Nong Shim "Seafood Ramyun"

Brand: Nong Shim
Flavour: Seafood Ramyun
Format: brick-in-packet
Packets: two
Identifiables: noodle disc, dried veggies, soup powder
Sodium: 2.42 grams

I found myself staring at the pantry shelves, wondering what to have for lunch. My eyes kept drifting to the ramen, and I'd admonish myself. "No, self, we have ramen all the time." I couldn't resist for long, however, and before I knew it I was carrying a bright red packet back to the kitchen in a sort of hypnotised shambling way. I didn't even bother getting the camera for pictures; I needed the ramen and I needed it bad.

Upon opening the packet, I caught a strong whiff of seafood. It turns out that some of the seafood flavour comes from something on the noodles themselves, perhaps added to the oil that goes into them. This also meant that the packets were a little oily on the outside, but that didn't metter to me. The noodle disc and veggies went into boiling water, and four very, very long minutes passed.

I should note that sometimes I'll prepare a soup-style ramen as a dry-style. What this means is that instead of adding the flavour packet to the broth, I'll drain the noodles and then mix in the seasonings. I'd decided to do that with this ramen, especially because experience tells me that Nong Shim tends toward very spicy noodles and I love the heat overload. Yes, I'm a capsaicin junkie. Anyhow, I figured this would be a very informal review, so I allowed myself this variation on the directions.

I drained the noodles, stirred in the reddish powder, and barely got out of the kitchen before I was hungrily slurping up the noodles. I must say, this flavour is precisely as though they decided to take Shin Ramyun and make it more fishy. Salty, yes, but with a very satisfying rich flavour, and the heat carries with it a tangy roundness that really makes it sing. I'll rate this flavour as higher than the standard Shin Ramyun because of that balance. This has become a favourite, I think.

Numbers: packaging 3, preparation 2, heat 4, flavour 4, overall 4
Music: Yoko Shimomura, Koji Kondo - Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS) - The Yoshi Village