#986: Paldo Jong-gah-jip Kimchi Ramen

Here’s one that was sent by Sungmin over at Paldo America – thank you! This is a new variety that just came out in South Korea. The name ‘Jong-gah-jip’ is of a well-known kimchi producer. Let’s give this a try!

Here’s the back of the package (click image to enlarge).

The noodle block.

The seasoning packet.

The powder is nice – salty and spicy, but not spicy in the extreme. Has a nice richness to it.

The vegetable packet.

A nice little variety.

We went to KS Mart yesterday. KS Mart is in the Lynnwood, Washington area on 172nd and 99.

It’s been a while since I’ve had any kimchi on hand, so it was time to get a jar! I’ve samples store-made varieties around this area and I would say my favorite’s made at KS Mart. Gotta put kimchi in kimchi ramyun, right?

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added kimchi, sweet onion, an egg and processed cheese. The noodles are your typical Paldo fare – nice amount and really tasty and wide. The broth is nice and rich with a strong flavor of gochujang and other seasonings. The veggies are good too. Good stuff! 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 8809296881537.

Here’s the rad Namja TV commercial!

Re- Review: emart Ramen e Ramen White Broth Noodle Soup

I reviewed this one a little while back – was review #787. Use this link to see everything about it. By the way, emart has informed me that they have a new product that just launched – should be here soon! Can’t wait to review it!

Finished (click to enlarge). Added sweet onion, green beans, processed cheese, odeng, kimchi and Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake. Still as good as I remember – good noodles, great spiciness and good mussel and veggies. 5.0 out of 5.0 stars – delicious! UPC bar code 8801045525068 – get it here.

Wow this is really awesome and inventive!

Here’s a guy’s tour of emart. I thought it was kind of funny how he complained that they didn’t have enough American food. I guess that’s what happens when you’re in a foreign country! Man, I would love to check this place out – looks amazingly fun!

Meet The Manufacturer: Paldo Interview

I’m very happy to announce that today begins Meet The Manufacturer Week: Paldo~ There will be many reviews and information about this great South Korean company. Here, we shall start with the interview. Enjoy!

THE RAMEN RATER> Thank you very much for agreeing to do this interview! Could we start off with some information about Paldo; when was Paldo founded, where and by who?

PALDO> Paldo was the Brand name of Korea Yakult Company in 1969. End of last year in 2011, it was separated from a brand name to a complete food manufacture company with our CEO, Choi, Jae-moon. We are still same company but, we are different in the management part.

TRR> For those of my readers who are not familiar with your line of products, could you tell us a little about them?

PALDO> Our Products are consisted of three big categories. 1.Noodles, 2.Beverages, 3.Retort processed products.
For Noodles, we have Bibim-men, Hwa Ramen, Kokomen Packet and Bowl noodles. Also, have Doshirak, and King Noodles.
For Beverages, we have Aloe Vera Drinks, Shikhye(Rice Drink), Soojeonggwa(Cinnamon Drink), Coffee, Pororo(Kid’s Drink).
For Retort Processed Products, we have Soy Bean Broth, Cold Noodle, and other Snacks.

TRR> How did you come to the ‘Fun & Yum’ motto? What’s it all about?

PALDO> Fun & Yum is changing this world happier with different color of the taste. It contains our challenge and philosophy. Also, ”Yum” pronunciation in Korean also represents the sound of delicious eating sound.

TRR> After a very long wait, Kokomen has just been released in the United States. Could you tell us about Kokomen and how it came into existence and what makes it special?

PALDO> Usually New Ramen comes out from existing similar types. For instance, Jjajang, Jjambbong, Yuk-gye-jang, Cold Noodle, Kissmyon, Nagasaki Jjambbong Etc. But, Kokomen is very unique and prototype of all recipes. Kokomen was introduced through a Cooking Contest and food critics and people were amazed by the taste of it. Paldo took this recipe and developed to a total brand new product to our consumers.

TRR> When did you decide to the the United States, and why in California?

PALDO> Paldo’s America’s office was established October of 2010. California located at the major ports in the west coast. For Paldo’s Products to come-in, From this location, we will expand to Mid-west and east coast in near future.

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. As unique people work in Paldo, also provide unique and the best quality products nationwide and furthermore internationally. The logo of Paldo represents our customer’s excited moments of our products expectations and pleasures as our customers open our products. Paldo creates remarkable tastes through our times to our customers’ satisfaction. Our logo’s red color represents “passion of our quality” and the color green represents “nature and health”. In addition, “Pal-Do” could mean, “Friends(Pal), let’s become Friends”

TRR> Is Paldo involved in the local community around you?

PALDO> We are yet involved in the local communities, but we are planning on a significant contribution in near future. From last year, we started a little support to a charity foundation near New York.

TRR> How many packs, cups and bowls of instant noodles do you make in a year?

PALDO> We produced 343,773,000 in sales counts in the year 2011. In the year of 2012, we expect more than 446,905,000 in sales. Our prediction is about 130% sales growth compare to the last year.

TRR> Are there any new products that will be coming out soon that you could tell us about?

PALDO> We are planning to introduce “Kokomen Jumbo Cup and Small Cup”, Namja Ramen(Pack/King/Small), Rabbokki, Milk Tea, Energy Drink, and Snacks etc.

TRR> A lot of people wonder about the health factors (sodium, etc) when it comes to instant noodles. How do you recommend people made instant noodles a healthy part of their diet?

PALDO> Usually our consumers adds vegetables, eggs, and meats or takes out little portion of our soup-mix to control the sodium level. Paldo recommends adding mushrooms, bean sprouts, or corns. Mushroom will add rich taste, bean sprouts gives fresh tastes. For your diet, you can cook half portion of the noodle or DO NOT take the soup all the way down.

