the rest.

Jjajang Buldak, the black bean hot chicken flavour, is easily one of my favourites in the Samyang fire noodle line. It takes the classic instant halal jjajang buldak and gives it a generous hit of spice through chewy noodles.

Each pack holds a single sauce sachet, a blend of jjajang and the signature Buldak sauce. There is also a dry topping sachet that you boil and stir in to finish the dish.

I love the rich, layered flavour, and it makes me want to seek out proper jjajang noodles in the UAE. I eat it often enough that it has become a regular lunch. It pairs beautifully with a sunny-side-up egg and a runny yolk, or simply with white rice.

Cream Carbonara Buldak is another personal favourite, and one of the Samyang cream buldak multi-packs we keep on the shelf. It is the richer, calmer relative of the classic Carbo Buldak.

If you want a creamy flavour with only a little kick, this is the one. It is noticeably milder than the other Samyang variants, most likely because of the cream.

Note that the sauce here is not the usual one. Samyang’s signature sauce normally looks intimidating thanks to its deep red colour, but the cream carbo version is thinner and much lighter, closer to orange.

There is also a powdered seasoning sachet that carries the carbonara flavour. The noodles differ from the other variants too, thicker and flatter rather than round, so the sauce clings to them and the dish eats more like pasta.

Carbonara Buldak, sold in the same Samyang buldak multi-packs, is the brand’s take on instant pasta with a twist. Unlike the cream carbo, this one uses the regular Buldak sauce, so expect more of a kick the longer you eat.

I like to go the extra mile here by adding chopped beef bacon or sausage slices. To tone down the heat, use milk instead of water when you toss the half-cooked noodles with the sauce, and keep the pot on the heat so the liquid reduces.

Also sold as Meat Spaghetti Buldak Bokkeummyeon.

This is the last pasta variant, at least so far, in the Samyang range we carry at Seoul Oasis. I find the meat spaghetti genuinely interesting: rich, tangy and salty. I assume Samyang was aiming for an Italian feel, hence the tartness.

Each pack comes with three sachets: the signature Buldak sauce, a powdered seasoning that carries the spaghetti taste, and a dry topping sachet you stir through at the end.

You can add hotdog or sausage slices to make more of a meal of it, and finish with shredded cheese if you like.

I love kimchi and I love ramyun, so on paper this flavour should have been mine. Yet after trying it once, I never went back. The idea made sense, but in my opinion the execution fell short: it came out more sour and sharp than savoury, and I simply did not enjoy it.

Corn Buldak taps into how readily corn turns up in Korean cooking. It goes into noodles and rice dishes and is often paired with melted cheese, so a corn fire noodle was only a matter of time.

The noodles are like those in the carbo and cream carbonara variants, thick and flat. You get a soup sachet and a seasoning sachet. The seasoning has a strong corn aroma, so you go in expecting a very corn-forward bowl. Corn is a mild flavour though, and the heat tends to run over it, so the corn ends up more aromatic than tasted.

Cheese Buldak is one of the earliest variants and sits among the Samyang buldak multi-packs we stock. It is a simple but pleasant change from the plain hot chicken line. The cheese seasoning comes in its own sachet and smells strongly of cheese, though, as with the corn buldak, the taste does not shift dramatically once everything is mixed in.

The heat is still intense, so I recommend adding extra cheese while you cook it down with the sauce.

Also sold as Ice Type Buldak Bokkeummyeon.

If you want a bowl that takes you on a ride, try this one. The Ice Type Buldak is a novelty because it is meant to be eaten as a cool ramen. Cold noodles have been eaten in Korea for generations on warm days, but this variant is more gimmick than genuine cool-down.

You prepare it by rinsing the cooked noodles in cold water straight away. Some people go further and chill the bowl in the fridge or drop in ice cubes. I stuck with the standard method, and I have to say it hurt more than the regular fire noodles.

It is sweet and spicy, but genuinely painful in the mouth and chest. Worth trying once for the experience; not something I will crave again.

Originally sold as the 4x fire noodles, Mala Buldak is the one that turns up in the online eating challenge videos.

Where the 2x Nuclear brings heat and little else, the Mala version leans on mala seasoning, so there is a numbing, layered flavour underneath the burn.

I will be honest about how it went for me. The Nuclear Buldak made me cry, but it never made me feel like my chest was about to give out.

This one starts with a slow burn that lulls you into a false sense of security. Once you swallow, the pain spreads from your mouth to your throat and then your chest. My heart was racing, I was sweating, and I could barely speak. I drank milk, ate ice cream, and still could not finish a single pack. This is the only Samyang ramen I have ever given up on.

The flavour itself is excellent, especially the five-spice character, but it is easy to underestimate. Treat it as a bowl for adults, not for young children.

Buldak Light is the classic fire noodle with the heat dialled back. It is much milder than the other variants, although the lower heat also takes a little of the savouriness with it.

If your tolerance for spicy food is on the lower side, start here to get a sense of what Samyang fire noodles are about.

Also sold as Nuclear Buldak ramen.

Now for the dreaded 2x Nuclear, the pack used in the online challenge videos. It has made grown adults cry, and there is not much flavour here beyond sheer heat. This one is for adults and older children who genuinely handle chilli, never for young children.

The first time I ate a pack I got through a lot of milk. These days I see vloggers building on the nuclear buldak: some wrap it in kimchi for nuclear kimchi rolls, others pile on cheese, corn and beef strips to make a full meal.

If anything, its flat taste makes it a good base for creative dishes. Neutral, yet blisteringly hot.

Cold-mixed spicy noodles, served without soup.

One of the variants I really like. The Buldak Bibimmyeon stands out for its noodles: much thinner and chewier, which makes every mouthful a pleasure, and the flavour is savoury as well as hot.

A hard-boiled egg on top is the usual way to serve it. You can do the same and add a few extra sheets of seaweed. I also prefer to let it cool a little rather than eating it piping hot.

If you want to carry the spice from the noodles into the soup, try Samyang’s hot chicken stew. It differs from their ramen in two ways: it brings the full Buldak heat, and it is built around a thicker broth because it is a stew.

A few tips to lift it: add slices of halal luncheon meat, thinly sliced vegetables such as cabbage or spring onion, or a spoonful of kimchi if you have it. It is also good with rice; once the noodles are gone, stir the rice into the broth.

That is all for now, see you next time.

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