The noodle for this pack is actually pretty interesting. Instead of the standard ramen noodles you get, these are flat wide noodles. They’re really soft, but you have to make sure to let it heat for long enough.
The seasoning feels slightly heartier but is still pretty salty and similar to the chicken flavoring you’d find in your common ramen.
There’s a few bits of chives and meat type substance. It doesn’t really add much, there’s a slight change in texture when you bite into the meat type thing, but it doesn’t really do much for it.
Either way, the noodles pretty good, and able to make it interesting enough. Honestly, it does remind me a bit of being back in Vietnam. Although it’s nothing like the actual Pho I Had in Vietnam, I guess it’s the closest I’ve gotten from a packet of instant noodles. Close enough is good enough for me. It’s either this or fly to Vietnam to buy the Pho. Or I guess I could go to the Vietnamese restaurant down the block. but either of those options mean that I would have to actually talk to somebody. Some days I just don’t want to interact with anybody and would prefer to enjoy my cheap instant (3 minute) Pho noodles alone.
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.
I’m not sure why 까르보 is written also, but I guess to emphasize there’s a lot of carbohydrates?
Samyang is a Korean brand that makes cup noodles, and everything I’ve had by them has been really good, although sometimes too spicy. This one’s interesting, with the pink packaging, and it also shows a block of cheese on it. I’m not a big fan of cheese, but I trust the brand enough to try it out.
The instructions are to open the lid halfway, remove the sauce and cheese powder packets, add hot water and recover it, let it sit four minutes, pour out the water, then add the packets and stir. Make sure not to spill the noodles into your sink when you pour out the water. For my first time, I use all of both packets, for some of their noodles, if I’m familiar with them, I won’t use the whole spice packet if it’s too intense or if I’m going to be adding some of my own additional condiments.
Pour the cheese powder and spicy sauce in then stir it up. When mixing at first it sticks a little bit then you have to keep stirring it more.
Upon the first couple of bites, I definitely notice that it’s very peppery and I get hiccups right away, but it goes away after a couple of sips from my beer. It’s not as spicy as some of the other ramen I’ve had from the brand, but it’s definitely a little spicy and stings my lips.
It’s got a little bit of a cheesy pasta taste but the cheese isn’t overwhelming. It’s savory, but not too salty. The noodles have a creamy texture but isn’t actually too saucy; the sauce doesn’t drench the noodles. It’s supposed to be a pasta carbonara, it doesn’t taste quite like Italian pasta, but a hint of Italian, but more so korean.
Since it’s pretty spicy and slimy I notice that I’m swallowing it pretty quickly without chewing very much. It helps with the spice since the noodles aren’t lingering in my mouth very long, but it’s probably not good for my stomach digestion.
It’s definitely not vegan and has milk and egg products. It says that it contains ‘chicken flavor’ which I’m not quite sure if it’s chicken, or if vegetarians are allowed to eat.
I bought it at the 7/11 and it cost 15 Hong Kong dollars, which is $1.91 USD.
I have to say, it was pretty good. I’ve only recently started trying the ramen they make that doesn’t have soup and instead is just mixed with sauce, and they’ve all been pretty good. I’ll probably buy it again at some point, but I actually bought two packages, so I ate the second one right afterwards.
