#910: Paldo Namja Ramyun King Cup

Here’s a new one from Paldo not yet available in the USA – Namja cup! Namja translates to Man’s or Guy’s – gender-specific noodles – that’s something new! I think would like to know about the ladies’ ramyun and what that would be… Anyways, let’s give this new one from Paldo a gander.

Here’s the side panels (click to enlarge).

Here’s the noodle block.

The powder seasoning packet.

The spicy powder!

Chili infused oil?

Looks like chili oil.

Looks like kamaboko, beef and chicken amongst the veggies.

Finished (click to enlarge). Added kimchi, processed cheese, sweet onion and some Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake. The noodles are pretty good – what you’d expect in a king cup from Paldo. The broth is very good – it has a nicely concocted meat flavor for a second and then a serious wave of heat! I’m enjoying it right now and it is really quite hot. The oil packet is a real plus in this one as it gives the broth a nice extra heartiness. The little bits and pieces of meat and kamaboko and veggies were decent – especially the meat – liked that a lot. A very nice bowl of noodles – 4.25 out of 5.0 stars. Paldo is having a ‘Happy Promotion’ – check it out here.UPC bar code 8809296881261 .

Namja ramyun TV spot.

From the interview with Paldo I did earlier this year:

TRR> What does the name ‘Paldo’ mean?

PALDO> The word “Pal” means number 8 in Korean and “Do” means Province. If North Korea and South Korea combines together, there are 8 Provinces. Our philosophy is that we as Korean wishes to be united in someday. Even though Korea has separated into North and South after the Korean war, people from 8 provinces are still in Paldo.

#907: Nongshim Neoguri Spicy Seafood Flavor Cup

Here’s something new – Neoguri Spicy in a cup! Kind of interesting; Neoguri usually has a wider Udon-like noodle and I don’t know that I’ve seen anything like that in a cup form before. Well, let’s have a look.

Here are the side panels (click to enlarge).

Close up of the lid with preparation instructions.

Sure enough, the noodles are much wider than what you’d find in a regular cup noodle..

Here’s the seasoning packet.

The spicy powder base.

Bits from the bottom of the cup. Looks like kamaboko and seaweed amongst other things of the sea.

A piece of thick seaweed.

Finished (click to enlarge). Added some onions, kamaboko, odeng kimchi, a slice of processed cheese and a little sprinkle of Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake. The noodles are great – they are nice and wide and very hearty. Must say I’ve never seen noodles like these in a cup – unique! The broth is nice – a deep and rich seafood taste and a nice trademark spiciness. The added bits of kamaboko and nori are festive and the big chunk of kelp is very nice too. I grew up in a small town on an island in northwest Washington state and always was close to the ocean – the kelp reminds me of that. All in all a good cup of noodles! 4.0 out of 5.0 stars.UPC bar code 031146017072 .

Here’s a Neoguri commercial for ya!

I challenge this guy, PSY, to a Shin cup eating competition! Oppan Gangnam Style, meet Spicy Ramyun Style!

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.

#684: Dragonfly Instant Noodles Artificial Seafood Flavor

I’ve been waiting a while to have some things in first before trying this one. I wanted to have some seafood to add to it or something interesting. Well, I had two something interestings to add to it, so let’s check this one out!

Here’s the back of the packaging.

As of this point, Dragonfly’s noodles have never failed to satisfy. Anice texture and gauge – really very nice.

Here’s the powdered seasoning packet.

This is the packet contents. For my birthday, my wife, son and I went to Seattle to Uwajimaya and found these little bowls. Well, I’m sure they’re sake cups but I needed something like a glass/ceramic pinch bowl for showing packet contents – and these are perfect!

Here’s the vegetable packet.

A nice amount of veggies here.

Finally, some seasoned oil.

It’s funny – the ingredients of this packet mention nothing about fish at all but it has a strong seafood scent!

My son and I shared noodles today and we tried a couple of ingredients I added to this one – Kamaboko and Naruto – I did a post about it here if you’d like to check it out!

Finished. As I mentioned, I added kamaboko, naruto and an egg. I also added one piece of sushinori (seaweed). This was a pretty good bowl of noodles. I really liked the noodles themselves – same as always. The broth though was a bit lighter in flavor than I expected. Dragonfly’s stuff is usually quite flavorful but this was a tad  less so. The veggies were nice – carrot bits were crisp as usual. All in all, quite good. 3.75 out of 5.0 stars. UPC barcode 721557450932 – get some here.

Part 2 of the Sagan series – thanks again to taintedbloop!

Amazing old school computer room from 1983!

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!