Mama Ramen Tonkotsu Ramen Kit Review From Bountiful Farmers' Market

I bought the Mama Ramen Tonkotsu Ramen Kit at their booth in Edmonton's Bountiful Farmers' Market down on 91 Street.  There was a helpful staffer who walked me through what they had and offered samples of their wares.  I've been by this booth more than a few times and I finally decided to stop and pick up one of their kits.  Their ramen kits come either fresh or frozen and you can get just the soup and noodles or a full kit with toppings.  I opted for a full kit with all the toppings.

The Mama Ramen booth at Bountiful market.  Ramen and onigiri for sale!

I don't know much about the history of this company, but they have been around for at least a few years, so hopefully they'll be around for the long haul.  Looking at their minimalistic web site, it looks like you can pre-order your ramen kits for pickup at either the Edmonton Farmers' Market or the Bountiful Farmers' Market.  Mama Ramen website.

Very tasty looking berries at the market.  We always end up buying some fresh produce and bread.

Tonkotsu Ramen Kit.  The label says it all and has preparation directions.

The ramen kit from Mama Ramen contains all the essentials for a tasty bowl of ramen soup.  You get two pieces of chashu pork, three pieces of naruto fish roll, a soy sauce egg, slivered green onion and corn, fresh ramen noodles, and a block of frozen broth.  I've tried one other ramen kit from Tokiwa Ramen during the pandemic and this stacks up pretty well. 

The toppings and ramen noodles come in one container.

The contents of the ramen kit all layed out.  On the left are a sachets of black garlic oil and spicy oil.  You can have the soup as regular tonkotsu or zip it up with one or both oils.

The frozen broth needs to be thawed in a pot or a microwave.  The broth has been well cooked to make it, so it really just needs reheating.  I used a pot and had to melt it a bit to get the block to sit on the bottom to melt.  I used a medium low heat to thaw it and bring it to a low boil.

The melted soup.  Smells like a tonkotsu.  A good sign.

You drop the fresh noodles in another pot to cook them for a few minutes.  It doesn't take very long to cook fresh ramen noodles.

 

You then drain all of the water out and pour the noodles into a bowl.  I've added the black garlic oil on the side of the bowl.  

I reheated the egg and the chashu in the hot broth for a minute and then put them on top of the noodles.  I then poured the broth into the bowl on top of everything.  I brought the noodles, egg, and pork to the surface and then added the remaining toppings of corn, green onion, and naruto roll.

The completed ramen kit.  It is a little monochrome in shades of tan, but that's tonkotsu for you!

After all that preparation I was ready for a lunch of ramen noodles.  The soup had a mildly robust aroma to it that hinted at some depth to the flavour.  Tonkotsu is made from boiling bones for a long period of time to extract the flavour and you can tell from the darker colour that it wasn't just a mild broth.  The soup had a smooth creamy texture and there was a definite salty note to it that boosted the savouriness and richness in the broth.  It was a good tonkotsu broth that didn't disappoint me.

There were many components to add to the ramen if you got the full kit.  The noodles were fresh and had a nice medium firmness and chew to them.  Boil them more or less for softer or firmer noodles.  The soy egg was soft boiled and very well marinated as it was dark all the way through.  The egg was a nice tasty addition and the egg is often a favourite in any ramen soup.  The two pieces of chashu were meaty and form and made for a very nice topping.  They were not too thick or thin.  Finally the naruto was naruto and the corn and green onions added a nice garnish.  

The base soup was decent as I had some of the broth on its own and the flavour profile was definitely amped up with the addition of the black garlic oil and a quarter of the hot chili oil.  I added the chili oil last after having half the noodles to see what it would do.  The heat from the chili was back loaded and I think I added just enough to not drown out the natural flavour of the soup for my tastes.

Overall, this is good ramen kit for your money.  I could definitely see getting a few of these if you were planning on eating at home and didn't want to go out for ramen or especially if you lived out of town.  It is definitely better than instant ramen, although the instant ramen is much cheaper.  One of these kits is like eating out at a ramen restaurant minus the tip.

Showing the well marinated egg cut in half.

Decent piece of chashu for your dining pleasure.

I reviewed these other frozen ramen bowls awhile back and I have linked a review of some instant tonkotsu ramen that are often available at supermarkets like H-Mart or T&T.

Costco Ajinomoto Tokyo Style Shoyu Ramen with Chicken
Tastie Japanese Style Frozen Complete Ramen Bowl Review

Tonkotsu Instant Ramen Showdown - Nissin Japan vs HK vs Itsuki
Tasting Marutai Kagoshima Black Pork Tonkotsu Ramen

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