Category: Ramen

Two different Korean ramen collaborations today. Both were also sold in the USA and Australia, so if they sound appealing check your local stores.

Aespa is a K-Pop band that earlier this year did a promotion with the Korean company Nongshim to promote their instant ramen brand Shin Ramyun. Above is a cup ramen we purchased recently in NYC, in the ‘creamy spicy’ flavour.

It came with noodles and two packets of powder, one of which was obviously spicy. Since I’m mortally weak to spice, this was to be a KLS-only taste test.

She tried it, and her review is: “As creamy and smooth as NingNing’s voice. It was pretty good!”

NingNing (who neither myself nor KLS had heard of until a few minutes ago) is a member of Aespa and the above photo shows a double-sided photocard of her which was printed to promote this ramen collaboration.

We only purchased a single cup ramen but it turns out some four-packs of the brick version include these photocards! I’m no fan of Aespa (or this ramen) but I’m going to keep my eyes open for one of these packs next time I see it in a store…

The above is another Nongshim collaboration ramen, this time with K-Pop Demon Hunters. This is the USA version of the product, and we bought the only meatless one – ‘Superstar’ flavour – featuring the character Rumi on the packaging.

It looked like every other ramen when opened, with the exception of (only) four tiny stars that were included. The packaging suggests a deep red creamy broth but once prepared it was clear and didn’t stick to the noodles at all.

Since the packaging said it was spicy I once again chickened out and let KLS review it, and her verdict is: “It was surprisingly bland but the stars were nice and chewy!”

Once again it seems I purchased the wrong format of this product, since certain versions of the 5-pack of brick ramen come with collectible stickers! They’re small and cute and there’s forty different ones. Since they’re the perfect size for a postcard I guess I’ll be looking for these as well 🙂

If you’re wondering about the absence of chicken ramen on this blog it’s because finding new versions has become almost impossible. Do not despair, since my search never wanes and I’m confident the series will return one day!

Six months ago I wrote these words to end the last installment of this series: “I hope it’s not another six months until the next installment” 🙂

As it turns out I miscalculated, and in a mysterious turn of events this entry will be the biggest yet!

Myojo (460 Calories, 10g fat, 2100 mg sodium)

See those tiny pieces of dehydrated seaweed? Once reconstituted they unfolded into large sheets. This gave this entire product an unpleasant taste of seaweed, and it was chicken in name only.

Furthermore despite following the instructions to the letter, the noodles don’t seem to cook completely. It was like eating rubber bands (that tasted of the ocean) and of course this meant it was terrible. An easy 0 out of 10.

Lucky Me (250 Calories, 10 g fat, 1400 mg sodium)

I’ll keep this short: bland noodles in tasteless cloudy broth so inoffensively underflavoured you may as well not be eating anything. Lucky? Hardly! (0/10)

Cup Noodles Rich & Savory Chicken (320 Calories, 12 g fat, 1480 mg sodium)

The kings of chicken ramen return with a new product that rode the earliest waves of ‘protein’ being cool. Nissin created instant ramen, and I’ve always found their chicken to be a product I’d enjoy if I couldn’t find others (like Gefen).

But this protein variant – which contains bone broth – changes the flavour too much. It’s strong and earthy in a way I’m not a fan of, and doesn’t taste at all like chicken ramen. And I should know: I’ve tried more than 85 of them.

But I’ll concede this isn’t a bad product, and for some (like my dad who preferred beef soup) this is probably good. Not for me.

Hello Pho Wok Chicken (300 Calories, 7 g fat, 1070 mg sodium)

This is pho, which means glassy noodles, and it came with two packets of spice and one of greasy fat. I was a bit hesitant about the latter, but felt better when it quickly melted once I poured the hot water in.

As for the taste… it’s the best of today’s batch. But the noodles were slimy, and dragged the overall experience down. Had I mixed these flavour packs with a different noodle this could even have been good. I’d say it averages to 5/10.

‘Artificial Chicken Soup’ (470 Calories, 14 g fat, 2300 mg sodium)

I don’t know the brand, and it’s not written anywhere in English, but on the side is proclaims ‘A yummy soup’.

If the ‘sauce packet’ in the previous was big, this one was titanic! And it was very thick: both looking and smelling like vegemite. And it didn’t melt easily; I had to stir the noodles a lot to be sure it mixed throughout.

As it turns out I should hardly have bothered, since this had a strong taste of geosmin. This was one of the very worst ‘chicken’ ramen I’ve ever tasted, and I had to go on a quick sugar bender to reset my polluted tastebuds. Without a doubt, this one scores -10/10!

As you see I found (and tried) five new examples these past six months. Just when I think I’ve plumbed the depths of this topic it keeps delivering! How long until the next update? Who knows!?