Maruchan Ginger Shoyu Nagaoka Style Ramen Bowl Review

I have a tasty instant noodle bowl to review today.  I'm trying out Maruchan's Gold Bowl, Ginger Shoyu Ramen made in the Nagaoka style.  Nagaoka is a city in the NW prefecture of Niigata.  They get some major snow here as there are ski resorts in this mountainous coastal region.  The Niigata Nagaoka ramen style is all about warming you up with a hit of ginger in your soup.  The pioneering Aoshima Shokudo ramen shop here is well known for this style of ginger shoyu ramen since 1963.  I wonder what the ginger will do to the shoyu flavour?

The lid of the Nagaoka Ramen bowl.  It is very festive looking with the name of the ramen on a bright red banner in front of the bright yellow colours of the thick noodles coming out of a clear, but deep brown bowl of shoyu soup.  The fireworks at the top make is extra cheery!

3/4 view of the bowl.  It is one of the large bowls.  Definitely not a noodle cup.

Closeup of the name and fireworks.

The text basically says the noodles are boiled and dried to give you the original taste of fresh noodles with a smooth, chewy texture.

Preparation directions.  Peel the lid back halfway.  Take out the 4 satchets.  Pour the dried ingredients on top of the noodles along with the pork slice, add boiling water to the fill line, and close the lid. Warm the liquid soup and special oil on the closed lid. Wait 5 minutes, add the liquid soup and oil.  Stir well and add the grilled seaweed just before you eat.  Enjoy!

Ingredients and manufacturing information.

Allergens, nutritional information, and contact info.

You get four satchets inside the bowl.  The is a dried ingredients satchet, an aroma oil satchet, a liquid soup base satchet, and a satchet of grilled seaweed.

You can see menma, green onions, a naruto fish cake (spiral thingy), and a piece of dried pork.

Special aroma oil.

Grilled seaweed.

Liquid soup base.

Niigata Nagaoka Ginger Shoyu Ramen

The dried ingredients added to the top of the dried noodle block.

Preparation for this noodle might seem more complex than normal with this instant noodle soup, but it isn't.  I added the dried ingredients, then the boiling water, closed the lid, and waited for five minutes for the noodle to rehydrate.  I then peeled the lid off to add in both the liquid soup and oil packets.  I stirred everything thoroughly.  The final touch was to add in the pieces of toasted seaweed on the side of the bowl.

The aroma that came from the soup definitely smelled of ginger at first before you smelled the soy based soup.  There were deep soy flavours in the broth which was pork based.  The ginger blends in nicely with the broth for a deep, savoury soup with a zingy gingery touch that wasn't overpowering.  I hear the original can have an aggressive ginger note though.  The noodles were firm, soft, and chewy too; just as advertised on the side of the bowl.  It was nice to see the menma (pickled bamboo shoots), naruto (fish cake), and the piece of pork to round out the noodle bowl.
The slice of formed pork meat sufficiently thick to provide a chewy, meaty texture that was easy to eat too.  The menma was soft crunchy and the seaweed is a nice garnish. This was an excellent bowl of instant noodles.  These higher-end instant noodles tend to be dried now and they take 4 to 5 minutes to rehydrate, unlike their deep-fried 3 minute cousins.

The finished bowl of ramen.  It looks good.

Closeup of the noodles.

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