Okay I know – I don’t usually review restaurant food but I thought I would this time. After our trip to Nongshim and learning about Korean food and culture, we were curious about this local restaurant. I looked through the menu and decided I should give their noodles a try! I found Naengmyeon combo and thought that might be good. I had no idea what it would be about, except that noodles were involved and that it was ‘good in the Summer.’ Here’s what Wikipedia says about Naengmyeon:
Naengmyeon (hangul: 냉면, naeng-myeon, naengmyun, naeng-myun, meaning “cold noodles”) is a Korean dish of long and thin hand-made noodles made from the flour and starch of various ingredients: buckwheat (메밀, memil), potatoes, sweet potatoes, 칡냉면, naengmyun made with the starch from arrowroot (darker color and chewier than buckwheat noodles), and kudzu (칡, chik). Varieties with ingredients such as seaweed and green tea are available. According to the 19th century documents of Dongguksesigi (동국세시기, 東國歲時記), it has been made since the Joseon Dynasty.[1]
Originally a delicacy in northern Korea, especially the cities of Pyongyang and Hamhung in North Korea, naengmyeon became widely popular in Korea after the Korean War.[1]
Naengmyeon is served in a large stainless bowl with a tangy iced broth, julienned cucumbers, slices of Korean pear, and either a boiled egg or slices of cold boiled beef or both. Spicy Mustard sauce (or Mustard oil) and vinegar are often added before consumption. The long noodles would be eaten without cutting, as they symbolized longevity of life and good health, but modernly, servers at restaurants usually ask if the noodles should be cut prior to eating and use food scissors to cut the noodles.
Cold noodles? Not what I expected but it’s always a good idea to try new things, and so I did.
Being a combo, it came with some nice BBQ short ribs. These were very tasty and quite enjoyable.
Here’s the Naengmyeon. Wow – definitely different. I think these were either buckwheat or sweet potato noodles; not sure. The slushy ice in there was very interesting; and it worked very well! I can see why they would say this is good in the summer – I think it’d be great on a 90+ degree day!
See the color of the noodles? Very different. This was an interesting dish – probably not something I’ll frequent again but not for reasons of poor preparation. This was very nice quality and very nicely presented – but I think suffice it to say that I am not a fan of cold noodles. Nice little restaurant with pretty good service. Check it out if you’re in Edmonds, WA! The noodles get 3.75 out of 5.0 stars.
Here’s a video about Naengmyeon
I don’t eat Korean food (it’s a long story.)…But I love cold noodles, Japanese style anyway. They don’t come in a cold slush of a soup though, they’re served in a pile with a dipping sauce, green onion and wasabi on the side. If I ever find an instant version, I’ll send it to you…Hahaha