[Food] Milmyun (밀면, Cold Wheat Noodle)

[Food]

[Food] Milmyun (밀면, Cold Wheat Noodle)

Milmyun (Cold Wheat Noodle) is one of the famous cuisines from Busan, Korea, originating in the late 1950s after the Korean War. Normally, Korean cold noodle (냉면, Naengmyeon) is made with potato or sweet potato powder for its elasticity and chewy texture but Koreans who decided to stay in Busan having left their hometowns in N.Korea because of the Korean War couldn't get any of the original ingredients for traditional Korean cold noodle. So they figured out ingredients that could replace potato and sweet potato powder for the noodle of Korean cold noodle - flour, supplied by the U.N. Thankfully, and also sadly, Korea was in desperate national poverty so Koreans had to rely on supplies from the U.N. which were corn powder, flour etc. for their own survival. So milmyun (밀면, Cold Wheat Noodle) resulted from North and South Koreans’ nostalgia wanting to taste original Korean traditional cold noodle that they had usually had in their hometown :)

Now milmyun has become one of the main staple cuisines in Busan that has spread across the south-eastern province of Korea. Today's restaurant is Naeho Naengmyeon (Naeho Cold Noodle House) which was founded in 1919 in Busan. The restaurant had achieved great success from the outset, but hadn't re-located because the founder of this restaurant left the following will:


"Stay where I started. Never move anywhere."

So descendants still respect the will of the founder, and the restaurant selling the noodles is where it started. A narrow alley of a small town near a port in Busan.

It became more popular because of a famous gourmet comic book and many gourmet shows on TV. Now :) let's cut the chit-chat here and let me show you what milmyun is :)

Inside the restaurant. Newspapers and posters of gourmet shows decorate the wall :)

Hot noodle soup. It refreshes you when you drink it after a bowl of milmyun :)

Spicy, sour and sweet sauce on top of thin sliced sweet radish, chopped cucumber and sliced pork.

The soup of milmyeon is mild sour, spicy and sweet. I haven't yet met anyone who doesn't like milmyeon (among Koreans). Lapping, elastic and chewy noodles tickle and excite your tongue and gums.  I just can’tt stop eating them, and it makes me drool as I think about its taste :)

Anyway, if you have a chance to visit Busan in Korea, never forget to pay a visit to taste a bowl of milmyun for you :) its unique taste will make you love Busan and Korea more than ever before :)

Bon appétit!