Working my way through my big backlog of Buldak (the bi-weekly Buldak big backlog binge, if you will) today’s review is one of the newer flavors that I teased a while back. This is Samyang Buldak Swicy Sweet & Spicy Ramen.
The Verdict:
| Product: | Samyang Buldak Swicy Sweet & Spicy Ramen |
| Origin: | South Korea (Export to the USA) |
| Noodle Quality: | 8/10 |
| Spice Level: | 3/10 |
| Overall Score: | 7.5/10 |
So “Swicy.” First off, I really hate this word. It’s like nails on a chalkboard to my brain for some reason. If it wasn’t obvious, it’s a portmanteau of the words “sweet” and “spicy,” which is what the flavor of this pack is going to be. I mentioned this flavor back in Episode 209 when I reviewed the Buldak Sweet flavor, and while the color and packaging on the Sweet bowl is very similar to this, they are different products. They’re not crazy different products, but they are different, and I’ll get to that part in the ingredient section below.
For now, let me just mention you can buy this flavor in a multipack or a bowl, whereas Sweet only seems to come in bowl form. It’s good that this comes in a pack because I was not a fan of Buldak bowl noodles; the pack noodles are generally far superior. I paid about $10 for a five-pack of these on Yami.com, and you can find them in Asian markets and grocery store chains all around the USA right now. These do appear to be exclusive to the American market, but that can always change if Samyang decides to export this to more regions.
Inside you’ve got your standard block of round Buldak noodles, a sauce packet, and a very interesting flake packet. The noodles are the same as you would find in many other Buldak products; they’re made from wheat flour, tapioca starch, and palm oil. The sauce has such ingredients as water, sugar, milk, cream, onion, soy sauce, red pepper, garlic, artificial chicken flavor, habanero pepper extract, and various spices. If you’re following along with my Buldak videos, you might say it sounds pretty identical to the Buldak Sweet sauce, so what’s the big difference with this flavor? Why differentiate “Swicy” as a separate product? It’s the flake packet. One of the weird things about Sweet was that the image on the lid showed a package of sprinkles that didn’t actually come with the bowl, which was kind of false advertising. There’s a little false advertising with this one too, also showing sprinkles; they’re not in here. But what is in here are sugar crystals and caramel flakes. This Swicy flavor is thoroughly embracing the sweet aspect of the sweet and spicy flavor instead of just throwing some cream and sugar into the sauce. This could be really disgusting, but at least it’s got the boldness to be something different than your usual Buldak, which I don’t think the Sweet flavor really was.
The sodium for this entire pack is 1,230mg. There’s also 9g of added sugar in here, which you could of course cut down by omitting the flake packet.
As expected, after cooking and assembling the aroma is pretty indistinguishable from the sauce in the Sweet flavor which itself, aside from the spice level, is not terribly different from the OG Buldak flavor. As far as the sprinkles packet, it doesn’t really smell like anything. I maybe thought the caramel might have a little bit of a nutty aroma, but no, it’s very muted. As I kind of expected would happen, the sugar crystals mostly dissolved and the caramel flakes mostly did not after stirring everything up.
Noodles:
These are thick, chewy Buldak noodles. One of the main things I love about the pack versions. Solid as always.
• 8/10
Spiciness:
This is practically the same sauce as the Sweet flavor; I think it’s only fair to score it the same. It’s incredibly mild by Buldak standards, easily tied for the mildest Buldak spice ever. But don’t take that to mean that it’s completely mild, because if you’re not used to spicy foods, this will kind of burn you. It’s just a light lip tingle, a light tongue burn, nothing like the more potent varieties.
• 3/10
Overall:
It’s a creamier, sweeter Buldak sauce than usual, but it still retains the savory elements that I’ve always loved about Buldak, which is that hit of salty umami and light smokiness that kind of goes along with the sweetness. The addition of the sugar crystals and the caramel flakes is what drives this way further into the sweet territory, but it honestly kind of works. Combining sweet and savory elements is pretty standard in a lot of Asian cooking, Korean included, and so while this is a bit sweeter than you might find in some “traditional” cuisine, the extra sweet elements here do complement the sauce because the sauce already has sweet elements.
While the sugar crystals just kind of melted into the sauce, the caramel flakes do add a little sweet, nutty extra layer that I really like. They even stay a little crunchy; they must have some kind of candy coating on them that keeps them from being totally gooey. If you do not like sweet flavors in your savory food, then this is going to be abhorrent to you, but I don’t mind a sweet and spicy combination, and even in this extreme example, I think it surprisingly succeeds. You can still put your usual Buldak toppings in here, like cheese, green onion, meat, tofu, fried egg, or whatever, and it would still work because it’s just a slightly sweeter version of the original sauce.
I think you need a certain level of adventurousness and of course a spice tolerance to appreciate this flavor, but I think those of you who enjoy sweet, savory, spicy food will like this one even though on paper it does seem pretty weird. The spice level is accessible, the noodles are excellent as always, and the flavor is a tightrope balancing act between the sugary and the umami. With this flavor widely available now, I don’t see any reason that Samyang needs to keep making the Sweet bowls at all since this flavor beats that flavor in every conceivable way. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sweet is already discontinued by the time you find this pack in your local store.
• 7.5/10
