Fire Noodle fad led to ‘sold-out situation’ in some Singapore supermarkets

·Lifestyle Lead

27 July 2015 at 8:25 pm

Less than 10 packets of Samyang Fire Noodles left on the shelves of a Korean minimart in Parkway Parade. (Yahoo Singapore Photo)

There’s a new food fad in Singapore and it’s spreading like wildfire.

In the past six months at least, Singaporeans have been buying up South Korea’s extremely spicy Samyang Flaming Chicken Noodles (Buldalk Bokkeum Myeon), better known as Fire Noodles.

According to a Sheng Siong spokesperson, the noodles have been a hit among its customers since the supermarket chain started selling them in March this year.

There was even a “sold-out situation” at several branches in April, which lasted two to three weeks, the spokesperson told Yahoo Singapore.

For NTUC Fairprice, they first started selling the noodles over a year ago and have seen sales double in the last six months, said Senior Director (Purchasing & Merchandising), Mui-Kok Kah Wei.

Singaporeans have also gone to Korean minimarts in the country as well as major local supermarkets such as Cold Storage and Giant Hypermarket to buy them.

For the many spicy food lovers in Singapore, this is the instant noodle to be “burning” your tongues and lips with. And it’s all thanks to the Fire Noodle Challenge, which started in South Korea last year.

As part of this challenge, many spice-loving youngsters would video themselves trying to finish a bowl of these spicy noodles as fast as they can.

While some in Singapore may argue that the level of spiciness still doesn’t top that of a chili padi, we would still advise those who can’t take spicy food to stay clear.

Is it Halal?

There have been much discussion within the Malay/Muslim community -- many of them spice-lovers -- about whether the fire noodles are Halal or not.

The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) has not certified it as halal since the product is not manufactured in the country.

In January, however, Samyang Foods reportedly said they have "obtained a halal certificate for Buldalk Bokkeum Myeon (from the Korean Muslim Federation) in November last year and the company is making every effort to open up more markets to Muslim countries”.