Nongshim Premium Udon with Shrimp Tempura Review

I was pretty stoked to find these Nongshim Premium Udon with Shrimp Tempura noodle cups at H-Mart.  I had looked for these out here, but had never seen them before out here in Edmonton until April of 2024.  This was a product that was mentioned on social media earlier in the year.  People were saying that they bought it at Costco out in Eastern Canada, but Costco out here in Alberta never had it.  It looked like something I wanted to try and I was kind of sad when I couldn't find it.  This product along with their Premium Tonkotsu bowls and a few others seem to have restricted product runs or something as you don't see them mentioned on their Nongshim USA website.

Then the clouds parted and the noodles shone down from heaven.  I happened to drop into H-Mart without knowing there was a promotional event on. I picked up the very last box on the shelves after another lady picked one up.  Unbelievable luck.  After an experience like this I think my expectations for this noodle bowl were on the high side.

A case of 6 noodle cups!

I have to say that Nongshim USA has their product graphic design done well.  The design for these is to emulate Japanese design esthetics around udon noodles and I think it succeeded.  It uses black to provide a classy, elegant look - like lacquer-ware, gold lettering for premium, and delicious-looking image of the noodle soup on the lid / side.  There are even the characters for udon on the side of the cup.

Lid of the cup.  It looks like a really nice bowl of noodles in a light brown broth.  There are two types of fish cakes, tempura bits, a mushroom, and three small shrimp.  This is a possible presentation picture, not the actual contents.

Side / front view of the cup with the noodle soup presented again. Hard to miss that is is UDON noodles with the size of the characters.

Nutrition facts.

Ingredients.

Preparation directions.

The opened noodle cup showing the liquid soup base, thicker than normal noodles, and toppings.

The toppings all poured out into a small bowl. There is actually a fair bit of it. You can see naruto (spiral fish cake discs), little shrimps in tempura, green onions, and seaweed.  Many of the toppings you would find in udon soup.

The rehydrated noodles.

When I first peeled back the lid of this cup and looked inside, I saw a noodle block and a liquid soup base sachet.  The dried topping ingredients were all underneath.  I poured the soup base over the noodles and then added boiling water up to the fill line.  I closed the lid and let it sit for 5 minutes. You definitely want the full time for the noodles to rehydrate properly as they are thicker and denser than some.

The soup smells like a soy sauce and dashi broth with a shrimpy aroma. It was a dark coloured soup that did have a bit of a sweet smell to it.  It was a mild soy/dashi broth with stronger soy sauce notes than the dashi, and there was a definite saltiness to it.  There was also a sweeter taste to it for the North American crowd; kind of like the Nissin Chow Mien bowls.  As the shrimp sat in the soup I think it did taste more seafoody as time went on.

The noodles were thicker, more dense and chewy with a nice break to them.  Nongshim usually does the noodles well and these didn't disappoint.  They were thick ramen type noodles, not udon noodles.  The UDON in the bowl's name is about the traditional udon taste experience rather than the noodles.

The toppings are both a highlight and a little disappointing.  I like the fact you get a fair bit of topping in this bowl.  There are many pieces of the dried tempura shrimp, green onion, seaweed, and naruto. These are all very nice accompaniments to the noodles and soup.  You can tell from the photo below that the noodles don't look bare, so they didn't skimp.  The shrimp tempura was nice and shrimpy in taste too.  The part that did disappoint a bit was the shrimp. I guess I had hoped for a firmer and meatier rehydrated shrimp in batter.  What you do get are smaller dried shrimp that have a crunch to them from their shells (all edible), something like what is used in Cantonese cuisine.  These have a strong shrimp taste and I used to eat them all the time, but like I said, I was hoping for bigger shrimp I guess.

Overall, this is a pretty tasty bowl of noodles and a definite change from having the usual spicy Nongshim noodles.  It isn't exactly a pure dashi soup with the extra soy sauce and sweetness, but a different kind of soup.  I enjoyed it and am glad I had the opportunity to try it out.  

When I think about instant dashi type soups, I think of the Nissin Donbei bowls.  I have reviews of them linked below.

1. Nissin Strongest Donbei Kakiage Soba Review 
2. Nissin Strongest Donbei Kitsune Udon Review

The thick rehydrated noodles and toppings.  Looks good.

Closeup of the noodles, tempura, and naruto.

Closeup of a shrimp that shed its tempura coat.

 

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