농심 부대찌개
Looks to be a new ramen Nongshim has come out with. I’ve been a big fan of their other ramen. This one has a pretty good flavor to it even from the first bite. The noodles are what you’d expect from cup noodles, a standard consistency and flavor. There’s definitely some spice, but really mild compared to some of the other Nongshim ramen I’ve had. It’s got a sandwich meat flavor, more specifically, it tastes a lot like spam. I know some people don’t like spam, so if you don’t like spam, you probably won’t like this ramen. Although, I’m not sure if the people who dislike spam, if it’s the flavor or the texture that they don’t like. If you don’t like spam because of the texture, you may still like this one.
To cook it, you just need to add hot water and cover it for four minutes. The seasoning pouch needs to be poured on before adding the hot water to allow it to cook as well. There’s a few bits of kimchi, spam, and hot dog bits. They don’t add too much to the flavor, but mix up the texture a little.
I recognized the korean word Budae-jjigae from the packaging, but I couldn’t quite remember what it meant until I started eating it. Budae-jjigae is a Korean dish which means military stew. It was a dish commonly eaten after the Korean war, while the country was still impoverished. It consists of basic ingredients they were able to find on US military base, ham, hot dogs, spam, baked beans, kimchi, gochujang. Nowadays it’s become a comfort food and is still very popular, although they usually include more ingredients now such as rice cakes, instant noodles, tofu, mushrooms, and others.
As for this ramen, the soup broth is pretty decent and comparable to actual budae-jjigae I’ve had, but there’s just not enough other bits to really step it up. The tiny bits of kimchi and meat leaves you just kinda disappointed and it’d probably be better without it. It’s definitely a ramen that would upgrade substantially if you add a few of your own toppings in with it. Doesn’t have to be anything complicated, some whole kimchi, a hot dog. Although if you start adding more, it might be better just to make your own budae-jjigae.
Overall, I was pretty satisfied with it, and I’m glad it wasn’t too spicy compared to their other noodles. It’s not as flavorful as some of their other ones, but it’s still good. I’d probably order it again.