Nong Shim Chapagetti

Made By:  Nong Shim America, Inc.
Required to Prepare:  saucepan & range, strainer,  2-1/2 cups + 3 tablespoons water
560 calories per package

Available online through Amazon.com

Today we have a pack of Nong Shim's Chapagetti for review!  This is an instant version of a very popular Korean dish called chajangmyeon, which (according to Wikipedia) consists of noodles topped with a salty black-bean paste.  They should be interesting to try!

Inside the package is a disc of the puffy-looking noodles like the ones in Nong Shim's Neoguri, along with a packet of dried 'Vegetable Mix', a packet of soup base, and a small pouch of oil.  We are supposed to boil 2-1/2 cups of water, add the noodles and veggie packet and cook for five minutes, then drain the noodles well.  We put the drained noodles in our bowl, add the oil, soup base, and 3 tablespoons of water, and stir thoroughly.  Since the soup base seemed a bit coursely ground, the stirring was easier said than done, but eventually the noodles are coated with a thick, dark sauce and are ready to serve!

The star of this show, of course, is the chajang sauce, so we'll start with that; it has a deep, nutty, almost coffee or cocoa-like flavor, and isn't nearly as salty-tasting as I expected based on the description of chajangmyeon that I read.  It definitely doesn't taste like it looks like it would taste, if that makes any sense.  The vegetable mix seems to be mainly toasted onion with some carrot and faux beef bits; they are present and accounted for but don't seem to assert themselves above the sauce that much.  The noodles are spaghetti-like in consistency (hence the "pagetti" part of the name), soft but not mushy.

I didn't find these all that exciting, but they do seem to have a comfort-food vibe going on.  Although I am a bit curious now to taste some "real" chajangmyeon to compare, I doubt if I'll be seeking them out on a regular basis. :|

Nong Shim Shin Ramyun BLACK

Made By:  Nong Shim America Inc.
Required to Prepare:  Water, saucepan & range (or bowl and microwave)
560 calories per package

Available online through Amazon.com

So, it's been a while... did y'all miss me?

Today I finally tried a package of the infamous "Shin Ramyun Black" by Nong Shim.  The infamy, by the way, stems from the fact that Nong Shim of Korea got hit with a false-advertising fine for stating that their new Shin Ramyun Black was nutritionally "the perfect food."  I was unaware of all the controversy when I purchased them (although I do find it amusing), and honestly I'm much more interested to see how the flavor compares to Shin Ramyun 'Red'.  So, on with the review!

Inside the package is a disk of noodles that looks just like the ones in normal Shin Ramyun, along with three packets; there is a "Beef and Vegetable Mix" which has the usual dried veggies but also some dehydrated beef chips including some dried mushrooms, a plain "Soup Base," and something called a "Sul-Long-Tang Soup Base" which is apparently a bone soup of some sort.  We boil 550cc [2-1/3 cups] of water, then add everything to the pot and cook for five minutes.  Then we just transfer the soup to our bowl and serve!

The broth is very creamy-looking, and the little chunks of beef mushrooms are easily visible.  Like the other Shin Ramyun, the noodles have a nice texture, and are flavorful from cooking in the soup broth.  The broth itself has the expected spiciness, although it does seem to be a bit milder than regular Shin Ramyun... maybe the creaminess from the Sul-Long-Tang stuff is toning it down a bit.  There is a much deeper beef broth flavor here than in the normal Shin Ramyun, too.  The rehydrated mushroom pieces stay a bit tough and don't seem to have a lot of flavor on their own, but I'm imagining they've contributed their flavor into the broth instead, and it's not like they really detract or anything.  It seems a bit more "premium" than adding powder mushroom extract, anyway.

I think I may have actually enjoyed the flavor of these more than regular Shin Ramyun; the extra flavors from the beef bone extract seemed to provide some welcome complexity to help the flavor not be quite so one-sided.  However, the premium price on these makes the question of value a bit harder to answer... but I will say that I'm more interested in having this product again than I am the regular Shin Ramyun.  :)

Soup it Up:  Most times we enjoy this soup, we do add a soft egg to it, to balance the spice level with a bit of richness and creaminess.  There's no huge need to add other items because of the 'premium' nature of the included add-ins, but some thin slices of beef could be a thing.
Also, my wife decided to try adding some sour cream to hers, as a different variation to 'cool down' the spice, and I thought that was a worthy option as well, the sourness brings forward a different set of flavors than with the ultra-creamy egg yolk.

