Kurly, the premium Korean food company, is expanding its chef-driven frozen meal collection in the US with the retail launch of two frozen udon dishes from Udon Kaden, the Seoul noodle restaurant founded by chef Jung Ho Young.
The launch adds Signature Udon and Chilled Udon to Kurly’s growing portfolio of chef-restaurant frozen meals in the US. The products are designed to recreate two of Udon Kaden’s best-known dishes at home: a hot udon served in a clear, deeply savory dashi and a chilled, no-broth version.
Jung is among Korea’s best-known chefs specializing in Japanese cuisine, with television appearances on Netflix’s “Culinary Class Wars” Season 2 and the long-running “Chef & My Fridge.” After working at Japanese restaurants in Korea, he trained at the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka before opening the izakaya Kaden and later Udon Kaden. He has more than 20 years of experience cooking Japanese food.
Udon Kaden has built a following around its springy, chewy noodles and a broth made with kombu, anchovy and smoked mackerel flakes. The restaurant has attracted customers in Seoul for nearly a decade and now operates locations in the city’s Yeonhui-dong neighborhood and on Jeju Island.
Signature Udon combines fresh-frozen udon noodles with a broth modeled on the restaurant’s dashi and finished with bonito flakes. The noodles cook in 8 to 9 minutes, while the broth takes 1 to 2 minutes to heat separately. Chilled Udon offers a different take, pairing cold noodles with a concentrated dashi-based sauce, grated radish and toppings for a denser umami flavor.
The products have already gained traction in Korea, where they were first launched through Kurly’s marketplace. Signature Udon, sold there as Original Udon, has accumulated nearly 20,000 customer reviews, while the Udon Kaden line’s combined product page has more than 50,000 reviews.
The US launch builds on Kurly’s strategy in Korea, where the company has worked directly with chefs and restaurants since 2017 to translate signature dishes into frozen meals. Kurly USA has previously introduced Mokran, the Chinese-cuisine brand of chef Lee Yeon Bok, and is expanding its collection with Udon Kaden and Yun Seoul, from chef Kim Do Yun.
To support the launch, Jung will host in-store tastings across California on Aug. 22 and 23. The events will take place in Southern California at H Mart Buena Park and H Mart Irvine NorthPark, and in Northern California at Jagalchi in Daly City and Mega Mart in East Palo Alto.
“Udon Kaden is a defining example of what we do: a chef’s recipe and a restaurant’s identity, thoughtfully recreated as a frozen meal,” said Ryan Chung, Head of Global Business at Kurly. “Starting with Asian grocery retailers, we will keep widening the places where American consumers can bring Korea’s chefs and restaurant brands into their everyday cooking.”
Find out more at: https://www.kurlyglobal.com