Re-Review: Nissin Demae Ramen Black Garlic Oil Tonkortsu Flavour Instant Noodle

Since I don’t have a huge amount of noodles that haven’t been reviewed yet (around 8 at the moment and I could go through those in four or five says possibly), I’ve decided I should hit the overstock box and see what’s in there. My wife Kit got me a five pack of these for my birthday back in March and so I figure I should eat ’em up! Here’s the original review – look there for the original pics I did of the packaging, packets, etcetera.

Finished (click image to enlarge). I added thin-sliced rib eye, an egg, green onion, Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake and kizami shoga (pickled ginger). The noodles are nicely done – just what you expect from Demae Ramen. The broth was excellent – not too salty and had a rich, deep flavor. I stand by my 4.5/5.0 star rating from before – great stuff! UPC bar code 4897878830015.

The Hong Kong commercial for this stuff!

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.

Re-Review: Nissin Demae Ramen 出前一丁 Artificial Chicken Flavor (Hong Kong)

My son Andy, my wife Kit and I walked to the local 99 Ranch Market on Friday. He decided he needed more kamaboko and wanted to pick out some ramen himself to try. Here’s one he picked (he likes all things chicken flavored) and will get to try today. He’s letting me have a bite and a slurp of broth for making it for him.

Here’s the back of the package. Note that it mentioned adding the soup base and seasoning oil although I found no seasoning oil packet. I thought I’d look at the original review I did way back – ne’ery an oil packet there either(click to enlarge).

The noodle block – good size and weight to it. This would one I would consider a hefty brick.

The seasoning powder.

The soup base in all its glory.

Andy is a big fan of this stuff – he even wanted veggies! Not bad. Read his blog, Andy’s LEGO Stuff, here!

Finished. Andy requested some of the frozen stir-fry veggies and some of the kamaboko. Decent noodles – a little thinner and firmer than Top Ramen. The broth is a little stronger too – I would call it a slightly less Americanized flavor. Good stuff – Andy loved it! 3.5 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 4897878000036 – get it here.

Curry or shoyu? Curry – hands down! The Nissin Curry Demae Ramen is out of this world delicious.

This is a great one.

#702: Meet The Manufacturer – Nissin Demae Ramen Black Garlic Oil Tonkotsu Flavour Instant Noodle

My lovely wife got me this for my birthday! Ooh black garlic oil tonkotsu? I can’t wait to try this! Sounds awesome!

Note the instructions and ingredients.

This is the noodle block – in great condition despite shipping from Hong Kong!

Powder seasoning.

Note the little flecks in the powder.

Here’s the star of the show – black garlic oil!

This gets added at the very end.

Finished! I added a smattering of Bird’s Eye Stir-fry veggies, a little kamaboko, a little narutomaki, an egg that I boiled with the noodles, a little Ajishima Kim Chi furikake and a little bit of the Sushinori (seaweed). So if you look at the lower edge of the broth, you can see the black oil! Pretty cool looking. First, the noodles are very good – very much like the noodles Nissin makes for Top Ramen but just a little firmer I think. The broth is sensational – salty and has a nice depth to it – the garlic oil is very nice! This was a very good one – hard to get in the US but worth it if you can. 4.5 out of 5.0 stars!  UPC barcode 4897878830015

The Hong Kong commercial for this stuff!

The latest of the Kyary Pamlu Pamlu videos. If you know of other Japanese Pop (JPOP) or any other Asian videos that are a trip like this, please email me – I’d like to share more of them!

Our First Experience With Kamaboko & Narutomaki

I’ve seen many times mentions of Kamaboko and Naruto in ramen dishes and looked all over for them. This last Saturday we went to Uwajimaya and I found both! Hah! First, let’s check out Kamaboko. It’s surimi, which comes in many ways – for example, imitation crab is one form of surimi.

Here’s how it comes – on a little piece of wood! You slice it thinly and it can be eaten unheated since it’s steamed previously. It’s slightly rubbery and chewy – kind of like a cold-cut version of calamari. t has a very light flavor.

This is Naruto. There’s a popular anime character with the same name…

If you click on him, you’ll see a little spiral on his forehead…

Hey look – the same little spiral! So it’s like a log of fish that you slice thinly. It is a lot like the Kamaboko except not as chewy and has a more fishy flavor.

Today I had some noodles with my son. He had a bowl of Nissin Dmae Ramen – the sesame oil flavor.

He was very interested in trying the Naruto and Kamaboko! The fearless Andy didn’t question ‘what’ it was, but was very interested as it’s from Japan – he’s in a club at school called ‘Nakano Club’ – they’ll have visiting students soon from Nakano, Japan and so he’s interested in all things Japanese. He liked the Kamaboko a little more than me – was hoping for a bit more flavor, but it was nice. I liked the Naruto better than he did. It had a slightly fishier taste and was less chewy. He ate the whole bowl of noodles though with all the additions! Not bad!

#617: Nissin Demae Iccho Sesame Oil Chicken Flavour Instant Macaroni In Soup

Here’s another from the bottom of the hamper! My sister Sue got this one for me on a trip to Canada earlier this year. Looks like this’ll be the last noodle to be reviewed in 2011! But these aren’t your ordinary looking noodles, are they? Instant macaroni! Let’s try it!

Here’s the back of the package… They cook really quick – only three minutes!

Two packets: the sesame oil and the chicken flavoring! Nice!

Here are the curly little buggers now. They’re delicate and thin.

There’s the seasoning powder and the sesame oil.

Finished. I dropped an egg in too. The macaroni is very very light and thin – probably needs to be that way to cook in only three minutes. The broth and all around flavor is salty, sesame and chicken. Good stuff. I like it – 3.75 out of 5.0 stars.

If anyone ever would like to donate some Nissin Chikin ramen, that would be most awesome; there would be a mega review and history lesson.

Starting with this one, this guy has posted the entire first 24 hours of MTV from 1981. Pretty trippy stuff.