“Excuse me waiter, my soup is cold… and DELICIOUS!” Ice cold soup could be seen as a serious complaint in any restaurant around the world, but the only complaint that we have is not having enough of it! Naengmyeon is the definition of “refreshing” on a hot summer day. The word naengmyeon actually means “cold noodles,” and the cold dish comes with julienne cucumbers, Asian pear, radishes, cold-boiled beef, and a hard boiled egg to top it all off. The soup is served in a large stainless bowl, and eaters have the option of adding hot mustard or vinegar. The noodles can be served up two ways:

Mul naengmyeon is served with tangy ice cold soup and buckwheat noodles. The soup leaves a nice little zing in your mouth and cools your body all the way down. Yu Chun Chic Naeng Myeon in Los Angeles has perfected the dish and serves their slushy soup with dark, black noodles.

Bibim naengmyeon is the spicy version made with gochujang which is mixed up with all the other ingredients to perfection.  The bibim naengmyeon is prepared without much soup, but is eaten with chilled noodles that are usually chewier than the ones in the mul naengmyun.

Usually the best place to enjoy a good bowl of naengmyeon is at a restaurant that specializes in making the dish since the soup is key. However the next best thing would be to go to your local Korean market and pick up a prepackaged naengmyeon and make it whenever your taste buds crave a bowl.

Tips:

• Ask for your noodles to be cut to avoid choking.
• For fun, you can take out the hard-boiled egg yolk and use the egg as a pseudo spoon.
• If you’re using a prepackaged naengmyeon, we recommend freezing the broth for a bit and then crushing up the iced broth to make a slushy-like soup.
• For some recipes on how to make bibim naengmyeon, head over to Korean Food Gallery.

Yuchun Chic Naeng Myun
3185 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90006
(213) 382-3815

[Photo of mul naengmyeon from Yuchun: Audrey Yun-Suong; bibim naengmyeon: Maangchi].