Nissin keeps pumping out the instant noodles for global enjoyment. I'm a little behind on posting so here is one from a few months back. This time, I'm talking about a deluxe tonkotsu bowl ramen with dried, not fried noodles.
I have to say the packaging for cup noodles in Japan is pretty nice as you can see from the picture below. The nicer packaging is because the instant noodles can have a premium cachet that exists in Japan and not elsewhere much of the time. Instant noodles are not just a cheap food in Japan. If you've been to Japan you know that even their fast food is usually a cut above what you can get at home for quality and flavour which are really important to the Japanese. This competitiveness also applies to their instant noodles.
This Tonkotsu Wakayama style ramen shows a delightful picture of noodles in a rich looking soup. It is a pork and soy based soup with thin noodles that is so good that people line up in Wakayama for it. After having it, I'd say it is pretty good with a nice pork broth that wasn't too thick or thin. It was quite enjoyable and I kind of wish I had another. I got this one at Hobbylink, but this is probably a limited edition like so many things in Japan. So, look for the next limited edition if you can't get your hands on it.
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| Cup noodle for a size comparison against the noodle bowl. |
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| A closeup of the lid. The whole thing comes shrink wrapped and the bowl shape sure gives it the appeal of a real bowl of ramen. |
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| Some side details with ingredients and nutritional information. The side of the bowl is finished in a glossy printe so it looks like a really nice looking bowl even if it is Styrofoam. |
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| You get a lot of stuff in one of these deluxe noodle bowls. There is the powdered soup base in the black satchet. There is the tonkotsu/soy deep flavour liquid/paste satchet in the green, a piece of dried pork, and a satchet with dried veggies and fish stick. |
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| Another view of the ingredients. |
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| You can tell the noodles are air dried from how they look. |
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| I added the ingredients into the bowl and added boiling water for four minutes. |
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| The noodles rehydrated nicely along with the vegetables. You need to give it a good stir to make sure all of the flavours are mixed together. There was a nice pork and soy aroma coming off of the soup. |
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| Closeup of the noodles. Ingredients in this ramen inclused a slice of pork, bamboo shoots, green onion, and the flower shaped fish stick. All very nice and I quite enjoyed the flavour of the soup. It was nicely balanced with lots of flavour. The noodles had a nice firm chewy texture that you just don't get with the fried noodles. |
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| Here I am enjoying my noodle outside in the yard where I was watching my cat. |
Wakayama city in eastern Japan specializes in a mix of thinner shoyu broths from eastern Japan combined with thicker pork bone broths from western Japan. The city created a tasty fusion of both styles of ramen with thin noodles. In Japanese surveys, this style of ramen places highly on the tasty list. In fact, one Wakayama city family shop, Ide Shoten became nationally famous in 1998 when it placed as the most delicious ramen in Japan on TV Champion, in a high-profile new years day broadcast. New years is a big time in Japan and TVs are on in every home that day. A ramen boom was triggered in the city after this and even today there are long lines waiting to get into this restaurant.
More ramen noodle posts and Japanese pop culture.
