How does this bowl of ramen look to you?
Does it look authentic enough like the ones you get it from ramen houses like Kintaro?
I must say I am pretty impressed with the ramen above.
Earlier this year, we started stocking Instant Ramen Noodles at home. It was at that time, the most superior instant noodles (see this post) we had ever tried. Of course it is good … it costs $4 for a serving.
Looks like we will be switching ramen noodles at home from now on. This is much better … and much cheaper too. Move over instant ramen noodles … hello, frozen noodles.
It was Janice who went out of her way to take pictures of the ramen for us and telling us exactly where we could pick it up. We bought the ramen from the Osaka Supermarket in the Yaohan Center on No 3 Road. They are found in the freezer section where you would find frozen dumplings.
The above is the three serving version with the simpler soy sauce flavour. It is called the Myojo Shoyu Aji Nama Ramen and costs … $5.60. So that makes it about $2 each.
On the left above is the 1 serving frozen ramen. This is the one that Janice recommended. It is called the Nissin Ramen Shoyu and costs $2.60.
On the right is the 2 serving frozen ramen. This is more expensive and costs $6.30. This is because it is Tonkotsu (while the other two is just shoyu flavour). I don’t have a picture of this tonkotsu ramen but I can tell you that it is very very good. However, Suanne will not be buying this because the nutritional facts on the label shows a salt content of 1.4x the recommended daily intake. Too bad because we love it so much.
This post is about the 3-serving Myojo Shoyu Aji Nama Ramen.
The packaging is simple. It is just individual pouches of noodles and seasoning. It is good that they are individually packed so that you don’t have to cook all three of them once you open the packaging.
The noodles need 3 minutes of cooking time. It is quite starchy and clumpy. So we had to shake it loose every now and then. While cooking, we can see why this noodles is going to be better than the instant noodles type.
The seasoning is just the soy sauce although a little bit more concentrated.
The soup base is prepared separate from the noodles. Just pour 1.5 cups of boiling water into the seasoning …
… toss the noodles into the soup …
… and there you have it … the newly crowned home made ramen that is closest to Kintaro’s. The broth is rich and flavourful. We don’t know what the salt content is in this ramen because the packaging is all in Japanese.
The best part of this ramen is the noodles. It is by miles better than any instant noodles. It has that perfect texture and chewiness that you can’t replicate with instant noodles.
The down side is, there is nothing else in the noodles. So we had to go pick up some stuff to add to it to make it a little bit more authentic.
We got the Taiwanese marinated eggs from the food court in Parker Place …
… and a pound of Roasted Pork, also from Parker Place. We should have bought 1.5 lbs because it was 1/3 gone by the time Suanne and I got home. The boys were upset that we started eating in the car. Too bad, I told them. I asked them to come along and they did not.
The marinated pork intestines in Parker Place is pretty good too. Just perfect to go with congee … and now frozen ramen too.
Parker Place’s char siu is nothing to shout about but almost every time we are there we ended up buying this to make char siu bao at home.
Just so that you know, Suanne makes some of the greatest char siu bao around. I am not kidding. Her char siu bao is super moist. It might be the ugliest looking char siu bao but it tasted better than any we had tried outside. See her two-part post here and here.
the frozen ramen may not be as good when compared to what ramen houses serve. however, i usually just cook frozen ramen at home as the flavor is not that much different. not worth going out to pay $10 a bowl when you can cook something similar at home for a much cheaper price. my opinion anyways.
Ooooo….I can’t wait to buy and try all these new ramens! I’m always craving some good ramen, but downtown always just seems so far away to go for a bowl of noodles…..now I can have them in the comfort of my own home! Yay! Thanks for this imformative post Ben!
Ignorance truly is bliss.. when it comes to fat/salt content in Ramen 😉
Where do you buy this one, Ben ? T&T ?
I buy the frozen udon (Japanese brand), not the individually packed ones at room temperature for $0.50/bag but actually frozen version, at T&T:
http://xf8.xanga.com/19ec2551d6d31182515140/m139694652.jpg
The texture and taste of the frozen variety is much better than the cheaper ones after cooking. But it costs a bit more per serving.
Hi LotusRapper: We bought these from Osaka in the Yaohan Center. But I think it should be available in T&T too since Osaka and T&T are the same company.
Ben
Thx Ben. I’ll check out the Metrotown T&T, then.
the Nissin one comes in Tonkotsu base as well. it’s delicious =)
The ramen in Vancouver isn’t very good so I’m not surprised the frozen supermarket ones are comparable to restaurants. When I was in Tokyo, I would always buy supermarket ramen (unfrozen) and it was very good because a lot of “brands” were real ramen restaurants so most soup bases were really tasty and the noodles were fresh ^^
Eventhough the salt content is high with these la mian, what are you going to do about it? Just don’t drink all the soup.
Even if you go to a Japanese la mian shop, the salt is also high. Just eat the la mian and don’t drink too much of the soup. You still get the flavor since some of the soup is on the la mian.
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Just a note… the ramen is now on sale at t&t for 2/$3 (only today till Thursday)!
Too bad we can’t get this in the States, was looking everywhere online and couldn’t find anything about these noodles. What is the brand name of the noodles you have pictured?