Katsuobushi Udon Japanese-Style Noodle Soup

Made By:  ChoripDong (Korea)
Tools Required:  Hot Water, Microwave, Spoon & Chopsticks
Meal Size (365 calories per package)
Rating:  ^_^
Today I am sampling another not-really-ramen asian soup, and having some udon!  This is a bowl product made by a Korean company I hadn't heard of before grabbing this, so we'll see how they stack up to the likes of the mighty Nong Shim.

Inside the bowl, there are three packets; we have the pack of fresh udon noodles, a clear packet of liquid soup base, and a foil packet of "Flake Soup" with various dehydrated goodies.  The instructions are an unusual combination of hot water and microwave preparation; we are supposed to put the noodles and liquid soup into the bowl and add boiling water to the fill line, then we put it in the microwave for three minutes.  (For those without access to both a teakettle and a microwave, there are alternate instructions which say to use cold water and then microwave for six minutes.)  Once it comes out, the instructions say to "add the enclosed flake soup to the number 3 and mix it well."  I am not sure exactly what this means, so I just dump them into the bowl and stir.

These turn out to be extremely similar to the Nong Shim Japanese-style Udon that I love so much.  The udon is a nice thick hearty texture, possibly a bit softer than the Nong Shim but very appealing.  The broth is the same seafood-and-soy savory fish stock, and even the dried add-ins are almost the same; there are green onion flakes, a few imitation seafood slices (which are smaller and less generous than in the Nong Shim product) and lots of those fish-flavored rice cereal bits.  This product also includes a few little rings of chili pepper; unfortunately, they never do rehydrate into anything and so those don't add much of anything except a textural distraction.  I actually crunched one on purpose to see if I could get any heat out of it, without any success.  Overall, though, I would say this is a worthy competitor to the Nong Shim product, and in fact the easier preparation might give this one the edge over Nong Shim's bowl Udon (but not the packet style).  I loved them!  ^_^

{Because I am an airhead, I totally forgot to take a picture of the prepared noodles before I ate them all.  I plan to grab another one of these the next time I see them at Uwajimaya, though, so I will add one the next time I have the opportunity.}