11.158 Pyongyang Mul Naeng Myeon

11.158

11 (Thu) June 2020

Pyongyang Mul Naeng Myeon

2.0

by me

at the cabin

-Changchon, Seowon, Hoengseong, Gangwon, Republic of Korea-

with the Family

Repatriation Quarantine (Day 11 of 14)

After living and working 6.5 years in the Philippines, we’re back in Korea, for good (for now).  We arrived on 1 June 2020.  As required by Korean regulations in response to Covid-19, we will spend 14 days under quarantine.  Fortunately, we have a family cabin, so it’ll be more like a long holiday, a well-deserved vacation.  Even if we didn’t have to quarantine, our new apartment will be empty until our stuff arrives from Manila, sometime towards the end of the month, so this is the most comfortable place for us to be (for now).

One great thing about being back is regaining ready access to my favorite food brand Pulmuone.  For some reason, it wasn’t commonly available in the Philippines.  Beyond their impeccably fresh basic ingredients (e.g., eggs, tofu, bean sprouts), I’m looking forward to trying out their latest quasi-instant products, which can be hit or miss, but always fun to try.

I was delighted to find a package of the brand’s Pyongyang Mul Naengmyeon in the fridge.  Courtesy of my mother, who is well aware that MNM is my favorite dish of all time.

The package came with 4 portions of noodles, which required 30 seconds of boiling, bags of soup, which I placed in the freezer until they got slushy, and sachets of mustard, which I mixed in with the soup.

I topped off each bowl with half of a perfectly boiled egg (2.365 Perfectly Boiled Eggs (with recipe)) and sliced radish and stems from baek (white) kimchi that was on hand.

Overall, the dish turned out okay, much improved from an earlier version that was featured on GMTD many years ago (4.174 Pyongyang Mul Naeng Myeon).  To be clear, it was nowhere near the real deal.  To be fair, as regular GMTD readers should know by now, only a handful of restaurants in existence can do a proper Pyongyang-style MNM.  Still, in contrast to other would-be instant MNM products, the noodles weren’t as rubbery and the soup wasn’t as sweet.

(See also PULMUONE)

(See also MUL NAENG MYEON)

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

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