{5/15/15 edit: I've recently realized that what I had thought were strange little pieces of beef were actually mushrooms.  They make much more sense to me now. ^_^; }

Nong Shim Neoguri

Made By:  Nong Shim America
Tools Required:  Hot Water, Saucepan & Range, Bowl
515 calories per package

Rating:  :)

(available online through Amazon.com)

So a few weeks ago, I got a comment suggesting that I try Nong Shim's Neoguri.  It took me a couple of weeks to actually make a trip to the one local grocery that carries it, and then another week or so to get around to having noodles for lunch again.  Today is the day, though!

Inside the package, we have our disc of noodles, which appear to be quite a bit plumper than usual, even compared to other Nong Shim products like Shin Ramyun.  The package did describe them as "Udon Type Noodles," so they might turn out a bit different.  There is also a packet of dried veggies and a packet of powdered seasoning.  We are supposed to boil 19-1/2 ounces of water (apparently 20 ounces would be too much), then add the noodles, veggies, and soup base and cook for five minutes.  Due to the soup base being added during cooking, these will boil over much more easily than most instant ramen, so you should keep an eye on them during cooking.  Once the five minutes are up, we pour the finished soup into our bowl and get ready to eat!

The broth is quite spicy, which is to be expected from a Nong Shim product; it is comparable to their Shin Ramyun.  The flavor is described as a spicy seafood (as opposed to the spicy beef flavor in Shin Ramyun), but any seafood flavor here is unfortunately far too delicate to stand up to the heat level--which is to say that the chili powder is really the only detectable flavor.  I don't mean to be too negative though; it's not bad, just not as interesting or as balanced as some of their other flavors.  The veggie packet seems to be mostly pieces of seaweed sheet, which adds color and a bit of texture, but the high point here is definitely the noodles; they are very thick and firm, but not sticky in the least.  It's a very pleasant mouthfeel, and turns out to be much closer to the advertised "Udon Type" noodle than I would have expected from a dried noodle product.

The noodles themselves are good enough to rescue this product from a negative rating, although I can't help thinking that I wish Nong Shim offered this style of noodles with a different, more multi-dimensional broth. :|

No-Soup Review: Nong Shim Savory Bowl Noodle Chicken Flavor

Original Review:  Nong Shim Savory Bowl Noodle Chicken Flavor

No-Soup Rating:  :)

Okay, I think I am starting to wish I hadn't stocked up on quite so many of these--I am still working on the first case of 18 from that buy-one-case-get-one-free deal at Costco.  So to try to mix things up some more, I'm going to be doing an experiment today!  I do like the Mi Goreng/Yakisoba/Chow Mein style 'brothless' noodles, and it seems like they are much the same product as 'normal' ramen except that you drain the noodles first.  Some brands (notably Maruchan's Yakisoba line) even use a powdered flavor base, and it seems to work okay.  Recently I started wondering, what would happen if I tried preparing a "regular" noodle product in similar fashion?  Well, today I am going to find out!

I prepare the noodles with the same hot-water prep method as the printed instructions (stand for three minutes), except I don't add the soup base yet.  Once the noodles are done, I drain them with a strainer and dump them back into the bowl, then stir in the seasoning.  The seasoning seemed to blend in quite easily--more easily than some products I've tried that are designed to be prepared this way.  Now for the moment of truth!

Oh, I kind of like these this way!  They are much more flavorful than the normal 'soup' version, which is probably to be expected since the flavoring is more concentrated.  On the negative side of that, they do seem a little overly salty, but not to the point of being totally off-putting.  I'd say it's about the same saltiness level of a Campbell's condensed chicken noodle soup or so.  What I really like, though, is that the lack of broth seems to bring out the flavor of the included vegetables--the peas and corn give little bursts of sweetness here and there that make a nice contrast to the salty chicken flavor of the noodles.  I think I preferred this to the 'normal' preparation--I really enjoyed these!  I do wonder if they could be improved further by adding an egg, or even some extra veggies, that could help balance the salt a little more, but I would say the experiment was a success.  :)

Souped-Up Ramen Review: Nong Shim Savory Chicken Bowl Noodle

Ingredients:
Nong Shim Savory Chicken Bowl Noodle
an egg
a green onion
Sriracha sauce

Meal Size (~500 calories)
Rating:  Major Upgrade!

