Today’s review is of a product that probably shouldn’t exist, but here we are anyway. This is Myojo Ippei-Chan Yakisoba Strawberry Shortcake Flavor, and no, I’m not kidding and this isn’t a joke. You could say this is clickbait or even rage bait, but even if I wasn’t doing my channel or this website, I would still really, really want to know what this tastes like.
The Verdict:
| Product: | Myojo Ippei-Chan Yakisoba Strawberry Shortcake Flavor |
| Origin: | Japan |
| Noodle Quality: | 10/10 (on their own) 1/10 (used as a base for this abomination) |
| Spice Level: | 0/10 |
| Overall Score: | 1/10 |
This originally came out back in 2016 in Japan as a limited-time flavor. It’s also not the only dessert noodle Myojo has ever made; they did a chocolate sauce yakisoba around the same time. They just brought this flavor back a couple of weeks ago (early 2025) as a limited-time celebration of some sort of 30th anniversary. However, from what I’ve learned in my research, apparently this is an updated recipe with more sweet elements added and less savory flavor. I don’t know if that necessarily makes me feel better. The original recipe from nine years ago sounded really off-putting; it had a strawberry and beef flavored sauce and a vanilla-flavored mayonnaise. At least this time it looks like Myojo has fully leaned into this being a dessert. They even recommend pairing this with a cup of coffee.
If you decide this is something you need to try for yourself and you live in Japan, you should still be able to find this on a store shelf. If you live outside Japan, I found this on Japanese Snacks Republic, or you may spot it on eBay.
Opening this up, I immediately got punched in the face by a whiff of something like cake batter – it didn’t smell very good. Aside from the offending aroma, we’ve got a block of noodles and three packets: a powdered creamer sauce thing with cake flavoring, a liquid strawberry sauce, and a dried flake packet containing strawberry pieces and “feulletine” (which is dried crepe dough that’s been crushed up). To cook these, you add boiling water to the fill line, steep for five minutes, drain through the flap, and then stir in the creamer and toppings.
As I started assembling this, the powdered sauce smelled like someone took movie theater popcorn butter and added sugar and parmesan cheese. It really permeated the air with a fake butter smell. The strawberry sauce actually smelled kind of good – basically like strawberry syrup – but the fact that I was pouring it on instant noodles made it hard to be excited about it. The freeze-dried strawberries and feulletine didn’t have much of a smell, just a very faint baked pastry scent.
Noodles:
I really like Myojo’s Ippei-Chan Yakisoba with mustard mayonnaise; it’s actually my favorite Yakisoba of all time and made my top 10 list. Looking at these noodles and knowing what I just did to them felt wrong. This is tough because in a vacuum, if I’m just judging these as noodles, they’re really good. I love Ippei-Chan noodles; I’ve given them a 10/10 in the past. These are a little thicker, flatter, and softer than what comes in the other Yakisoba varieties I’ve had from Myojo before. On their own, they’re pretty good, but they’re being used as a stand-in for cake or pastry here. I can’t in good conscience give them a good score when they’re covered in this weird buttery sugar garbage.
• 1/10
Spiciness:
There is no spice to speak of in this dessert-themed bowl.
• 0/10
Overall:
This is as bad as you think it is. I’m not going to say I regret trying it because otherwise it would have remained one of life’s great curiosities, but this is purely a gimmick with no substance. I always point to Nissin’s Campfire S’mores flavor as the worst novelty ramen I’ve ever tried, but I think this is a close second. It is relentlessly sweet, and underneath is that awful fake butter/cake batter flavor. It tastes like fake butter and yeast. The strawberry sauce adds a faint strawberry flavor, but that’s faint praise. The freeze-dried strawberry pieces have an odd texture, like chewing on a little piece of styrofoam, and the feulletine just turns soft and limp once mixed in. This is a complete disaster. And as bad as this is I have to imagine the original recipe with beef and vanilla mayonnaise was probably somehow worse, but that in no way gives Myojo a pass for bringing this back. It went straight into the garbage as soon as I was done.
• 1/10
