This is the first of two noodle reviews of the Japan Trio that was released by Nissin earlier this year. I'm reviewing the UFO Ume Kombucha Salt Yakisoba instant noodle bowl in this post as it looked quite interesting and I can't wait to try it out. The other cup noodle I have to review is the Matcha Tori Paitan Cup Noodle (a green tea chicken flavour). I couldn't get the Sukiyaki Udon, which was the third flavour of the trio. I last reviewed a Japan set like this back in 2017 and they have reformulated the flavours for this release, in particular, the matcha (green tea).
The 2017 version of this yakisoba noodle was also a tea flavoured noodle and I only thought it was okay. I have higher hopes for this version as it is kombucha and ume (plum) flavour which should be quite interesting if not good. Japanese kombucha is very different from western (American/Canadian) kombucha. The original Japanese version is brewed from tea leaves and kombu (a type of kelp) so it is a simple tea/soup. American/Canadian kombucha is actually based on a fermented tea beverage from East Asia that can be enhanced with all kinds of other flavourings. The Japanese kombucha name was misapplied to the fermented tea beverage and it has stuck. The fermented version is a tart and flavourful, and the Japanese also have fermented tea kombucha now too, to compound any confusion on the subject.
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Angle view of the UFO ramen bowl. UFO noodles are not soup noodles, as they emulate yakisoba, a fried noodle dish, and they come in a flattened dish type bowl, but they also have rectangular trays. If you turn the package upside down it looks like the old style pie pan UFOs.
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Top of the noodle bowl. UFO bowls do not have printing on them and the product information and art is always printed on plastic shrink wrap.
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The art on the top of the noodle bowl holds to a theme found in all three of the Japan Trio noodle products. It has quite the nice presentation, with the bold UFO letters displayed
in Pink to let you know there is plum involved. Usually the UFO
lettering is yellow and the background color is red. The design uses a white background with dark blue trim and highlights. It also uses the traditional blue and white checkerboard pattern that I've seen before in Japanese art. There are many Japanese pop art elements on the lid too. On the left side there is a thunder god in the clouds that are pierces by a extremely tall pagoda. A bullet train runs along the left side too. On the right side there is a sumo wrestler DJ, ninjas riding a bicycle, and a goddess. In the center top, there is Mount Fuji with a lucky cat peeking over. The art shares similarities to the 2017 version of this bowl too! The bottom half of the lid shows the tasty noodles cover in little plum bits and seaweed strips.
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Bottom of the bowl. Shows cooking directions, manufacturers information, and nutritional information.
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Ingredients.
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Allergen information.
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Preparation warnings.
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Side label and best before date.
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The lid of the bowl has a pile of instructions on it. Sure looks complicated, but it is actually quite simple. Just follow the numbered steps that include pictures. Never peel the lid off more than halfway to the #2.
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Peeling the lid back shows a nice block of noodles with some dehydrated cabbage on it. Two ingredient packets are included. One is an oil / sauce packet and the other is a satchet of dried ingredients.
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I added in boiling water, closed the lid, and waited three minutes for the noodles to rehydrate. I then peeled off the tab under the number 3 to reveal drain holes. You can pour all the water out through the holes without losing any noodles. This is a dry noodle dish so there is no soup. It is yakisoba.
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Pouring the water out. You can see the noodles trapped against the drain. This is why you don't peel the lid off completely after cooking the noodles for 3 minutes. Give the noodles a little shake to make sure more water is drained.
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The drained noodles with sauce and toppings added.
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After draining all the excess water, I added the seasoning oil / sauce. It was a clear oil, so no soy sauce in this. The oil smelled of plum and a hint of tea in the background. I mixed the oil thoroughly with the noodles and then added the packet of dried seaweed and plum flakes. The noodles looked plain, even with the garnishes, but it smelled quite pleasant. I took a first bite of the noodles and found that is was quite flavourful. You could taste the salted plum flavour quite clearly, but it wasn't overpowering, and the little plum flakes added a burst of flavour when you had one. The noodles were your typical yakisoba UFO noodles that are round in cross-section and they had a nice chew. The tea part of the kombucha was relegated to being a background flavouring, and the main taste component was salted plum, but this is a good thing as I like salted plums! This was a very interesting tasting noodle dish that I'm glad I tried. I think I liked it more than the 2017 variety and this would go down pretty nicely on a hot summer day.
The other review in the 2020 Japan Trio.
The 2017 Japan Noodle Trio.
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More snacks and Japanese pop culture.
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