Seven-Eleven Ulleungdo Haejang-guk Ramen [Korean Food]

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Hello! Today’s new ramen is Harim’s Ulleungdo Spicy Haejang-guk Ramen, sold exclusively at Seven-Eleven. Ulleungdo (a Korean island) paired with haejang-guk — a hangover soup — isn’t an obvious combo. Unusually, they boosted the flavor with island-thistle powder from Ulleungdo. Thistle isn’t exactly an everyday ingredient, so I was curious how it would come across and bought it right away. Let’s take a look at what it’s like.

Table of Contents

📋 At a Glance

Product: Ulleungdo Spicy Haejang-guk Ramen (Harim)
Store: Seven-Eleven exclusive (made by Harim)
Price: 2,200 won (approx. $1.60 USD, on a 2-plus-1 promotion)
Weight: 110g
Calories: 455 kcal (sodium 77% of daily value)
Main components: Spicy haejang-guk cup ramen, Ulleungdo island-thistle powder, spicy add-in sachet, bok choy and green onion flakes
Verdict: ★4.0 — A well-executed spicy, refreshing, savory haejang-guk broth; the thistle presence is on the subtle side.

Ulleungdo Haejang-guk Ramen: Price and Highlights

This is a cup ramen sold only at Seven-Eleven. Seven-Eleven, which often releases new items riding overseas “loconomy” (local-plus-economy) trends, this time went with an unusual new product tied to Ulleungdo. The price is 2,200 won, and it’s currently on a 2-plus-1 event, so you can grab it feeling a bit cheaper.

The Ulleungdo tie-in is unusual on its own, but the fact that the ingredients include actual Ulleungdo thistle is even more so. It feels a little unfamiliar, but on Ulleungdo it’s apparently a dish with quiet demand in a haejang-guk style. It also happens to be thistle season. On top of that, it comes with a separate add-in sachet that lets you dial in the spiciness.

Perhaps to lean into the loconomy trend, it even includes an entry ticket for an Ulleungdo trip. It’s billed as a free trip voucher, though I didn’t enter myself. If you’re interested, it might be worth a shot.

This menu totals 110g at 455 kcal, with sodium at 77% of the daily value. The volume, calories, and sodium aren’t much different from other ramen. Microwave cooking is recommended, though you don’t fully remove the lid. At 1000W, it’s a 2-minute cook. The add-in sachet goes in and gets stirred after cooking.

Contents and Cooking

Let’s do a quick check of the contents and then get cooking. This menu has two parts: a powder soup and a spicy add-in sachet. The powder soup goes in while cooking, and the spicy sachet goes in afterward. The sachet is quite a lot on its own. The dried toppings sit at the bottom of the ramen.

Two Minutes in the Microwave, Heat to Taste

Now let’s cook it. First, open the lid to the marked line (I opened it a touch more for filming. Haha), add the powder soup, and pour in hot water. Then I cooked it for 2 minutes in a 1000W microwave.

Here’s how it looks after cooking. The broth is quietly bright red! I added just half the spicy sachet and stirred. Already a rich, savory, spicy haejang-guk aroma is rising up.

Here’s the look with the sachet in. Like other haejang-guk ramen I’ve had, the broth takes on a slightly deep red. Now I’m curious how ramen with Ulleungdo island-thistle powder will actually taste.

Ulleungdo Haejang-guk Ramen: The Taste

Now let’s dig right in. I’ve never been to Ulleungdo, so I looked it up: the local dish is said to be quietly spicy and refreshing, with a rich beef-and-rice-soup taste. As for Ulleungdo thistle — also called eogeongkku, water thistle, or island thistle — it has no spines and isn’t tough, so it’s quite soft and used in soups and namul dishes.

The Thistle Aroma and the Spicy Broth

Of course, there’s no actual thistle in this menu — it’s powder — so taste probably matters more than texture. On the first chopstickful, they clearly aimed for something similar: a slightly spicy feel and a refreshing broth did come through.

Introducing the loconomy-trend cup ramen

I was curious since it has thistle powder, but it wasn’t enough to linger in the broth and change the texture the way perilla powder does, and buried a bit under the haejang-guk flavor, the aroma didn’t come through very strongly.

Of course, if you sip the broth, a faint fernbrake-like aroma comes through very subtly. But it’s not wildly unfamiliar or unusual, so unless you go out of your way to taste for it, you barely notice it.

Faithful to the Haejang-guk Concept

Even so, the basic broth flavor was quite good. It’s a broth where the spicy, refreshing, and savory notes come through nicely, so it’s good alongside the noodles, and if you can, pouring in some rice felt quite nice too. It was quite faithful to the core concept of a haejang-guk.

Final Verdict

What about you? Personally, even setting aside the Ulleungdo thistle, among the haejang-guk ramen you often see at convenience stores, this one was quite well made. It also felt quite suitable as a stand-in when you urgently need to cure a hangover or crave a haejang-guk. If you’re curious, I’d recommend giving it a try. For readers abroad, it’s an easy way to try Korea’s spicy hangover-soup ramen from a convenience store.

For more on how Seven-Eleven and Harim launched this loconomy ramen with seasonal island thistle, you can read the (Korean source) Electronic Times (ET News) report.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How much is Seven-Eleven’s Ulleungdo Haejang-guk Ramen?

It’s 2,200 won. It’s currently on a 2-plus-1 promotion, so you can get it cheaper, and it’s 110g at 455 kcal.

Q. What’s in the Ulleungdo Haejang-guk Ramen?

It’s a cup ramen that reinterprets Ulleungdo-style hangover soup with Ulleungdo island-thistle powder. It has bok choy and green onion flakes, plus a separate spicy add-in sachet that lets you adjust the heat.

Q. How does the Ulleungdo Haejang-guk Ramen taste?

The broth is nicely spicy, refreshing, and savory — a well-executed haejang-guk. That said, the thistle aroma is subtle, buried under the soup flavor, so you won’t notice it strongly unless you’re looking for it.

Q. Is the Ulleungdo Haejang-guk Ramen worth trying?

Yes, among convenience-store haejang-guk ramen it’s quite well made and recommendable. At 2,200 won, it works well for a quick hangover fix or even with rice poured in.

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