Bunsik (Street Food)

Ramyeon & Rabokki

라면·라볶이 · ramyeon “instant noodles (from Japanese râmen)” + rabokki “blend of ra(myeon) + (tteok)bokki: ramyeon stir-fried with rice cakes”

Borrowed from Japanese râmen; in Korean the word means instant noodles.

Korean instant noodles in a spicy broth, or stir-fried with rice cakes as rabokki.

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Spice: Spicy
Format: Both
Beginner-friendly: 3/3

Editorial scale. Actual heat varies from one kitchen to another. Editorial assessment.

What it is

Korean ramyeon has little to do with Japanese ramen: these are fried-and-dried instant noodles cooked in minutes in a red broth from a seasoning sachet, almost always topped with an egg, spring onion or a slice of melted cheese. Rabokki is its cross with tteokbokki — the same noodles cooked in the sweet-spicy rice-cake sauce, with fish cake. Both are snack food, served at the bunsik counters and Korean cafés of Paris.

Ramyeon is eaten scalding hot, straight from the pot or bowl it cooked in; you slurp the noodles, then finish the broth with rice if you are still hungry. Rabokki is shared between two or three, like tteokbokki, with a gimbap to dip in the sauce.