NongShim - Seafood Ramyun

Ah Seafood flavour - so generic, so sketchy, so much potential for deliciousness. When a student purchases a seafood flavour they feel a small kick of uperclassness. The rich have their lobster, king crab and arctic char, the higher end of student has their Seafood Ramen.

Weighing in this week at a pricey $2.20 CA we have NongShim's Seafood Ramyun. For the uneducated the spelling "Ramyun" is a more phonetically accurate translation of the actual Japanese noodle name, which gives NongShim brand an uppityness and air of authenticity that it may or may not deserve.

A quick visit to the NongShim website enlightened us to the type of company they are. A Korean originating company we were surprised to see a photo montage of unrelated WASPS that have probably never dined on anything instant in their lives. It immediately set a standard for the instant noodles that we, sitting on our 4th hand couch and eating off our back alley rescued coffee table, hoped we could debunk.

The Players
Duncan: Instant Ramen Connoisseur and Sniffly Nosed Germ Factory
Bex: Creator of Ramen O' Rama and Sinus Clearing Guru

The Packaging
(8/10)
Pretty dang shnazzy if we do say so. The packaging was clearly created for Canadian consumption with it's French, English, Korean and Chinese lettering. It's like a melting pot on a bag. ( A brief digression - Fruits de Mer? Fruit of the Sea? Quoi?) The serving suggestion looked lovely and the slight metallic gold shimmer on the package adds a nice high end touch to the whole thing. Looks like NongShim is determined to keep their high standards obvious to all. There was a brief cry of "Ooooh Shiny" then the light foil package was opened with a silk like tear and the fun began. The two points were deducted for a reason that will be disclosed later.

Peripherals and Accessories
(3.5/5)
We were very excited to see that this package contained a small foil pack labeled Vegetables.
After the mundanety that was Ichiban it was nice to see some extras put into such a nice package. A quick trip to ingredient-ville informed us that "Vegetables" included Carrots, Mushrooms, Kelp, Seaweed, and for some insane reason - Pollock Cake. Pollock is a type of fish most commonly used as imitation crab. Last we checked, Pollock wasn't a vegetable. Also, why would the package tell us to try it with our favorite vegetables if they'd already provided them for us? Still points for style on drying the the noodles round instead of rectangular. We're not sure why they decided to be all iconoclastic, but they did. When we opened the seasoning package was when we should have noticed something was amiss. But we didn't. We just carried on unsuspectingly, moving on to the...


Preparation
(2/2)
Pretty dang simple. We just added water and waited until the package told us to take it off the heat (4-5 mins.) and put it in a bowl. There were microwave instructions included, but that way madness lies, so we stuck with the old tried and true stove top method. There was a smattering of Canadian pride when the instructions were given in Milliliters instead of cups.

Taste and Texture
(13/15)
Holy CRAP! No where on this package did this say it was spicy! No where! The warning bells should have gone off when when the contents of the seasoning pack turned the boiling water a caliente chili red. The noodles took on an orange-ish tinge. Duncan, although taken aback by the initial taste, soon started gobbling the noodles and the soup as if there was some kind of world economic crisis. Chopsticks flashed, mucus ran free and wild! Hygiene became a serious issue. Duncan and Bex awarded the noodles full marks for taste and texture. Even super hot and spicy they were thick and delicious, with a nice feeling on the teeth. It should be noted for this and every subsequent evaluation that we prepare the noodles exactly how the package states - no more, no less. And this was what instant noodles should be like. Delicious! Even the rehydrated vegetables were big and even looked like vegetables. Duncan squealed with delight on the discovery of a sizable mushroom! Worth the extra money for sure!

Bonus Points
(4/8)
Actual Vegetables! Seriously! Full on Mushrooms and carrots and seaweed! Yummy!MAJOR points deducted for the lack of spice warning. NOT COOL! On a side note, Duncan would like to thank the people at NongShim for clearing his sinuses.

Total Points
(29/40)
Not too shabby NongShim. We shall meet again.

Other Comments of Note:

We had a few choice words after reading through NongShim's company mandate and seeing:

"Nongshim has spared no effort to leapfrog to a global company and help create a better life by providing end-to-end services for promoting health and lifestyle"

Considering that the 1 pack of noodles we consumed contained 540 calories, 18 grams of fat and 2700 mg of sodium. (For the record, a regular diet consists of 2000 calories/day and that's 40% of your daily recommended fat intake and 112% of your daily sodium intake.) We're less than impressed at the falseness of their claims and have bestowed upon them the official douche award. They also make potato chips and those poofy onion ring things. Seriously, if you're going to try and puff up your company, talk about your commitment to quality or something. Sheesh.

For the record, the package that it came in made an excellent receptacle for all of Duncan's used Kleenexes as his nose ran and ran from the spice. Hurray for Recycling!


On a super excited happy funtime note - here's a one of the Company's Korean Commercials. No matter how much I love Ramen I don't think it will ever make me this happy.