Samurai Noodle

So this is a little different. I went to ramen restaurant. It's the Samurai Noodle located at 606 5th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104. It's a small restaurant. I think they had 10 tables max and each table could sit 2 people. It's not something I disliked.

On to the more important part. I went with two others. One ordered Miso Ramen, it was 8.25. I and another ordered the Shouyu-Tonkotsu (although they spelled it Shouryu on their menu). They ran out of black mushrooms. We were asked what we wanted as replacement. I went with extra green onion. She went with corn. We also got water.

We went to our seats and waited. We got the water and I noticed that the water had an oily film on top. Guess the cups weren't very clean. So I didn't drink the water. Our orders came shortly after, so the wait time wasn't bad.

The broth tasted slightly bitter. I'm not sure it was supposed to be that way. The noodles were more al dente then I expected. They were also clumped together and it wasn't very long. The only other complement to the ramen noodles were the slice of pork and the green onions (in my case).

When people left they said "Thank you." Likewise, when I left, I heard this and it is appreciated. I left first though, to get the car. The others left a tip in the tip jar instead of the table, which I thought was pretty senseless. Now we're out the tip and look like jerks. But either way, based on the meal alone, I probably won't be back.

Demae Itcho 出前一丁 XO Sauce Seafood Flavor

This is that favorite brand I was talking about in my first post, just not this particular flavor.

Although the brand, Nissin, is Japanese, the package says it's a product of Hong Kong. Demae Itcho has been popular in Hong Kong, and subsequently Chinatowns, for as long as I can remember. What makes it so great? Maybe it's that character. Hehe.

It comes with the usual block of dried ramen noodles. It also comes with three packages, soup base, XO sauce, and oil. I don't think it was sesame oil.

It called for cooking the noodles in 2 and 1/4 cups of boiling water for 3 minutes. Remove from heat before adding the various packages. I'm not sure what XO sauce is supposed to be, but end product tasted like noodles in fish soup. It was seafood flavor. I couldn't taste any spiciness. The noodle texture was fine. Over all pretty good.

Sanukiya Somen Mild 讃岐屋そうめん

Found some Sanukiya Somen on sale for less than a buck. Usually goes for over 2. Looks like it was going to expire in about 3 days. But let's see how it turns out.

This is Shirakiku Brand Sanukiya Somen Mild. It says Fresh Japanese Style Somen on the label, but it's a product of Korea. As I understand it, somen is supposed to be eaten cold, but as far as I can tell the instructions to prepare this is just like typical cup ramen. Add water and heat.

It is slightly different because everything is packaged up. One contains the flavor powder. Another contained seaweed flakes. Lastly the noodles were packaged up.

The noodles were not crispy, dry, or hard. It felt like soft plastic.

After removing packaging and dumping it all back in the bowl, I added hot water to the specified line and microwaved it for 2 minutes as suggested.

For some reason it smelled kind of like tea. The flavors were ok. Not overpowering. The only indication of flavor was "Mild." So as expect it was slightly spicy. I've heard that even "Mild" in Korea is set your head on fire hot, but this was easily survivable by me and I generally don't like spicy. The texture of the noodle was good, not mushy at all. I almost feel like going back to the store and getting the rest of them, but they all expire in a few days. Oh well.

Koka Instant Rice Noodle Bowl 泰式酸辣味

 

Been a while. This time's addition is an instant noodle bowl. To be specific it is a Koka brand Instant Rice Noodles, Thai Hot and Sour flavored.

The contents are the dry flat rice noodles, and two packets, although the purple packet has two different compartments. There is the dry soup base and a chili sauce. The white packet labeled garnishes contained red and green flakes. I think the red was chili peppers. Here's what it looked like after I emptied it all out.

The instructions called for 2 cups of boiling water for 3 minutes. I used water from a water heater that should have been at 208 F. I assume it's probably less than that, but it turned out about the same. It certainly made it more convenient.

Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of spicy. So for spice fans, this was probably mild at best. It was hot and it was sour. So I guess it met expectations. The noodles were smooth and not mushy. I found two shrimp in there that were about as long as the diameter of a dime. They tasted ok. Overall, not bad but not great.

Sapporo Ichiban

This time we have Miso Flavored Sapporo Ichiban instant ramen. Made by Sanyo Foods.

Came with two items: the ramen block and a pack of soup base. Following the typical instructions of cooking for 3 minutes in boiling water, here is the results.

This was typical ramen and had the typical flavor. Really not much to write about. Did not find many flecks of green onion. Did I mention it was typical. Adding some meat and/or vegetables might have made it better.

金粉 Kamfen

First up, we have some Kamfen ramen. This package came refrigerated, so the noodles were not dry and crisp to begin with. There were two packs: a soup base, the other pack seemed like miso. The instructions called for boiling the noodles only about a minute. So really it's even more instant than most instant ramen. I didn't add any extras. Only what came with the package was put in the pot.

As for the taste, it wasn't bad. It wasn't great either. The flavor was supposed to be scallop soup. I didn't get that. There was a slight sourness to it, not in a bad way though. It tasted tomato-ish to me. The texture of the noodles were ok. Might have boiled over a suggested time causing the noodles to be a bit softer.



I later noticed  the BB date was 2010.09.01. I wonder if that affected the taste... I'm not sick though..

Instant Ramen

This blog will focus primarily on instant ramen. As a kid I had a lot of Nissin Ramen. I say it's still the best, but that may just be nostalgia goggles. There was a time when I lost touch with instant food, but then during college I had a return to instant ramen of the Cup O' Noodle type. I can't say it was particularly pleasant or filling for that matter, but it was cheap. Now, I've moved to a place where a large variety of instant noodles is available. Despite health concerns, I will be sampling and posting about many different brand and flavor instant noodles. Can my body handle it? We'll see. And hopefully, I'll throw in some real ramen at some point.