This is the second of two noodle reviews of the Japan Trio that was
released by Nissin earlier this year. I'm reviewing the Nissin Matcha Tori Paitan Instant Ramen Cup Noodle in this post. This particular cup of noodles looks like it is the flagship of the trio, based on their press release, so I saved the best for last. Doing this is kind of like what colour of Smarties do you eat last - and Smarties in Canada are kind of like M&M candy covered chocolates. The Cup Noodles in Japan have the most premium packaging as the printing is on a cardboard cup that has a type of soft foam insulation that holds high-resolution colour printing. In many of their other noodles, the printing is on the plastic wrap that you peel off the bowl.
The Matcha Tori Paitan flavour translates into green tea chicken flavour and is different from the 2017 version which was a green tea seafood flavour. I thought the 2017 version was pretty good, but I'm thinking this version would be just as good if not better. The matcha flavour was fairly subtle in the last version and I'm pretty sure it would be the same in this one.
 |
The front of the Nissin Matcha Tori Paitan Instant Ramen Cup Noodle.
|
 |
Three Quarters view of the cup.
|
The art on this cup noodle sets the theme found in all
three of the Japan Trio noodle products this time around. It has quite the nice
presentation, with the Cup Noodle logo outlined in green and bluish green to indiate the matcha theme. The design uses a
white background with dark blue trim and highlights with elements of a traditional blue and white checkerboard design. It also turns the traditional vertical bars blue to match. It is a pretty design with Mount Fuji prominently displayed top and central.
There are many Japanese pop art elements on the front of the cup too. On the left side there is a goddess in the clouds that are
pierces by a extremely tall pagoda. A sumo wrestler DJ is below all of this. On the right side there is a thunder god (see Kaminarimon Gate) above a lucky cat, a matching skyscraper pagoda, and a golden bullet train. In the center top, there is Mount Fuji with a rising or setting sun. The art shares similarities to the 2017 version
of this bowl too! The noodles inside the cup are not shown on the cup, but it is a nifty piece of art.
 |
Lid of the cup. Goddess, sumo and drone with a lantern. Ingredients shown on the lid.
|
 |
Detail of the left front of the cup. Take a look at the height on that pagoda. A 5 storey pagoda is traditional as it represents the five elements of Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Void from Japanese Buddhism.
|
 |
Detail of the right side of the cup. Another towering pagoda and notice the thunder god is wearing sneakers!
|
 |
Directions with warning labels to the right, manufacturers info, and allergen information.
|
 |
Nutritional information. Note the ninjas on bicycles at the top left.
|
 |
Peeling the lid back halfway reveals lots of ingredients and toppings. There is a hefty dose of matcha chicken stock powder. Other toppings include green onion, corn, carrots, and ground chicken blocks. The smell of green tea was very prevalent when the lid was peeled back.
|
 |
I added boiling water up to the fill line on the inside of the cup and waited the traditional three minutes for the noodles to rehydrate.
|
 |
After three minutes I peeled the lid off to reveal a nice looking cup of noodle soup.
|
The soup actually looked pretty tasty with all of the toppings presented and it all rehydrated nicely. However, the soup powder really needed to be mixed well with this soup base so I gave everything a really good stir.
 |
After stirring, the noodle soup looks like this. The topping often do this as they sink to the bottom and you need to dredge them back up.
|
So, how did the soup taste? It was very good. From the picture above you can tell there is a slight creaminess to the soup and it has a greenish yellow tinge from the green tea powder. While the scent of matcha was strong when the cup was opened, the soup now smelled more like a chicken broth. The broth had a rich chicken flavour with a hint of green tea in the background to give it some additional depth. It was a nice combination to try. Green tea properly applied seems to add a little something different to things. The noodles were of the typical cup noodle type that is thinner than it is wide and they had a decent chew. The little blocks of ground chicken were okay as they aren't full of flavour, but they went well with the soup and the other toppings. This was a little different and I'm glad I got to try it out.
 |
Closeup of the noodles and some toppings.
|
The other review in the 2020 Japan Trio.
The 2017 Japan Noodle Trio.
Follow me on Twitter a @Tostzilla or my feedburner.
More snacks and Japanese pop culture.
Comments
Post a Comment