Summer’s best cold noodles

By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Anita Emefa Hato 

Photos = Anita Emefa Hato 

As we get ready to bid farewell to the hot summer here in Korea, I hope it’s not too late to recommend what is, in my opinion, one of the best cold noodle restaurants that I've ever stumbled upon here at Namdaemun Market in Seoul.

Yookssam Naengmyeon (육쌈 냉면)

There's a really good cold noodles (냉면) restaurant in Namdaemun Market that I discovered a couple of week ago that I would like to share with you. Yookssam Naengmyeon (육쌈 냉면) is located inside Namdaemun Market here in Seoul. It serves very delicious and seasonal menu items, everything you can think of.

Honestly, I was a bit skeptical about going to eat there with my friend on our way to do a photo shoot, but after we ordered and tried their cold noodles with the tasty charcoal grilled pork that came with it, I couldn’t wait to spread the word about this delicious place.

For those of you who don’t know about cold noodles, it's a noodles dish made with buckwheat noodles served in an ice cold broth with slices of radish, cucumber and half an egg.

Types of naengmyeon buckwheat noodles

There are two types of naengmyeon buckwheat noodles: mulnaengmyeon "water noodles" (물냉면) and bibimnaengmyeon "mixed noodles" (비빔냉면).

How to eat it

Before you start eating your noodles, you have to cut them into bite-sized lengths with a pair of scissors so that you can eat them easily, as they are very long. Thus if you don’t want to go through the process of turning your chopsticks or fork for about 1,000 revolutions to get a mouthful, just use the scissors.

Naengmyeon vs. Busan’s milmyeon

I’m going to throw in a little bit of history here, too, by acknowledging that during the Korean War (1950-1953), people in Busan couldn’t afford the buckwheat needed to make cold buckwheat noodles. Their homes had been destroyed and it was difficult to get access to food and other ingredients. So in place of buckwheat noodles, they improvised and used wheat flour to make noodles. This is called milmyeon "flour noodles" (밀면). The sad thing is that it’s only a Busan dish. If you really want to try out that particular type of cold noodle, then Busan is the place to be.

Charcoal grilled pork, usually served with cold noodles

It’s important to note that not all the noodle restaurants here in Seoul serve their cold noodles with charcoal grilled pork. So keep an eye on the menu before ordering, otherwise you might be disappointed.

If you happen to be in the neighborhood of Namdaemun Market, do make it a point to check out this noodle restaurant. I promise that you'll love it as much as I did. I’m pretty sure they have several other branches around Seoul. So kindly look up the closest place to you.

Even though summer is almost over, I don’t think you should worry about having to wait until next year to enjoy some delicious naengmyeon cold buckwheat noodles.

Just as we can enjoy ice cream in the winter, so, too, you can enjoy cold buckwheat noodles no matter what the season.

wisdom117@korea.kr

Share this post