A Guide to Korean Noodles: Grain, Temperature and Broth Explained

Choosing a noodle dish from a Korean menu usually comes down to three questions. What is the noodle made from, does it arrive cold, and is there broth? The name will not answer all three, and some names answer none of them. This guide takes the three axes apart.

At a glance

All 42 names render as Noodles
Every entry ending in 면 or 국수 carries "Noodle" in the official English.
The material is often not in the name
Naengmyeon is buckwheat, chik-naengmyeon arrowroot, milmyeon wheat.
Temperature and broth are separate axes
Cold with broth, cold without — both exist.
The price attaches to the bowl
Most noodle dishes are sold by the bowl, but check any minimum-order or shared-dish wording.

The ending is consistent; the grain is not

In the Korean Food Promotion Institute's official notation list, 42 entries have names ending in 면 or 국수, and all 42 carry the word Noodle in their English rendering. Read the last syllable and you know it is a noodle dish. That much is reliable.

What the name does not tell you is what the noodle was pulled from.

Korean	Romanised	Official English	The grain
물냉면	Mulnaengmyeon	Cold Buckwheat Noodles	buckwheat
칡냉면	Chingnaengmyeon	Cold Arrow Root Noodles	arrowroot
밀면	Milmyeon	Wheat Noodles	wheat
막국수	Makguksu	Buckwheat Noodles	buckwheat
올챙이국수	Olchaengiguksu	Tadpole Noodles	—

"Naengmyeon" does not mean buckwheat. Mul-naengmyeon, pyeongyang-naengmyeon and hamheung-naengmyeon are all rendered Buckwheat; chik-naengmyeon is Arrow Root. The same two syllables, a different plant.

Milmyeon runs the other way: its name is its material. It is made from wheat, and the official English is Wheat Noodles. What separates it from naengmyeon is not the temperature — both can be served cold — but the grain.

Boiled and rinsed naengmyeon noodles — the split is in the strand, not the name

SoHome Jacaranda Lilau (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Milmyeon — one of the few names that states its own grain

yangmin00 (Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0)

Kong-guksu — here the broth is the soybean

lazy fri13th (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

The English does not always record the temperature

There is a second place where a reader can be caught out. Being served cold does not reliably show up in the English name.

Makguksu is rendered Buckwheat Noodles — no "Cold". Set that beside mul-naengmyeon, which is Cold Buckwheat Noodles, and the two names treat the same piece of information differently.

And one English rendering can cover two dishes. Mul-naengmyeon and naeng-memil-guksu are both listed as Cold Buckwheat Noodles. Reading the English alone would merge two separate menu items.

So temperature is better checked on the menu in front of you than inferred from the name. A 냉 or a 물 in the Korean usually means the cold side, and onmyeon is exactly what it says — Warm Noodles.

Broth, or mixed

The third axis. The same grain at the same temperature still splits between noodles served in liquid and noodles tossed in sauce.

In broth — kalguksu's English rendering is literally Noodle Soup; janchi-guksu is Banquet Noodles and gogi-guksu is Pork Noodles.
Mixed — bibim-guksu is Spicy Noodles, jjolmyeon Spicy Chewy Noodles.
Where the broth is the ingredient — kong-guksu is Noodles in Cold Soybean Soup. The liquid is not an accompaniment; it is ground soybean.

Some restaurants carry both styles. Myeongdong Kyoja in Seoul lists kalguksu and bibim-guksu side by side, while Gukje Milmyeon in Busan prices its broth and mixed milmyeon the same.

If what the broth is made of is the question itself, Eight bowls, seven broths compares eight houses on exactly that axis.

Makguksu — buckwheat noodles under seasoning, in a shallow pool of broth

Junho Jung (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Gogi-guksu — noodles in pork broth, the Jeju bowl

신동혁 (Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0)

Janchi-guksu — fine wheat noodles in a clear broth

daecheonnet (Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0)

Regions have their own default bowl

The same category has a different default depending on the region. The examples below put a Busan milmyeon house, a Seoul pyeongyang-naengmyeon house and a Jeju gogi-guksu house side by side, to show what is worth checking before you order.

