Samyang Bulldark Spicy Chicken Roasted Noodles, 4.93 Ounce (Pack of 5) (Ven_FD15-102)

Creamy, spicy, delicious.I am so happy with itYou just boil the noodles, mix the sauce and powder in a bowl, then stir together, finally strain the noodles and at to your flavor mix

Well, I just HAD to try this after seeing many Youtube videos (buldak bokkeum myun or fire noodle callenge) of people trying this ramen. I can take spice pretty well, but even then I was a bit scared to try this assuming it's probably a sadistically hot inedible product aspiring fame through people's agony. With the cooked ramyun bowl in front of me, I breathed in deep, meditated a little, and then took the first bite. I must say I was both disappointed and relieved at the same time. It was not nearly as spicy as I had expected, and it was quite tasty! The sauce flavor is akin to the popular Korean dish Ddukbokki, except it's a little more savory (chicken?) and spicier. The sweetness tapers down the level of spice, and I finished the bowl without flinching although my nose pooled sweat long afterwards. As for a relevant gauge, if you enjoy and can eat Buffalo Wild's "hot" wings, then you won't have trouble finishing this. I also noticed that many people prep this noodle incorrectly and comment that it lacks flavor. The noodles won't lack flavor if you don't dilute it down by cooking it like other common ramen noodles. I noticed there's no English instruction on the received product anywhere, so I decided to post the translated cooking instruction:1. Boil 3 cups (or more) of water, and then cook the noodles for 5 minutes.2. Drain water (leave about 8 spoons worth), add the packaged liquid hot sauce, and then return to stove to stir the noodles at low heat for about 30 seconds.3. Turn off the stove, then mix in the dry sesame/seaweed package with the noodles.On step 1, I've boiled for 4.5 minutes instead for firmer noodles.Step 2 is important - you should pretty much drain off most of the water you see using your fork/chopsticks as strainer as you pour off excess water off your cooking pot, and you should have just enough water hidden in noodles for a saucy consistency, not liquidy. Stirring on heat with the hot paste incorporates the flavor and thickens the sauce. If you end up with too much juice, raise the heat a bit and evaporate off the water until the sauce thickens.When properly prepared, the sauce should be thick enough to coat the noodles and allow the sesame seeds to stick to the lifted noodles.I noticed that my received product's expiration date was less than 6 months away (8/30/2015). I will have no trouble finishing the noodles before the expiration, but it can be off-putting to buy any almost expired product. I'm not sure what the usual expiration is for the ramyun given the inclusion of the liquid paste, but the noodles didn't smell stale nor rancid as I could usually tell from almost stale ramyun noodles.All in all, this was very worth a try to resolve my curiosity after laughing so much at Youtube people's reactions, and I feel superior and stronger!oh~~ my stomach is starting to burn...Update: Curiosity got me to try the more convenient cup ramyun version of this (my packs were gone too soon!), and I prefer these cooking packets hands down. The cup noodles are much thinner and less chewy, and you don't get as savory deeper taste attained by cooking the liquid paste with noodles. The cup version's instruction tells you to drain off all water before adding the flavor packets, so you're definitely supposed to consume these with practically no liquid. The thicker noodles in the cooking packs need help to infuse the flavor in the step #2 above (the reason to leave some water to cook off), and you get 140g instead of 70g (small cup) or 105g (big cup) instant versions. Besides the packs being much more affordable, you get more of it along with much better taste when you prepare it properly. Time to order some more...

So good! The noodles seem bigger, the cheese powder turns into the perfect cheese flavor and then the spicy buldak sauce is in a separate packet so you can control how spicy you want to noodles to be. I suggest you start with the smallest amount to get figure out how hot you like it.

Love the taste. Has great value for money. And the quality was amazing.

For whatever reason, the Spicy Noodle Challenge kept coming up in my life recently, and after watching videos and reading reviews, I got curious enough to order this 5-pack. It's a better deal per unit than ordering just one, but I was hesitant because, you know, if it wound up being inedibly hot, I didn't want to be stuck with 4 packets of unwanted ramen. Eventually, my love of ramen and my sense of adventure took over and I hit the order button.I would rate my spice tolerance as higher than average, so I wasn't sure what to expect. When it comes to the Spicy Noodle Challenge, there are a whole lot of highly dramatic videos and reviews, and then there are some spice-acclimated people going, 'yeah, it's spicy, but whatevs'. So, I was a little afraid in case it *was* actually nuclear spice levels, but I also suspected that I would be in the latter category.I made the ramen and the aroma was deceptively mellow, so I was a bit surprised at the heat at the first bite. Definitely very spicy. "Oh no," I thought, "If this is the first bite, it's gonna get so bad."But then, interestingly, the heat kind of mellowed out from there. It didn't build and accumulate as I continued to eat, it just stayed about the same level as the initial heat. My mouth was burning, for sure, but I was able to finish it without any struggle. It's definitely spicy and I can definitely see people with lower spice tolerances finding it a challenge! I had the foresight to put lip balm on, so my lips weren't burning that bad.. my sinuses cleared, causing my nose to run, and I had some residual burning in my mouth for maybe 20 minutes afterward. A bit later, a mild capsaicin high kicked in, which was nice.The noodles have good texture, very pleasantly chewy and firm. Flavor-wise, to be honest, it's almost all heat/spice, which overwhelms the other flavors. Every now and then, the chicken/seaweed/sesame flavor comes through, and it's good, but it's like one bite out of four. The rest, it's just a lot of spiciness that overwhelms the palate. However, I liked them enough that I had them again the next day and will be finishing the 5-pack without issue. :D