Okay, I had sort of been planning to do some "Souped-Up" reviews like this from the beginning--I'm actually sort of surprised it took me this long to get to one.  I think I mentioned in the original review that I ended up getting 36 of these in a buy-one-case-get-one-free deal from Costco, right?  Well, I've had nine of them so far.  I think I also mentioned that they were a bit bland and unexciting.  With 27 bowls left to go, I think it's high time I tried to make them more interesting!

So, while the water for the noodles (and tea) was heating on the stove, I chopped the green onion and added it to the bowl along with the seasoning packet, and got a small skillet ready by melting about 1/2 tbsp. butter over low heat.  While the noodles were standing in the hot water, I fried the egg sunny-side up (covered skillet method) and slid it onto the top when the noodles were done, then topped everything with a drizzle of Sriracha hot sauce.

Before eating, I like to cut the egg up with my chopsticks and stir it in a bit, so that the yolk (and hot sauce) blends in with the broth.  The finished result is a broth that is very rich and creamy, nicely savory, and not nearly as spicy as one would imagine by looking at the hot sauce in the picture.  Eggs have an interesting property of countering a lot of spice heat, so the Sriracha just ends up keeping things from being too bland, especially since I didn't season the egg with anything else.

This has got to be the best bowl of noodles I have had in months.  And the add-in ingredients are very economical, too!  This will make it a lot easier to finish the case-and-a-half of these bowls that I have left.  I call this a Major Upgrade!  Om nom nom. :D

Nong Shim Kimchi Ramyun

Made By:  Nong Shim America
Tools Required:  Saucepan & Range, Bowl, Spoon & Chopsticks
Meal Size (500 calories per package)
Rating:  :D

(available online through VeryAsia.com)

It is a cold, rainy day here in Woodinville, Washington... some hot, spicy noodles seem like just the thing to counteract the gloomy weather!  I had these Kimchi Ramyun in the noodle stash, and now that I have joined the working class, I'm going to have to have the rest of my stovetop-preparation noodles on days off if I want them.  So with the blessing of my sweetie (who is going to have something else for lunch), here I go!

The package style is very similar to Nong Shim's Shin Ramyun; there is an identical round brick of thick wavy noodles, and two packets--a green foil packet of powder seasoning and a red plastic packet of dried veggies (I noticed cabbage and carrots).  We boil 19-1/2 ounces of water, add the seasoning packets and noodles, and cook for three minutes.  After a quick stir, the noodles go into the bowl and are ready to serve!

The finished product has a strong aroma of cabbage and chili spice; I thought they smelled appetizing, but my partner crinkled her nose a bit.  The flavor is actually quite similar to the Shin Ramyun, just with a little bit different undertones; in addition to the chili spice I am picking up a sweet and tart cabbage and vegetable flavor.  The heat level is also comparable to Shin Ramyun; these are quite spicy although not overwhelming (to me anyway).

I actually thought I preferred the flavor of these over Shin Ramyun; although the spice level is about the same, the sub-flavors here seem to complement the chili spice a bit better.  If you are a fan of spicy Korean ramyun, I would heartily recommend you give these a try. :D

Nong Shim Savory Bowl Noodle Chicken Flavor

Made By:  Nong Shim America

Tools Required:  Hot Water, Spoon and Chopsticks

Light Meal Size (380 calories per package)

Price:  33¢ (sale at Costco—36 bowls for $11.75)

Rating:  :|

Finally, a long-overdue noodle review!  Today I am on location at my workplace, and the images have been taken from my camera-phone instead of my digital camera.  Fortunately, I still have access to boiling water and a microwave, so I can still indulge myself in some noodles!  There is a large variety of noodles designed for an “on-the-go” lunch, like the Bowl Noodles I am reviewing today.

The bowl- and cup-style noodles are especially convenient since there is (usually) no measuring involved; we just add hot water to the fill line, and wait a bit.  In the case of these noodles, we also open the one included packet of dry seasoning and add it to the noodles and dried veggies that are loose in the bowl.  After three minutes, we are ready for lunch!

I got the impression from the packaging (as well as the venue where these were sold) that this would be a more “Americanized” flavor than some of Nong Shim’s offerings, and this bowl certainly lived up to that expectation.  I would say the flavor of the broth is very similar to a Top Ramen chicken flavor or that sort of grocery-store variety, except probably a bit less salty.  The less salty, slightly sweeter flavor actually made it seem less “savory” to me than some of those, but I imagine that they are meaning to differentiate these from their usual spicy flavors.  The noodle texture is above average when compared to grocery-store brands, though, as is the generous quantity of vegetables included; I saw peas, corn, and green onion pieces, all of which rehydrated nicely.

