If you have an iPhone (lucky!) and you have firmware version 1.1.3 or up (lucky!), you can now add the ramen blog to your home screen (lucky!) for quick & easy one-touch access to your favorite source for all things ramen (lucky lucky!).
Agh!! Get it off of me! Getitoffofme! — oh, sorry… Ahem…this is the kind of instant noodles that gives people nightmares. In the interest of saying something useful besides just warning people from this travesty, I find it interesting that, even though technically ramen “started” from China, then evolved into the Japanese version we’re all familiar with today, I’ve yet to find any Chinese instant ramen that tastes nearly as good as the Japanese version. Sure, there are plenty of great Chinese noodle dishes, and plenty of really good instant Chinese noodles, but forget trying to find a good Chinese version of the Japanese version of Chinese noodles. If any of that didn’t make sense, blame this ramen.
The crowning achievement of this bowl ramen is the noodles, which are slightly thin, very reminiscent of Chinese instant noodles, and thoroughly mediocre. The toppings include corn, tiny pieces of sour, soggy bamboo, seaweed, and some unidentifiable mystery veggie bits.
The soup seasoning contains salt, MSG, and soy sauce powder, and the garnish includes sugar and caramel. Yes, the label says the garnish contains sugar and caramel. And for what it’s worth, the soup stock is chicken, not pork. So what does this concoction taste like? Have you ever had vinegar ramen? Really? Ok, no, there’s no such thing. I just made it up. But even if there were such a thing as vinegar ramen, I’m pretty sure the soup would taste better than this vile sour and vinegary witch’s brew. King Car gets a 3. The only reason it doesn’t get a 1 is because I think I could imagine eating this again if I was literally starving to death. Well…maybe…
Korea seems to be having a lot of problems with ramen recently. On one hand, Korea Beat is reporting that some Korean schools are banning ramen in the fight against childhood obesity and malnutrition. But then again, the Chosun Ilbo Korean newspaper reported that people are panic-buying ramen in bulk because of rising prices. Just about every food product is suffering from higher prices, and ramen is no exception. Prices for flour and other ingredient have skyrocketed recently.
But still…is it really necessary to stockpile and/or ban instant ramen? What do you think?
Share This
More Hello Kitty ramen madness. But I gotta say, I’ve never seen “ogre ramen-making kitty” before!
As in NYC, ramen in Vancouver seems to be experiencing somewhat of a renaissance. Either that, or there’s not a lot of news happening in Canada lately.
Seattlites, don’t feel left out. Here’s a radio interview with the owner of Boom Noodle (yes, that’s Noodle singular).
Kids might enjoy this simple little ramen game. If you’re over the age of 6, though, this might interest you for all of 3 minutes or so. I suffered through 10 minutes of this to report to you that it’s just. more. of. the. same.
Another day, another “ramen battle” in Japan–waitasec…did that article say horse meat ramen!?!
It’s the 50th anniversary of Nissin’s Chicken Ramen! They’ll be releasing special flavors in 7 countries including the U.S.! Has anyone seen the U.S. onion flavor yet?
Share This
The wife is away, so let there be ramen! It seems like I can’t go wrong with instant tonkotsu ramen, so I was eager to try this cup ramen. The ramen comes with a few bits of seaweed, a sprinkling of sesame seeds, plenty of green onions, and a few pieces of pickled ginger to balance out the flavor. Since it’s a tonkotsu ramen, it has the typical thin, hard noodles that are nice and chewy. The noodles held the thick broth well but were mostly adequate. The soup smelled great! Unfortunately, it was a bit of a letdown. The tonkotsu broth starts off with a rich, thick flavor. After a few more slurps, though, it becomes a bit one-dimensional, and very MSG-y. There isn’t much of a full-bodied porkiness to the soup, and after a while, the MSG starts to beat mercilessly on your taste buds. It’s not as bad as it sounds, but you’ll probably be really thirsty afterwards. There are much better tonkotsu bowl/cup ramen out there, and the small portion doesn’t help either, unless you’re just looking for a light snack. This cup ramen gets a decent 6.
Start your infant’s life of ramen happiness right, with this pair of baby booties, made from recycled shrimp ramen packaging.
Interested in non-Japanese versions of ramen? Here’s the low-down on 7 types of Korean ramyeon.
According to a recent survey, what is the #1 thing Japanese men would wait in line for? Why, ramen, of course. (It’s even #2 on the women’s list!)
Convinced that instant ramen is bad for you?, Here’s one person’s defense of instant ramen.
Best title for a ramen post ever: Ramen Noodles: The International Symbol of Struggle.
Ramen in the news: Top 7 restaurants for big portions in Southern California, Chicago Restaurant focuses on Japanese soup
UK ramen chain Wagamama is expanding their ramen empire…in Turkey of all places!
Share This