TRR> I noticed on the Dosirac, the packets have writing in cyrillic – not something I commonly see. Can you tell us why?

PALDO> The Dosirac in Cyrillic writing is the most popular product in Russia. Dosirac Ranks Market share #1 Product in Russia, so you can say that we are the TOP 1st.

TRR> Do you make/sell products other than instant noodles?

PALDO> As previously mentioned, we have beverages, Retort processed products, and snacks etc.

TRR> What was your first product?

PALDO> 3 Noodles were introduced in September 1983. 1. Sooeh-gogi(Beef) 2. Chlorella, 3. Sesame Flavor

TRR> I hear Paldo pronounced with an ‘i’ instead of an ‘l’ in Korean commercials – is this the correct way to
say the company name?

PALDO>I think the pronunciation “L” in Korean differs from English Pronunciation that makes little different and it sound a bit like “paido” for you. But, it is really Pal-Do with” L”

TRR> How does the process in which you make your noodles differ from other brands?

PALDO> 4 Major Korean Noodle making company’s Facilities and processes may be very similar to each other. If we were to bring out what Paldo is really different from others is that we have tried more to come out with better products. For instance, we came up with liquid soup mix NOT dry, we built facilities to make Retort processed products, we spent more time to develop our products and these make a major different from others. As a result, for the first time in the history, we have applied this liquid mix to Bibim men, and Jjajangmen’s Retort processed technology would be our valuable outcome from our longtime effort.

TRR> When you make instant noodles for yoursself, do you add anything or have any recommendations?

PALDO> In Korea, there is a very special soup that increase energy, boost metabolism, promote fitness, made out with Chicken, Ginseng, jujube, sticky rice, and Whole Garlics in a pot. We call this “Sam-Gye-Tang”. As a special recommendation, you can start with our soup mix, a strip of ginseng, some jujube, and garlics. Boil these for about 20 min (recommend to put a little more water than recommended) and put your noodle and cook this with your toppings if you like. This recommendation will be the most Healthier and wellbeing Ramen Cooking for you.
We do not have any other recommendations than this, but if we really have to recommend, we recommend the instructions in the back of our noodle packs. Especially, adding water portion could make a big difference. Cooking equipment and time also makes difference, but when you cook our new product, we recommend not adding anything because we want you to taste our original taste provided.

THE RAMEN RATER> Thank you very much for this opportunity to learn more about Paldo!

Here are links to the posts during Meet The Manufacturer: Paldo week

Interview * Promotional Gifts & Samples * Paldo Jang Ramyun Soy Flavor Noodle * Paldo Speed King Bowl (Prototype) * Paldo Kokomen Spicy Chicken Flavor * Paldo Cucumber Bibim Men * Paldo Shouyu Ramen * Paldo Gomtang Oriental Style Noodles With Soup Base * Paldo Chicken Flavor Korean Noodle * Paldo Namja Ramyun (Men’s Ramyun) * Paldo King Cup Kimchi Pot Stew Instant Noodle * Paldo Rabokki * Paldo Teumsae Ramyun * Paldo Seafood Noodle Soup * Paldo Seolleongtangmyeon * Paldo Hwa Ramyun With Soy Peptide * Paldo Jjajangmen Chajang Noodle * Paldo Bibim Men Oriental Style Noodle

#787: emart Ramen e Ramen White Broth Noodle Soup

Today I received a big box full of instant noodles from South Korea! These are made by emart. If you can imagine a Korean version of Walmart, you’re on the right track – these are super huge superstores over there. Anyways, a fellow from emart contacted me about reviewing this new product of theirs and of course I said yes. They sent a box with some nice hats and 8 of these 6 pakcs – yep – 48 packages of noodles! Wow!

‘Here’s what the individual packs look like. It’s called Ramen e Ramen and it’s a white broth soup. Looks to be jalapeno and seafood flavored!

Here’s the back of the package.

The noodle block – a big one.

The seasoning powder.

A lot of powder! I tasted a little and it was really spicy!

The vegetable packet.

A nice variety. Not sure if there might be some seafoodies in there too.

Hooray for new hats!

Finished. I added a couple slices of jalapeno. The noodles are nice – not too chewy and very full. The broth is great – ultra spicy (I’d say the spiciest white broth I’ve tried yet) and the veggies aren’t too shabby either. I found quite a few bits of seafood in there too – gonna go with mussel since mussels are so prominent on the package. I must say I was wondering how much I would like this stuff as they did send 48 packs of it. Happily, I can say I really love it – great stuff! 5.0 out of 5.0 stars! A wonderfully hot and tasty white broth. UPC bar code 8801045525068 – get it here.

Wow this is really awesome and inventive!

Here’s a guy’s tour of emart. I thought it was kind of funny how he complained that they didn’t have enough American food. I guess that’s what happens when you’re in a foreign country! Man, I would love to check this place out – looks amazingly fun!

Something New From Korea To Review

A couple weeks ago, I was contacted by a fellow named Stan. He said there was a new product that a big supermarket in Korea called emart would like me to review. They’re called Ramen e Ramen White Broth Noodle Soup. Sounds cool to me!

Inside the big box: a padded envelope and a slightly smaller box.

Inside the padded envelope were two of these hats and a yellow baseball cap! Thanks!

Here’s the other box.

Eight of these 6 packs of noodles! Wow – that’s a lot of them! Thank you very much!

Here’s the baseball cap and the look of the individual packs. I’ll be reviewing this pretty quick so keep your eyes peeled! Thank you to Stan at 3mart for sending this!