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.

#755: Meet The Manufacturer: Nongshim Japanese Style Udon Noodle Soup (Bowl)

Haven’t tried this one before, although seen it a few times at the store. Udon is a wider gauge noodle and usually when mentioned so prominently is of the fresh variety. Fresh in a non-refrigerated? You’ll understand in a minute.

Here’s a close up of the ingredients, nutritional info and directions.

Here’s what I’m talking about when I mention fresh noodles. These are not dry, although they’re not wet. They’re in a sealed bag.

Here’s the liquid soup base.

Has a nice and strong soy flavor.

Here’s the veggie packet.

This looks like a lively little assortment!

Finished. I added two pieces of narutomaki (bet you can spot them). The noodles are your standard fresh udon I’ve sampled before – nice and chewy and wide. Good stuff. The broth is excellent – salty, lots of soy flavor and a nice seafood taste. The flake pack was great in this one – little pieces of kamaboko, tempura and seaweed. All in all a nice dish I rather liked. 4.25 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 031146156917 – get it here.

Apparently there’s some kind of contest involving KPop band B2ST? Well, here’s one of the videos people have submitted.

Here’s another one.

 

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!