Nissin Cup Noodle French-Inspired Flavors Mega-Review
Here’s a neat assortment of limited-time products. A trio of French-inspired flavors from Nissin Cup Noodle: Lobster Bisque, Sea Bream and Scallop Provencal Bouillabaisse, and Chicken Supreme Sauce Truffle. These aren’t typical flavors you see in the US market, and I’m always interested when Nissin experiments with profiles outside their usual lineup. I went into this wondering how strongly the seafood cups would commit to their concepts and whether the chicken cup would actually pull off a truffle-forward cream sauce. All three of these had the potential to be either genuinely surprising or complete misses.
Read more: Noodle Journey Episode 175: Nissin Cup Noodle French-Inspired Flavors Mega-ReviewI bought these as part of a larger import order from Japanese Snacks Republic, because these are not exported outside of Japan unless a mom-and-pop Asian market decides to import a case themselves. Pricing on imported Cup Noodle flavors varies depending on where you buy them, and you’ll typically only find them through international sellers or specialty Asian markets. All three of these cups use Nissin’s standard Cup Noodle block, and they all cook in the usual three minutes.
Lobster Bisque
Okay, let’s get right into the first flavor here, which is one of my favorite soups on the planet, Lobster Bisque. If you’re a seafood fan and you’ve never had lobster bisque, you’re missing out. Lobster bisque is a tomato and cream based soup that usually has a hint of sherry wine and pieces of lobster and sometimes other, cheaper seafood.
Sodium for this cup is 1680mg. Inside is a broth powder that smells something like lobster bisque, with some dried toppings and a seasoning oil on the lid. From what I was able to translate on Nissin’s website, the broth powder contains chicken, pork, and lots of seafood extracts, but none of them are explicitly lobster powder. I’m honestly not too mad at that because that probably would make this prohibitively expensive to produce, but you should know what you’re buying is not actual lobster bisque here, it’s a seafood broth in the style of lobster bisque. We also have some freeze-dried tomato and fish balls. And I should mention there is a milk-based powdered creamer in here to thicken the broth.
Noodles:
Typical Cup Noodle texture. Serviceable for what it is but not memorable.
• 5/10
Spiciness:
This is not spicy at all.
• 0/10
Overall:
First off, this does not taste like lobster bisque, although it is pretty good. What it does taste like is kind of a heavy tomato and fish broth. Any element of cream or sherry wine that I would normally associate with lobster bisque is not really in here, and even though the consistency is nice and thick, there’s nothing about it that really screams “cream.” So picture a tomato broth with added fish and shrimp flavor, and that’s what this is. There are some herbs floating around that don’t seem to impart much flavor. The broth is zesty, sweet, and savory, but just not a bisque. The fish balls are pretty plentiful and a good size, but they do taste like fish and not lobster. Texturally, they do resemble claw meat, so that was a nice touch. The tomato chunks have a kind of processed ketchup flavor that wasn’t bad but just felt out of places. The seasoning oil adds a little seafood citrus vibe to the whole thing. It’s overall pleasant, just not quite as advertised.
• 7.5/10
Sea Bream and Scallop Provencal Bouillabaisse
I confess I’ve only ever had bouillabaisse once in my life so I don’t quite have the affinity for this one that I do for bisque, not that that Lobster Bisque flavor was quite like any bisque I’ve ever had either. Bouillabaisse is a seafood stew that hails from Provence in France, and the herbs you usually associate with Provencal food consist of a big blend of herbs like thyme, basil, rosemary, tarragon, marjoram, oregano, lavender, bay leaf, and savory. Great blend of spices if you’ve never tried it – I sometimes use it when I cook chicken or fish. So those herbs may or may not feature here in these Cup Noodles, but if you get actual bouillabaisse in a restaurant, that’s what you should expect.
Sodium for this cup is 1760mg. Inside are your standard noodles with another seasoning oil and a broth base featuring tomato extract, chicken and pork seasoning, powdered cream, and lots of seafood ingredients like fish sauce, squid powder, clam powder, and shrimp powder, as well as the promised sea bream and scallop powders. For dried toppings, we’ve got pieces of cabbage, shrimp, tomatoes, and squid.
Noodles:
Same as before.
• 5/10
Spiciness:
No spice here.
• 0/10
Overall:
Once again, I think this is very good even if it doesn’t really resemble its namesake. There’s a lot more herb content in this cup than in the last one, plus an intense seafood flavor with a little bit of tomato brightness. The soup also has a much more pleasant consistency this time around. All told, it leans a bit more in the direction of a seafood-onion broth rather than a bouillabaisse, almost like a more fish-and-tomato forward rendition of Nissin’s classic Seafood Cup Noodle. The dried flakes are really good, although I really would have like a few more squid pieces. Good thing there’s Ramen Bae to help with that exact situation. A wonderful savory seafood broth.
• 8/10
Chicken Supreme Sauce Truffle
Lastly, we’ve got this flavor that Nissin is calling Chicken Supreme Sauce Truffle flavor, although this actually appears to be kind of a potage, which is another way of saying thick French stew. I’m expecting this to be a savory, creamy chicken and truffle soup with some good vegetables.
Sodium for this cup is 1840mg. Inside are noodles, broth powder, and flakes with a truffle-flavored (likely artificial) seasoning oil on the lid. The broth here is pork and chicken based with milk, cheese, mushroom powder, lemon, and onion powder, and the dried bits are carrots, mushrooms, green beans, and minced chicken.
Noodles:
Identical to the other flavors, totally middle-of-the-road.
• 5/10
Spiciness:
No heat whatsoever.
• 0/10
Overall:
It is not hyperbole to say that this might be one of the best Cup Noodle flavors I’ve ever had. The broth is a super thick umami-forward chicken and mushroom base with a little extra sweet and earthy hit of truffle oil that takes it to a completely new level. It does have a kind of homemade vibe to it, like I sat in my kitchen and simmers a chicken stew for hours with all of these ingredients. The dried veggies are all fantastic, but the cubes of chicken are incredibly flavorful in their own right, with a little bit of garlic seasoning on them and an authentic chicken meat texture that doesn’t feel quite as processed as you’d expect. If you don’t like truffle oil, you could omit it and just have a nice mushroomy chicken broth, but I think this all comes together perfectly as-is.
• 10/10
Notes since filming:
Shortly after filming, Japanese Snacks Republic sold out of all three of these flavors completely. I would love to believe that was because of me!
Unfortunately, the best of these three, the Chicken Supreme Sauce flavor, seems to be in dwindling supply already if it’s not completely gone. Which really stinks because it is my favorite Cup Noodle flavor of all time at this point.
