07 January, 2009

Ramen Review 10: Instant Noodle King - Wonton Soup Flavor

This is a brand of noodle cup sold at Asian markets in the area. It's slightly bigger than Nissin's Cup Noodles, but smaller than the Nissin Souper Meal. I bought it in several flavors, which I'll be reviewing over the next few weeks.

Ease of Preparation: 10/10. Very simple - add the contents of the enclosed veggie, seasoning, and oil packets, add water, allow to sit three minutes, stir, and enjoy. The snap-fit cap is very nice because it allows the contents to steam without having to fiddle with an ill-fitting foil cover.

Vegetable Packet: 9/10 Cabbage, wakame seaweed, corn, and chives. The wakame was a nice touch - its subtle sweetness rounded out the flavor of the broth and made this ramen one of the best-tasting I've had.

Seasoning Packet: 9/10 I admit I wasn't sure I was going to like this stuff when I first opened the seasoning packet. It contains powdered fish, and the smell was strong. Really strong. Almost disgustingly strong, in fact. But after the boiling water was poured on and the flavors of everything were allowed to meld, the strong and almost unpleasant fishiness was replaced by a very subtle and delicious prawny flavor with veggie accents from the wakame and chives.

Taste: 10/10 Excellent, as I noted above. I should also add that the noodles in this cup are delicately thin, yet nicely al dente and toothsome.

Spiciness: N/A This is not marketed as a spicy ramen.

Overall: 9/10 Recommended.

1 comment:

DrunkethWizerd said...

I found your page by searching for this particular ramen, which I just has some for the first time about an hour ago. Your review for it is very true, especially concerning the smell of the powder compared to the finished product.

I love wonton soup, but this wasn't as I had hoped. I don't really care much for seafood flavored dishes and while I got through about half of this one (as opposed to Nong Shim Big Bowl with large puffy dehydrated pieces of spongy fish - uhg), I didn't really like the feel of the noodles too much. If they're not rice noodles, then they're much like them.

Anyways, perhaps I'm just accustomed to Nong Shim spicy or Maruchan. I can handle a maruchan cup of Picante Habanero with mini-Shrimp fine. I think all ramen should be spicy, extremely spicy. I just couldn't get with the flavor of this one without it.

Your 9/10 review is an honest and truthful one, but for my personal tastes, I didn't finish the bowl. That doesn't make it a 0/10 or anything, as it wasn't horrible. Just not for me.