Today’s review is a bit of a follow-up to my last Buldak review as I work my way through the remaining Buldak products in my queue. This is Samyang Buldak Rosé with Wide Glass Noodles.
The Verdict:
| Product: | Samyang Buldak Rosé with Wide Glass Noodles |
| Origin: | South Korea |
| Noodle Quality: | 5/10 |
| Spice Level: | 6.5/10 |
| Overall Score: | 8/10 |
This is the third variation of Buldak Rosé that I’ve tried, following the version sold in South Korea back in episode 90 and, most recently, the version exported to the US from South Korea in episode 222. I loved the original Korean version with its smoky bacon notes, but I didn’t love the US version as much because those smoky bacon notes turned into smoky mustard notes, at least to my palate, due to a recipe change for an export market. I’ve also had these same glass noodles before in episode 173 with the Buldak Mala bowl, and they were not my favorite texture, although I can see why some people might love them.
What I really want to glean from this review is whether the Rosé sauce in this bowl is closer to the original Korean recipe that I loved or the newer American recipe, and how it works with these wide glass noodles. You might say, “Wait, shouldn’t the sauce be identical to the US version?” Not necessarily; the Mala glass noodle sauce recipe was very different from the Mala pack version, and the ingredients on the back of this label do not match what I reviewed in episode 222. I’m nothing if not thorough.
You can buy this anywhere that sells Buldak, and sometimes you’ll find the version from Korea with Hangul on the bowl in places like H Mart. Despite the English all over the outside of this bowl, all the packages inside are in Korean with the exception of the word Rosé. That makes me assume this is the same product sold in Korea, just repackaged for the American market, but maybe not quite.
Inside the bowl are the glass noodles, a sauce packet, and two powder packets. The glass noodles are made from potato starch, cornstarch, and rice flour, which gives them a very chewy texture. The noodles themselves also contain a dairy-based creamer, something you don’t see very often. The sauce is a variant of the original Buldak sauce recipe containing ingredients such as soy sauce, sugar, chili pepper, onion, and garlic, but there are spices not found in the US pack version of Rosé, like a curry powder containing cumin, cloves, nutmeg, rosemary, paprika, laurel, sage, and ginger. There is also no cheese in the sauce like there is in the US pack version. The powder packets are where you’ll find the cheese, milk, and creamer, including mozzarella, cheddar, parsley, basil, and garlic.
If you buy the version sold in South Korea, I was able to track down an image of the ingredients and found no mention of curry powder, but it did list real chicken extract, which is not present on this label. To add further confusion, the ingredients label on this bowl does not match what is listed on Samyang America’s product page. That means there must be at least three different versions of this recipe out there.
The sodium for this particular recipe is 1130 mg for the entire bowl.
One warning about the packets being in Korean: if you don’t read Korean and don’t translate the text with something like Google Lens, you could miss that there is an alcohol preservative in the noodles. You will smell it when you open them. The alcohol cooks off, so the smell goes away. Don’t throw the noodles away because you think they’ve spoiled. The alcohol smell is normal.
Preparation is quick and convenient: add the sauce to the noodles, pour hot water up to the fill line, microwave for two and a half minutes, and then add both powder packets. The sauce thickened better than the pack version did, which isn’t surprising with two powder packets and not much water. The noodles did stick together, though, leaving a lot of thickness in a single bite.
Noodles:
When I had these noodles in the Mala bowl, I thought they were too thick and chewy, a little gummy, and very hard to separate. My opinion hasn’t really changed. If you already like this style of noodle, you’ll probably think this is an excellent example, but I prefer a wheat or potato noodle that isn’t this thick in this shape. They aren’t objectively bad, but they aren’t for me.
- 5/10
Spiciness:
I gave the US pack version a 5 out of 10 for spiciness. For a Buldak product, I thought it was less spicy than you’d expect. This bowl brings the heat back up to where I scored the original South Korean version. It’s a notch spicier than something like Shin Ramyun in my opinion, but it still lacks the more intense spice of the original Buldak Hot Chicken Flavor or even Carbonara.
- 6.5/10
Overall:
Samyang’s Rosé sauce in the packs is intended to be a creamy, smoky, spicy concoction. The Korean pack version had a great subtle bacon flavor, while the US pack version went in a more mustard-like direction. Much to my delight, this bowl evokes the Korean version: the smoky flavor is more authentic and subtle, combined with the typical combination of savory and sweet that you get from most Buldak flavors. There may be a subtle herbal note from the curry powder, but it is very hard for me to detect. I do get a lot of parsley flavor, which is great. Either way, there is an extra layer of depth to this sauce that I found missing from the American pack version. There is also a lot of creaminess and cheesiness from the two powder packets, which made the sauce thicken up incredibly nicely. The US pack version could not do that properly. To everyone who insists there is a tomato flavor in Buldak Rosé, there is no tomato in here. That is a weird thing people on Reddit keep repeating about this sauce. Read the ingredients.
This is close to the sauce recipe that I loved back in episode 90, just with noodles that I don’t love. Flavor-wise, it is great, and the sauce consistency is also great, but I find the noodle texture too chewy and unevenly cooked. I don’t think the microwave cooked all of the noodles to exactly the same tenderness. If I were scoring this purely on flavor and heat, it would be an easy 9.5 out of 10 overall, but I have to factor in the noodles. The sauce is good enough that I can mostly overlook my issues with them. If you like this kind of noodle more than I do, you might score the bowl even higher. I really wish this sauce recipe was what came in the US pack version, but at least it exists here in the US in some form.
- 8/10
Final Thoughts
I think this whole review, if you’re going to take anything away from it, just highlights some of the unexpected differences when Asian noodle products are reformulated for export markets. I wasn’t sure which way this recipe would go, but I’m glad an example of one of my favorite Buldak flavors is now easily available outside South Korea, even if the noodles aren’t my favorite. If you like everything you read in this review, you should definitely try this and see what you think. If you’re a Buldak fan who has to try everything and you’ve already had the US pack version of Rosé, put this on your list because it is a different recipe. If you’re a certified Buldak fanatic, try this side by side with the pack version at the same meal and see which one you prefer.
Continuing the Journey:
- Samyang Buldak Cream Carbonara Spicy Ramen pairs a thick, creamy sauce with a more traditional Buldak noodle texture.
- For an even more cheese-forward option, try Samyang Buldak Quattro Cheese Spicy Ramen.
- Samyang Tangle Kimchi Rosé Tangluccine takes the Korean rosé concept in a milder, tomato-and-kimchi direction with wide, air-dried noodles.
