Jajangmyeon, a.k.a. noodles with black bean sauce, or simply “black heaven,” is an inexpensive and delicious dish that we think combines the best of Chinese and Korean flavors.

Jajangmyeon is comprised of wheat noodles, a salty black soybean paste called chunjang, and diced meat (or sometimes seafood) and vegetables. Unlike most Korean dishes that are served with a wide array of banchan (side dishes), jajangmyeon is served with pickled radish called danmuji, and raw onions sprinkled with rice vinegar and a little bit of the jajang sauce for dipping.

Located in Koreatown, Manhattan (a.k.a. 32nd St.), Muk Eun Ji, a Korean BBQ restaurant famous for their kimchi, recently opened a new wing called Son Ja Jang that serves Korean-Chinese dishes. The restaurant inside of a restaurant hand-makes their noodles and has the most flavorful and delicious jajang sauce. So delicious that, after slurping all the noodles, eaters like to mix a bowl of rice into the leftover sauce and scrape every last bit off with a spoon.

That said, jajangmyeon is definitely not a first-date dish.

Son Ja Jang is known their half-jajangmyeon, half-jjambbong (spicy seafood noodles) win-win dish.

If you’re in Los Angeles, CA, The Dragon is the go-to restaurant for amazing jajangmyeon. Not only is their jajangmyeon delicious, but they have great Tang Su Yuk, sweet and sour beef, which is the perfect appetizer to pair with your bowl of JJM.

To learn how to make jajangmyeon at home, visit Korean Food Gallery!

Son Ja Jang (inside Muk Eun Ji)
34 West 32nd Street
New York, NY 10001
http://www.sonjajang.com/

The Dragon
966 S. Vermont Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90006
http://www.thedragonla.com/

[Photos: (first and third) Son Ja Jang; (second) Yelp; (last) The Dragon]