Today’s review is kind of an update to the review all the way back in episode 90 where I reviewed the version of Samyang Buldak Rosé Spicy Ramen sold in South Korea. It’s no longer necessary to jump through hoops to import Buldak Rosé, but is it the same recipe? Today I’m reviewing this pack of Samyang Buldak Rosé, the version specifically exported to the US from South Korea.
The Verdict:
| Product: | Samyang Buldak Rosé Spicy Ramen (US Version) |
| Origin: | South Korea (Exported to the USA) |
| Noodle Quality: | 8/10 |
| Spice Level: | 5/10 |
| Overall Score: | 6.5/10 |
It might be worthwhile for you to go back and watch episode 90 or read the site review for some context before watching or reading this review, but in the event that you don’t do that, here’s a quick recap: at the time I filmed that review, going on three years now, Buldak Rosé was not available in the USA. You had to specially import it from South Korea. I bought it from a retailer I had found that has since stopped selling noodles entirely, boo, and I did a review and I loved it. It’s one of my favorite Buldak flavors of all time – I gave it a 9.5 out of 10 overall.
Since then, Samyang started exporting Buldak Rosé to the USA. You can very easily find this in Target and Asian markets everywhere, and I had a lot of people comment on that episode 90 video to say that they’d found it locally. But here’s the thing: this US version is not the same recipe I fell in love with three years ago. So if you are checking out my original review of Buldak Rosé from May of 2023, it is not accurate to what is being sold down at your local Walmart. This review aims to rectify that.
Without too much further ado, you should know that Buldak Rosé is sold in the USA in five-packs for about $7 to $8. It is intended to be a smokier, creamier, less spicy version of Buldak Carbonara. And no, neither Buldak Rosé nor Buldak Carbonara actually resemble the Italian recipes of the same names in any way. I see a lot of people make that false assumption.
Inside the pack, we have the round style Buldak wheat noodles with a sauce packet and a powder packet, no flakes. The sauce packet is a basic Buldak sauce with some creamy elements: red pepper, sugar, salt, artificial chicken powder, onion, garlic, various spices, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, and milk powder. And then in the powder, we’ve got more milk powder with parsley, garlic, and sesame. The sodium in one pack is 1140 mg, so not awful. This does appear to be vegetarian, whereas the original Korean recipe that I reviewed years ago did most likely contain real meat extract going by my Google Lens translation from back then.
After cooking, the instructions say to leave half a cup (yes, half a cup) of the cooking liquid in with the noodles. If I were cooking this for myself, I would probably use less than half of that because I like the sauce to be a little thicker, but I follow the instructions when I review, before you start yelling at me that the end result is too watery.
From an aroma perspective, there’s nothing out of the ordinary with the sauce packet. It smells like normal Buldak sauce despite the fact that there is extra milk and cheese in the ingredients. The powder packet has quite a bit of smoky cheese funk.
After mixing it up, the amount of liquid left after everything is stirred together is, I think, too much. I really think this needs a quarter cup maximum – half a cup is way too much for this. Yes, it will thicken a little bit as it stands, but if you eat your noodles right away, I think this sauce is way too watery. I think I’m going to dock half a point off my final score because I disagree with the instructions. I don’t think the consistency of this is what it should be, and I think Samyang was wrong this time. And with all that water comes the noodles being less coated. None of this is a surprise to me because I did have this before preparing for this review. I just think it bears mentioning.
Noodles:
My opinion on these noodles is unchanged. I love Buldak noodles due to their thickness and their chewy texture. These always come out great.
- 8/10
Spiciness:
In my original review of the Korean version, I gave that one a spiciness score of 6.5 out of 10. And for comparison’s sake, if you’re not familiar with my reviews, I think the original black bag Buldak hot chicken flavor is an 8 out of 10 on my spiciness scale. Maybe it’s that I’m more used to spice, or maybe it’s that the spice level was watered down for an American palate, but either way, this is not as spicy as I remember the Korean version being. If you’re totally intolerant to spice, yes, it’s going to be hot. But if you’re used to other Buldak flavors, this isn’t going to bother you much.
- 5/10
Overall:
And now we come to the overall flavor and the reason that this review of the US version of Rosé was necessary. I must reiterate, this is not the same recipe as what is sold in South Korea. And I want to be very clear: I’m not saying that in a snobby way, like, “Ooh, I’ve had the original recipe and you haven’t, haha.” No, I’m saying it to enlighten everyone reading that there are distinct differences between the recipes, and there are unavoidable comparisons that I have to make in light of that first review existing.
This flavor is not the flavor that I loved three years ago. That flavor from South Korea amped up the creaminess compared to the original Buldak formula. It certainly wasn’t this watery, and it added a mild bacon flavor that elevated it into something very special. This recipe for the American market is closer to a cheesy mustard sauce than a cheesy bacon sauce. And look, it’s not bad, but it is a stark contrast to the original version. So much so that I think Samyang really should have called this something else.
But let’s pretend the original version doesn’t exist for a minute. This is a creamy sauce with a tolerable spice level that has a kind of sweet and very artificially smoky aftertaste that I found really jarring my very first bite, but I got used to after a bite or two more. There are a lot of people on Reddit who say that they love the tomato in this, which puzzles me because this doesn’t contain tomato, nor does it taste like tomato to me. Maybe the glutamates in here are coming together to remind some people of tomato, but it’s not in here and it’s not what I taste. On top of all that, there is something vaguely mustardy in here to me. Maybe with some other spices like turmeric, all of it kind of coming together to create a fake smoke flavor. If you ever tasted the gold sauce that McDonald’s came out with last year, this is like a spicier rendition of that.
And I don’t mean all this to say that this is bad. I actually think it’s pretty good. I just think there are some major caveats with this that stop it from being my favorite Buldak ever. Even if the original Korean recipe didn’t exist, I wouldn’t consider this a go-to flavor for me, but I would buy it on occasion. If you prepare this with less water and get the sauce much creamier and thicker than it is by following the instructions, I think you’d be looking at a 7 or even a 7.5 out of 10 as an overall score. But because I find that smoky flavor just a little bit too artificial, and because I think the instructions yield something that is way wetter than it should be, I can’t ignore those issues in this review.
- 6.5/10
Final Thoughts
So there you go. Now, you folks don’t need to comment on the old Rosé review because the new review is on the record. And look, if you’ve had the original version of Buldak Rosé, don’t buy this expecting to taste the same flavor. It’s very starkly different. But if the idea of a creamy, cheesy, sweet, fake smoke sauce appeals to you, you’ll probably like this. Once I got past the initial shock, I did find a pretty unique flavor that I don’t get from any other Buldak, and I mostly like it aside from the consistency problem. Some of you are going to love this, some of you will hate it. It all comes down to how you prepare this and how that smoky mustard-adjacent aftertaste hits your palate. It’s only $8 for a multi-pack, so it’s not nearly as expensive as importing it from Korea if you’d like to give this a try for yourself.
Continuing the Journey:
- Samyang Buldak Cream Carbonara Ramen is another creamier Buldak comparison if you like the creamier elements of this flavor.
- Want something even cheesier? Check out Samyang Buldak Quattro Cheese Ramen for another cheese-forward Buldak flavor built around a thicker, dairy-heavy sauce.
- For another rosé sauce option, take a look at Samyang Tangle Kimchi Rosé Tangluccine.
