Chicken Naengmyeon: Korean Cold Noodles Inspired by a Seoul Heatwave

When I first arrived in South Korea for my exchange semester, everything felt new. The city, the language, the food, and even the heat.

A few days after arriving in Seoul, a group of newly made friends and I were wandering through the city looking for something to eat. It was one of those summer days where the heat rises from the pavement and your shoes feel like they’re sticking to the ground with every step.

As we walked down a busy street, one of my friends suddenly pointed at a sign outside a restaurant.

“Cold noodles here!”

A few minutes later we found ourselves seated inside a traditional naengmyeon restaurant. Before we had even ordered, the owner proudly told us about the celebrities who had eaten there over the years. Then came a warning that I still remember today.

The noodles, he explained, were extremely chewy. So chewy, in fact, that over the years several famous Koreans had reportedly choked while eating naengmyeon.

Seeing the concern on the faces of a group of foreign students who had only just arrived in the country, he quickly added a reassuring note:

“None of them died in my restaurant.”

With that comforting thought in mind, we ordered.

Fortunately, I survived the experience. Then again, I wasn’t a famous Korean celebrity, which apparently reduced the risk considerably.

What I did discover that day was one of the most refreshing dishes imaginable during a Korean summer. Ice-cold broth, chewy noodles, crisp vegetables, and a balance of flavors that somehow manages to cool you down even when the city feels like an oven.

Years later, during another hot summer day, I found myself thinking back to that first bowl in Seoul. With two leftover chicken carcasses in the fridge and temperatures climbing again, I decided to recreate the dish at home. This version swaps the traditional beef broth for a homemade chicken stock and uses quick-pickled radishes, but it captures the same spirit that made me fall in love with naengmyeon all those years ago.