This is the first of three reviews about the premium Cup Noodles released by Nissin in the summer of 2024 for a limited run that went into the fall. There was a version for the regular cup of noodles (shoyu), the curry noodles (a big fan favourite), and seafood noodles. Every one of these came in a golden cup with a gold foil top and the big characters in gold print 特上 for special / premium on a black background. The regular logo for each type of cup was in their standard fonts and colour underneath.
When I found these deluxe noodle cups on the shelf, I had to get one of each to try and this review is for the Premium Shoyu Cup Noodle with Matsukae Mushroom Oil. I believe these premium cups sold for about 259 yen instead of the usual 236 yen (premium = +10% more) than the original versions and they use the same regular cup size, not the BIG cup size.
I've had the regular shoyu cup noodle many times and quite like it. It is kind of like the classic taste of cup noodles, and is coincidently the original noodle in a cup - yup, the very first cup noodle in the world. I've even built the model kit for the original cup noodle. You can see it here along with a history.
This cup is special because of the mushroom oil and larger ground pork cubes. I'm expecting a slightly meatier and more savoury experience from the truffle oil. More umami please!
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| Front view of the cup showing the classic CUP NOODLE logo and all the gold you want. |
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| Top of the noodle cup with the sachet of mushroom oil. |
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| Top of the cup with the oil sachet removed. You can see all the toppings including pieces of mushroom which I didn't expect. |
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| Closeup of the matsutake mushroom oil sachet. |
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| Says the matsuake-like ingredient is seasoned king oyster mushroom (the mushroom pieces) with matsutake flavouring. |
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| Almost like matsutake for texture and taste. |
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| Ingredients and cooking directions and manufacturing info at the very bottom. Add boiling water to the fill line, close the lid, let it sit for 3 minutes, then add the flavour oil last. |
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| Nutritional info. |
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| Allergens, warnings, and prep directions. |
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| Closeup of the dried topping for the noodles. Lots of meat and shrimp. |
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| Closeup of the toppings. You see nice plump shrimp, meat cubes that have lost some of their shape, egg, dried mushroom, and green onion. Lots of soup base powder. |
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| You can see the mushroom pieces clearly in this photo of the finished product. There is plenty of topping in this cup. |
I have to say my first impressions of this cup noodle are pretty impressive. When I first opened it there were plenty of toppings. I could see the larger meat cubes, plump shrimp, and mushroom pieces. The rehydration process for these fried noodles was the standard 3 minutes. When it was done the soup smells like a shoyu with a slight mushroom smell. The oil really kick up the mushroom smell. Strangely enough I thought the broth tasted a little lighter, but maybe it is was extra mushroom umami throwing off my taste buds. The soup definitely takes on the flavour of the oil with the regular soup base in the background. Definitely a positive taste experience, but I’m not sure I like it more than the regular soup.
The Mushroom bits are chewy like oyster mushroom and mushroom flavour is aromatic not like a regular mushroom flavour. It is hard to describe and more exotic. The meat cubes were meaty bites and tasted like mystery meat hamburger and the shrimp were a firm, meaty, and not tough. The egg was there but there wasn't much egg flavour to them. Nothing disappointed though. It was worth trying this noodle cup.
I was also wondering about the matsutake mushrooms. It turns out that only 1000 tons of these mushrooms are harvested each year in Japan and there are lots of imported matsutake from China, Korea, the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and northern Europe. These mushrooms can be expensive and dependent on quality, origin, and availability. From Wikipedia, the price can range from as high as $1,000 per kilogram ($450 per pound) for domestically harvested matsutake at the beginning of the season to as low as $4.41/kg ($2/lb), though the average value for imported matsutake is about $90/kg ($41/lb). These mushrooms used to be a luxury item, but they are now often just a premium item. This explains the use of matsutake flavouring or extract in this cup.
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| Closeup of a piece of scrambled egg, shrimp, meat, mushrooms, and noodles. |
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