Noodle Journey Episode 84: Nongshim Guksu with Beef Bone Extract

I’m taking a look at a Nongshim variety that completely slipped past my radar until recently: Guksu with Beef Bone Extract. The packaging boldly advertises a hybrid of beef and umami dashi flavors, and I picked up a four-pack on sale for $3.99 at my favorite Asian market, marked down from the usual $5.99. Oddly, I haven’t found it on Amazon, but some Walmarts carry it, and other Asian online stores or eBay may have listings.

The packaging claims this noodle is inspired by the Korean dish “janchi guksu,” known for its delicate seafood or beef broth and thin noodles. The noodles are air-dried and infused with beef bone extract, while the broth base includes oyster, seaweed, and anchovy for a seafood-derived umami flavor profile. The flake packet adds dried chili, seaweed, sesame seeds, and fried garlic. Sodium content is no joke at 1,930mg per pack.

Noodles:
These are thinner than the typical Nongshim offering, which isn’t usually my preference. However, they work surprisingly well here. The texture is clean and springy thanks to the air-drying process, and there’s no fried aftertaste. While the packaging claims they’re beef-infused, the actual noodle flavor doesn’t reflect that. Still, the quality is excellent.
• 8.5/10

Spiciness:
Despite the mention of chili on the package, the spice level is minimal. What heat there is comes from the flake packet, and it’s on par with a light sprinkling of crushed red pepper. Very accessible even for spice-averse folks.
• 2/10

Overall:
The first thing that struck me when I tasted this is something I cannot stress enough: despite the promise on the packaging, this is not a beefy soup. At all. The dominant flavor is a briny, shellfish-forward dashi, more akin to something you’d find in a miso soup or even an Italian white seafood pasta sauce. It’s complex, earthy, and has a sweetness from the seafood extracts that really shine through. The garlic, sesame, and seaweed flakes round it out with extra texture and flavor. If you like mussels or clams, this is a treat, almost reminding me of a garlicky clam sauce in soup form. But the packaging is wildly misleading for anyone expecting a hearty beef broth. I’m anticipating a wave of one-star reviews on Walmart.com from people who didn’t read the fine print. That said, if you go in expecting dashi and not beef, you’ll find something surprisingly delicious.
• 8/10

Notes since filming:

Sadly, this one appears to have been discontinued by Nongshim, which is a damned shame. There’s nothing else out there that I can find that tastes like this. For the longest time, I still had a single bag left in my stash that I was afraid to eat because then it would truly be gone.