All in all, these were a pleasant if unexciting lunch, and at the price I got them, I am not at all disappointed to have 35 more of them at home to eat over the course of the next few months.  If I were to rate them at the usual Bowl Noodle price of $1.64 each, though, they would be a definite pass, in favor of either a more interesting flavor or a less expensive version (if not both).  I guess that earns these their “indifferent” rating. :|

Nong Shim Shin Ramyun

Made by:  Nong Shim America Inc.
Tools Required:  Saucepan & Range, Bowl, Spoon & Chopsticks
Meal Size (480 calories per package)
Rating:  :)

(available online through Amazon.com)

Noodle time again!  I finally have a job now, so future reviews may be more sporadic.  My sweetie doesn't want me to have to give them up altogether though, so today I had a Shin Ramyun for lunch.  This one is the "standard" for Korean-style spicy ramen, and unlike the Paldo Seafood flavor, this package of noodles seems to be quite proud of its chili powder content--the bright red package is emblazoned with the character for 'spicy-hot' (which can also mean 'difficult' or 'laborious,' interestingly enough), and the flavor is simply described as "Gourmet Spicy."  We are definitely forewarned!

Inside the package are a circular brick of thick, light yellowish noodles, and two packets--a plastic one with dried "Vegetable Mix," which appears to be mostly green onion flakes, and a foil one with powdered "Soup Base."  We are supposed to boil 19-1/2 ounces of water, then add all the ingredients and cook for 4-5 minutes, which gives us a generous serving of noodles in a fire-red broth.

The aroma is mostly chili spice, and the noodles are thick and firm.  The broth seems to be a basic vegetable beef stock and is quite spicy with chili powder; behind the spice it is nicely rich and savory.  After having this, I think I will have to retract the comment I made in the Paldo Seafood review--I would say that the spice level here is probably comparable to the heat in those noodles if not a little lower.  I'm actually kind of disappointed about that; it is almost like these go the other direction and "over-hype" the spice level a bit.  On the other hand, the package promises a bowl of "Gourmet Spicy" noodles, and I would say that is what I received.  These get a happy face from me! :)

Soup it up:  Man, I must have gotten to be more of a wimp with the spice level since I wrote the original review.  Anyway, since the "plain" Shin Ramyun is pretty much a one-note "laboriously spicy" flavor, I recommend add-ins that help balance things.  An egg seems like an obvious addition to add richness; also pictured are julienned cucumber, italian parsley, and some fresh green onions.  I could also recommend some thin-sliced steak or roast, to further bring out the beef-stock undertone.

Nong Shim Bowl Noodle Soup Spicy Chicken Flavor

Made by:  Nong Shim America Inc.
Tools Required:  Hot Water, Spoon & Chopsticks
Light Meal Size (400 calories per package)
Rating:  :D

(available online through Amazon.com)

One thing that is good about loving instant ramen is that when I need some comfort food, it's very economical.  I am ready for some noodles today, and I've picked this Bowl Noodle to try; it's a Spicy Chicken flavor from Nong Shim of America.  After the last review, I decided to take a look through the ingredients list beforehand, and interestingly, although this is supposed to be a chicken flavor, the ingredients include beef and beef fat, but not chicken.  Odd.  Hopefully having seen that won't color my opinion of the flavor--maybe I should stop looking at the ingredients before tasting after all.

Peeling back the lid, we see that there are noodles and some dried veggies loose in the bowl, and one seasoning packet to open.  All we have to do is add the powder, add hot water to the well-defined fill line, and wait three minutes.  After a quick stir, we arrive at the meal pictured!

The noodle texture is pretty average; there isn't anything to complain about and they are nicely firm, but nothing really remarkable either.  There are green onion and red pepper flakes, along with some textured soy bits (fake chicken) and a few shaped flat things that very much seem to be chicken flavored surimi {'imitation crab'}.  Those are a bit odd, but more in a "scratch your head" way than a negative one.  The broth has a very nice flavor; it is pleasantly spicy although the actual heat level seems a bit tame.  It almost seems more like a mexican spice flavor to me, reminiscent of a chicken enchilada or similar.  I will admit my opinion might be colored slightly by the Corona with lime that I paired with it, but I have to write my opinions as they come.  (My sweetie told me that beer goes well with spicy things, so I was testing the theory.)

Overlooking the technical weirdness (A chicken flavor noodle that has beef and fish but no chicken in it?  Really?) these were a very pleasant bowl of noodles with an interesting, unique flavor.  I'm happy. :D