Nissin Donbei Extra Spicy Chili Oil and Meat Broth Kitsune Udon Review

I've been surprised by the new varieities of Japanese instant noodles available at Asian supermarkets in Edmonton/Calgary in the last few months.  Most of these are a limited release specials in Japan so they are gone once they sell out.  One of these is the Nissin Donbei Extra Spicy Chili Oil and Meat Broth Kitsune Udon which was so good I ended up buying extras to share with family.  I just kind of wish that the stores would stock the regular flavours of Donbei or Cup Noodle as it is nice to get these limited releases, but you can't get the normal stuff!

3/4 view of the noodle bowl.  It is very reddish and brown in colour palette to let you know it is spicy.

Like the regular large Donbei noodles, this one is pretty much stock standard with the thicker, flattened udon style noodles and a nice big piece of fried tofu.  The difference comes from the little bits of minced pork and the liquid soup sachet.  The packaging is obviously different too with it's own name and product images.

Top view of the lid.  You can see the big soup spoon showing you the broth - something a little unusual and a pair of chopsticks showing off the thick udon noodles on the other side.  The big piece of fried tofu is prominently featured.  You can tell the soup is supposed to be spicy by the redness of the soup and the red themed colour palette of the graphics.

This is one of the big Donbei bowls.  There are smaller sizes for their regular offerings, but the limited bowls tend to come in the big size only.

Nutritional information.

Ingredients and manufacturers information.

Preparation directions, warnings, and allergens.  The big noodles take longer to rehydrate and it is 5 minutes vs 3 minutes.

After the lid is opened you can extract the liquid soup base, and see the big noodle block with the fried tofu and bits of ground pork on top of the noodles.

Closeup of the dried tofu block, noodles and the mince meat.  The tofu is spongy (like fried tofu can be) and you can see the pores in it.  Right now, it is stiff like styrofoam, but it rehydrates really well.

The spicy chili oil dashi broth.

I added in boiling water up to the fill line and let it sit for 5 minutes to rehydrate.

The final rehydrated product.  It is really nice to have a big piece of tofu which is one of the great things about kitsune udon (kitsune means fox and foxes are supposed to like fried tofu). A nugget of the ground pork sits on the tofu in this picture.

One of the core features about this instant noodle is the nice big piece of fried tofu.  It is one of the reasons you would buy this. This kind of tofu is nothing like the soft tofu you might have had before. It has a firmer, slightly chewy texture and bite.  You can smell the slightly sweet aroma from the fried tofu that has a sweet soy flavour which is very pleasant and tasty for people who like fried tofu along with its spongy texture.

The noodles were thick and required 5 minutes to rehydrate. Then the liquid soup base was added in and you stir it well. The soup itself smells spicy and meaty.  The concentrated liquid soup base is dark reddish brown and gives the soup a reddish colour with the chili oil in it.  This is a big change from the regular dashi soup base which is a powdered soup that is mainly plain dashi flavoured.

There were plenty of noodles to go around and they rehydrated well with  a nice easy bite and a bit of a chew.  They were filling and went well with the soup which had a medium low heat to it (not too zippy).  The soup has sweetness that goes well with the spice and the light heartiness provided by the dashi and pork flavour elements of the soup.  This noodle is best eaten with chopsticks so you can pick up the tofu to take bites out of it, but it is fairly easy to do this with a fork too.  The tofu accompanied the soup's spicy sweetness and the meaty umami pork flavouring well.  The little bits of ground pork were a nice touch but they do get lost in the soup.

I enjoyed this noodle bowl a great deal and would get something like this again for sure.

Closeup of the thick udon noodles.  There are few bits of green onion in the soup.

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