Kurly, the Korean food company known for turning restaurant recipes into frozen meals, has launched Udon Kaden in the United States — bringing Seoul chef Jung Ho Young’s noodle dishes to American grocery shelves for the first time. The Kurly Udon Kaden launch includes two frozen udon varieties now available at select Korean grocers and online.
What’s Launching, and Where
According to the PR Newswire release, published August 22, 2026, the launch includes:
- Signature Udon: Fresh-frozen noodles in a warm kombu, anchovy, and smoked mackerel dashi broth topped with bonito flakes, ready in 8-9 minutes
- Chilled Udon: Cold noodles served with a concentrated dashi sauce and grated radish, no broth
- Retail availability: H Mart locations, Jagalchi, and Mega Mart, plus online at Kurlyglobal.com
- Launch event: In-store tastings August 22-23 at H Mart Buena Park, H Mart Irvine NorthPark, Jagalchi in Daly City, and Mega Mart in East Palo Alto, California
Udon Kaden is a Seoul noodle house owned by chef Jung Ho Young, who has run the restaurant in Seoul’s Yeonhui-dong neighborhood and on Jeju Island for nearly a decade. Chef Jung appeared on Netflix’s “Culinary Class Wars” Season 2 and trained at the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka. In Korea, the Signature Udon recipe has accumulated close to 20,000 customer reviews.
“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, in the release.
Is This Common?
Kurly has built its US strategy around licensing specific restaurant recipes rather than launching a generic house brand, following the same chef-collaboration model it has used since 2017 to introduce Korean restaurant dishes as frozen meals. Bringing a working chef’s exact recipe to American freezer aisles, backed by a real restaurant’s track record rather than a manufactured backstory, is the throughline across Kurly’s launches, and Udon Kaden fits that same pattern.
Update Log
- August 27, 2026: Article published, following the PR Newswire release published August 22, 2026.
