Samyang Buldalk Bokkeum Bap (Carbonara) — Special How-To Guide and Review
This is a very special review for today! While everyone knows that I normally do instant ramen reviews and how-to guides, I couldn’t resist the urge to review some other products by the South Korean ramen producer, Samyang. So for today’s special review, we’re going to take a look at Samyang Buldalk Bokkeum Bap (Carbonara). You’ll notice this is bap (rice) and not myeon (noodles)! I did do a quick search on both Amazon and the Samyang website to see if this was available outside of Korea and unfortunately it doesn’t look like it… You’ll have to find these in Korea or have your friends send you some. I’m going to do things a bit differently today by starting out with a how-to guide and then get into the review.
How to Prepare Samyang Buldalk Bokkeum Bap (Carbonara)
Step 1.) Open the lid and remove the plastic casing
Step 2.) Either place the plastic container directly into the microwave or place in bowl before placing in the microwave (like I did)
Step 3.) Cook for 3 1/2 minutes in a 700 watt microwave
Step 4.) Mix and Enjoy!
That’s it for how to prepare Samyang Buldalk Bokkeum Bap (Carbonara)! It was incredibly easy. I hope this quick section was helpful to someone who might have gotten a pack of this from a friend. Now, on to the review!
Samyang Buldalk Bokkeum Bap (Carbonara) Review
Flavor:
The same universally loved Buldalk flavor with only a hint of carbonara. I was excited to try this bowl of fried rice out, but was left a bit disappointed. Not too disappointed, but only a little. This carbonara fried rice is missing the delicious creaminess of its instant noodle sibling. It was a bit dry, which I was not expecting. Also, the carbonara flavoring was almost undetectable when compared to the instant noodles. There was no hint of cheese or the stringiness of cheese that you would expect from this bowl of fried rice. If Samyang incorporated some tiny blocks of cheese that would liquify upon being microwaved, this new addition would have been a spectacular win.
Spiciness:
Samyang Buldalk Bokkeum Myeon Carbonara is spicy and this fried rice version is no exception. The spiciness remains completely unaltered here. If you were looking for Buldalk flavor and wanted the same spiciness, you’ll experience the same pleasing release of endorphins with the fried rice version. This amount of spiciness if probably not for people with weak stomachs. I nearly broke a sweat eating this bowl of rice. The spiciness builds in your mouth and you can feel it in your brain and stomach when it hits. You’ll most likely pay for this one the following day.
Smell:
The odor given off by this delicious bowl of spicy chicken fried rice was mostly the Original Buldalk smell sprinkled with a few molecules of carbonara.
Texture:
We’re not talking about the texture of the noodles today, but the fried rice! I thought the texture of the rice was absolutely fantastic. The rice was a bit firmer, almost like biryani. Maybe that’s because it was cooked directly in the microwave and was a bit dry? Either way, I enjoyed it. It definitely wasn’t moist and soft like pre-packaged instant rice usually is.
Overall Impression:
So, so close! I actually really enjoyed this bowl of fried rice, despite it not having much creaminess or carbonara flavor. The spiciness was there and the fried rice with little pieces of chicken made a fantastic snack. Maybe if Samyang didn’t tell me this was the carbonara version and just slapped on the original Buldalk labelling, I wouldn’t have complained. I’ll have to pick up the Original Buldalk Bokkeum Bap for another review and make a comparison.
Do you think you would like this fried rice version better than the ramen? How would you spice up these cups of fried rice by Samyang? Let me know down in the comments!
If you’re interested in hearing more about instant ramen, check out my on-going series, Noodle Story: An Exploration of Korean Instant Noodles, here on Medium.
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