Busan — milmyeon. Gukje Milmyeon makes its broth from beef leg bone alone and charges the same for broth and mixed milmyeon. The two bowls Busan eats daily are covered in Milmyeon and dwaeji-gukbap.
Seoul — pyeongyang naengmyeon. Woo Lae Oak, open since 1946, is a pyeongyang-naengmyeon house known for a clear, light broth. The northern dishes as a group are in Seven houses from the north.
Jeju — gogi-guksu. Ollae Guksu Main Branch is a house for gogi-guksu, Jeju's regional pork noodle soup, serving thick-cut pork and medium noodles in a bone broth.
Seoul — kalguksu and sujebi. The rolled-and-cut side has its own piece: Six hand-cut noodle houses.

Some houses spell out the grain. Baegil Pyeongnaeng in Busan says its noodles are 80 per cent buckwheat, and the menu at Buda Myeonok in Haeundae has a line reading 순 메밀 냉면 — pure-buckwheat naengmyeon. Sanbang Sikdang in Seogwipo serves Jeju-style mil-naengmyeon made with anchovy broth and fresh wheat noodles, and that name carries both the grain (밀, wheat) and the temperature (냉, cold). Grains and ratios can change from house to house, so check the current menu before ordering.

Noodle houses to compare

A practical solo choice

Noodle dishes are commonly sold by the bowl, which often makes the price and portion easier to understand when dining alone. Still check for a minimum order, a shared set or wording that applies only when two or more people order.

The distinction between “one serving” and “one person may order” is explained in Eating alone in Korea. For choosing a first Korean meal, see choosing your first Korean meal.

What this guide does not say

The restaurants here are examples, not a ranking. They show how names, grains, temperature and broth can differ. Inclusion does not mean one house is better or more popular than another.

The notation list is not a menu. The table above sets out the Korean Food Promotion Institute's official foreign-language renderings. It does not mean restaurants use them. You will meet menus giving the same dish a different English name.

The grain can differ from house to house. A stated buckwheat percentage applies only to that menu and should not be carried over to another restaurant.

If you have a wheat or buckwheat allergy, this guide is not enough. The whole point of it is that the name does not reliably state the grain, so that has to be checked at the counter.

Frequently asked questions

Is all naengmyeon made from buckwheat?

No. In the Korean Food Promotion Institute's notation, mul-naengmyeon, pyeongyang-naengmyeon and hamheung-naengmyeon are all rendered Cold Buckwheat Noodles, but chik-naengmyeon is Cold Arrow Root Noodles. The same word covers two different plants.

What is the difference between milmyeon and naengmyeon?

The grain. Milmyeon's official English is Wheat Noodles; the naengmyeon family is generally rendered Buckwheat. Both can be served cold, so temperature is not what separates them — the material is.

Is makguksu a cold dish?

It is usually served cold, but its official English rendering is Buckwheat Noodles, with no "Cold" in it — unlike mul-naengmyeon, which is Cold Buckwheat Noodles. So the English name is not a reliable guide to temperature. Check the menu at the house.

Do two different dishes ever share one English name?

Yes. Mul-naengmyeon and naeng-memil-guksu are both listed as Cold Buckwheat Noodles in the notation list. Going by the English alone would merge two separate menu items.

What is the broth in kong-guksu?

Soybean. The official rendering is Noodles in Cold Soybean Soup — the liquid is ground soybean rather than a stock the noodles sit in, and it is served cold.

Are noodles a good choice when eating alone?

Often, yes. Noodle dishes are commonly priced by the bowl, but check for a minimum order, a shared set or a condition that applies when dining alone.

Where is gogi-guksu from?

Jeju. Gogi-guksu is a regional noodle dish commonly associated with the island; the official English rendering is Pork Noodles. Check the restaurant's menu for its broth and toppings.