Nissin Chikin (Chicken) Ramen Instant Noodle Bowl Revisited

Nissin's Chikin (Chicken) Ramen was the world's first instant ramen that was invented by Momofuku Ando in 1958.  In 1971 he then introduced the first cup noodle.  I'm actually not sure when the first of these bowl noodles were introduce or when chikin ramen instant noodle bowls were first introduced, but it was much later than Cup Noodles.  I didn't try this Chicken ramen bowl until 2013 or 2014 I think, but it is one of my favourite instant noodles in a cup/bowl.  You do have to like the chicken flavour of the Chikin Ramen as it really hasn't changed over time.  I reviewed the original Chikin Ramen back in this post.

Lid of the Chikin Ramen bowl.  It has all of the branding of the regular Chikin Ramen package.  It utilizes the orange striping on the white background with the product name in bold brown print surrounded by orange.  The lid presents a nice looking bowl of noodles with a healthy serving of scrambled egg and green onions on top.  This particular bowl also has a red badge indicating a 60 year anniversary of Chikin Ramen on it.  The product's little chick mascot Hiyoko-chan is shown cracking an egg onto the noodles.  This ramen bowl is pretty much always available in Japan, but I was really late putting up this review as it was eaten in early 2019.
3/4 view of the ramen bowl.  You can see there is branding on the side so that you can recognize it on a shelf.  The branding on the sides of cups and bowls is always interesting as the lids are obviously the prettiest part that can show a big picture.  However, the side is what most people see on a shelf as the products are stacked on top of each other.  I think I've mainly seen the tops of the cups/bowls shown on angled displays in supermarkets and not konbini.
Nutritional information, ingredients and preparation methods and warning.
Manufacturing information.
Underside of the lid shows a Momofuku Ando biography and info  It reveals a standard disc of Chikin Ramen noodles with a dehydrated scrambled egg block with green onions on top.
Closeup of the egg block and noodles.  This is one of the best parts of this noodle bowl as it is a generous block of egg and green onions that really enhances the dish.

The text roughly translates as: Thank you! Instant Ramen Momofuku Ando (1910-2007) Founder of Nissin Foods. In 1958, invented the world's first instant noodle "chicken ramen" and created the instant noodle industry.  In 1971, he invented the world's first cup noodle "cup noodle" and created a new food culture. Global demand  has grown to about 100 billion meals per year.  In 2005, at the age of 95, the world's first space food ramen was developed (for a Japanese astronaut going into space).
Space Instant Ramen.  I included this picture from the Miraikan I shot years ago as the above text mentioned space ramen!  The astronaut rehydrated the ramen in the bag and had to carefully pick out out the little blocks of noodles and ramen toppings.
 The preparation for this bowl of noodles consists of  peeling the lid back halfway, adding in boiling water to the fill line, closing the lid, then waiting three minutes.  Three minutes to a meal instant noodles has been happening since 1958!  When I peeled off the lid, it shows the nicely rehydrated eggs and noodles below.

Top view of the rehydrated instant ramen.

3/4 view of the ramen bowl.  People in Japan sometimes crack a raw egg on top of the noodles as they cook to add some additonal nutrition and flavour.  In Japan, it is generally safe to eat raw eggs on top of your bowl of white rice or beef bowl or even ramen.
This instant ramen bowl has a nice soy chicken kind of smell to it that isn't super strong, but you can tell you are in for a tasty, savoury treat.  The chicken flavour has toasty undertones and is always good to my taste buds.  This is the ramen you would like to have when you haven't had it in awhile and it is really good with an egg cooked on top (not hard boiled though).  The noodles are a thinner variety, but maintain a nice chew if you don't oversoak them.  It is nice to get a decent amount of scrambled egg when you get a fork full of noodles.

Closeup of noodles and egg.



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