I'm reviewing a lunch set today starring the limited edition Nissin chicken and beef flavour instant ramen bowl, an salmon onigiri (rice ball), and some assorted sushi. Nissin invented instant ramen, where you add boiling water to some noodles, waited three minutes, then enjoyed some tasty noodle soup. The original Chikin Ramen is actually still being made today, and availabile in a convenient bowl format. I reviewed the original Chikin (Chicken) Ramen here. The original chicken ramen is unusual in the fact that it has the soup base baked onto the surface of the noodles, so there is no seasoning / soup base packet, but it has good flavour, and has been enjoyed for generations.
Any product that has been around for generations means that is is kind of taken for granted, maybe even considered a little stodgey. To counter this, Nissin releases limited editions and variant flavours of this chicken ramen. They have super spicy, grilled chicken, and have done pork and this beef flavour variant. Their advertising campaigns have been very funny or even edgy to jazz up the brand.
March of 2020 brings the 110th anniversary of Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin Foods. In preparation for this, the company released limited edition variants of their Chikin Ramen Bowl. I've tried the pork flavour before, which was pretty good, but the beef flavour bowl I'm trying today has roasted soy sauce flavoured noodles and a beef tallow mix.
A 3/4 view of the noodle bowl. It has the customary Chikin ramen orange on it, but has more predominant burgundy striping to represent the beef.
The top of the lid. You have their chicken mascot working with a cow to make a tasty instant noodle soup. The Chikin branding is highlighted in orange, with the burgundy lettering for the beef. An attractive bowl of ramen noodles is shown with big chunks of beef, egg, and green onions.
Nutritional information, ingredients, and preparation methods and warnings.
Manufacturing information.
Opening the bowl shows a block of noodles. There some dried ingredients on top for the freeze-dried egg, ground meat, and green onions. There are two soup and seasoning satchets. The red packet contains beef fat to give the soup the beefy flavour, while the black packet has black pepper to add some spice to the soup.
The dried ingredients and noodle block up close.
Preparation for this noodle bowl is basically add boiling water to the fill line, close the lid, wait three minutes, and presto, you have noodle soup. At this point, add in the beef fat, stir well, and enjoy.
The rehydrated noodles and soup. Looks pretty good. Nice big pieces of egg and meat blocks.
Closeup of the egg and noodles.
The beef noodle soup was good, with a mild soy / beef aroma. It wasn't the beefiest or most savoury thing I've ever had, but it had good flavour. The soy flavoured soup was tasty, with the beef fat adding a definite beef note, and adding in the black pepper gave it some spiciness. It was a pleasant bowl of soup. In the chicken version of the bowl, there is a big block of egg/green onions that kind of dissolves into the soup. I'm wondering why it was different for this noodle bowl, but the bigger pieces of egg and meat do give it a much different appearance.
Added black pepper flakes.
The rest of my lunch included a salmon rice ball and a small set of assorted nigiri sushi. I always love how the triangular onigiri come packaged. The wrapping that keeps the nori separate from the rice to keep it dry and crispy is so innovative. It is also easy to open. You basically follow the instructions on the packaging and peel first on the big red line. This splits the wrapping in two, You then gently pull the two halves off then fold the nori over the rice. Instant rice ball at this point.
Salmon filled rice ball.
Opening directions.
Finally, my completed lunch. It was pretty tasty and I enjoyed it with some tea.
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