Origins
Nongshim's Ansungtangmyun is a broth-based instant noodle launched in September 1983 — three years before the company's now-iconic Shin Ramyun. It was Ansungtangmyun, not Shin Ramyun, that first propelled Nongshim to the top of South Korea's fiercely competitive instant-noodle market. The product takes its name from the Nongshim factory in Anseong, a city in Gyeonggi province, which is dedicated to seasoning-powder production.
The Story
In the early 1980s, the South Korean instant-noodle market was firmly in the grip of Samyang Foods, the industry's founding giant. While Samyang focused its energies on the texture and quality of its noodles, Nongshim chose a different battleground: the broth. Its product team developed a soup base combining beef-bone stock with fermented soybean paste (doenjang) and chilli powder, evoking the hearty, mildly spicy flavour of ugeojijeongol — a traditional Korean stew of dried cabbage leaves in a rich, savoury broth. The gamble paid off with striking speed. Within three months of launch, the product had become a hit.
The results in market-share data were unambiguous. By March 1985 — just eighteen months after launch — Ansungtangmyun had captured 40.4% of the market, enough to push Nongshim past Samyang into first place for the first time. By 1987, four years after its debut, the product was generating annual revenues of 44.2 billion won. As late as 1990, it remained the country's top-selling instant noodle with a 15.5% share, still ahead of Shin Ramyun (14.0%) and the cup-noodle product Yukgaejang Sabal-myun (6.9%). Samyang responded to the original threat by rushing out regional rivals — Seoul Tangmyun, Yeongnam Tangmyun and Honam Tangmyun — but none gained traction, and all were eventually discontinued.
A television campaign fronted by the actress Kang Bu-ja, with the slogan "A perfect fit for my palate" (a Korean pun on the word "Anseong," which sounds like the expression for "just right"), lodged the brand firmly in the public consciousness. The product retains an unusually devoted regional following to this day, particularly in the Gyeongsang provinces of south-east Korea, where it is regarded as something close to comfort food.
Forty-two years on, Ansungtangmyun remains a steady seller. In 2023, to mark its 40th anniversary, Nongshim introduced Soonhagun Ansungtangmyun — a heat-free variant that omits chilli powder entirely, registering zero on the Scoville scale. Built on a doenjang and chicken-stock base, the new product is designed to broaden the brand's appeal to consumers who find spicy food difficult.
Tasting Notes
Ansungtangmyun's broth blends a doenjang base with beef and bone stock, sharpened with a moderate measure of chilli powder. The first impression is savoury and slightly thick; the heat is understated, playing a supporting role to a deeper, fermented-paste character reminiscent of a home-cooked Korean soup. It lacks Shin Ramyun's assertive, frontal spice, and has none of the smoky, wok-fire intensity of Nongshim's Jinjjambbong. What it offers instead is a quieter satisfaction — a broth one can return to repeatedly without fatigue.
The noodles are a minor curiosity in their own right. Unlike the round noodle cakes found across most of Nongshim's product range, Ansungtangmyun uses a square-block format. The strands are thin, lending a light, almost crisp texture that consumers rate as easy to eat. It is one of the few Korean instant noodles with a meaningful following among those who eat the bricks raw and uncooked — a habit directly related to the noodles' particular texture. The flip side is that the broth lacks the bold, defined personality of more assertive rivals; those seeking a powerful first impression may find it underwhelming.
Verdict
Ansungtangmyun has often been described as a "blank canvas" noodle — versatile enough to absorb almost any additional ingredient without losing coherence. That adaptability is perhaps its most durable quality. The drawback is that a product defined by quiet dependability rather than dramatic character is an awkward fit for a market increasingly dominated by premium, intensely flavoured offerings. Ansungtangmyun's place in Nongshim's corporate history is secure: it is, after all, the original broth noodle that made the company what it is. Whether that founding narrative carries much weight with younger consumers is quite another question.
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)
In a word: "Never spectacular — but present on Korean tables for 42 years."