Nongshim Shin Ramyun Stir Fry Review | Noodle Journey Episode 198

Today’s review is going to be an interesting one, I hope. I’ll be reviewing and comparing the relatively new American version of Nongshim Shin Ramyun Stir Fry spicy beef flavor with its South Korean Shin Ramyun Stir Fry counterpart. A while back I ordered this Shin Ramyun stir fry flavor from South Korea and I didn’t get around to reviewing it at the time because other things caught my attention, you know how it goes. Since then, Shin Stir Fry has started popping up in other places around the world, including on American store shelves in new English friendly packaging. Unlike some situations where the American version is made in California, these are actually both manufactured in South Korea but one’s specifically for sale in the USA and one’s specifically for sale in South Korea. You’d think the ingredients would be largely the same just like they were in the Shin Red and Shin “The Red” that I just reviewed, but they’re not. I’ll get into the key differences below.

The only other thing to say up front is that Shin Ramyun Stir Fry is available in other regions too, like the UK and Australia, with those versions of the recipe being much more similar to the Korean recipe. There’s also a Cheese Stir Fry version out there that I have yet to find but I would love to try someday. For right now all we need to concern ourselves with is that, and I’m paraphrasing here, Nongshim claims that this is a flavorful stir-fried version of their signature Shin Ramyun, bringing the beloved spicy taste of Shin Ramyun into a new stir fry style. I’ve seen some pretty mixed opinions on the American version but not a whole lot about the Korean version so hopefully this is going to be informative for the both of us.

Nongshim Shin Ramyun Stir Fry (USA Version)

The Verdict:

We’ll start with the one that you Americans will be able to find easily. I found these at my local Asian market, but you will also see them pop up at Walmart or other grocery stores for around $8 to $10 for a four-pack. Nongshim’s website says this is also available in a big bowl form but I have not seen that anywhere yet. The sodium in this pack is not too bad, 1310 mg, which believe me is pretty low compared to other stir fry noodle products.

Inside the package we’ve got a round block of Nongshim wheat noodles. These only boil for about 3 minutes, which makes me think that even though they look the same as the Shin Ramyun soup noodles, they’re probably not the exact same recipe because the soup noodles take about 4-5 minutes to cook. We’ve got a liquid sauce packet containing beef bone extract, chili paste, corn syrup, tomato paste, vinegar, and various spices. Yes there is beef bone extract in this even though it’s made in South Korea and exported to the US – that usually means that South Korea has imported beef from America or another location that is deemed safe by the USDA, used it in this product, and then shipped back to the US in this form, or it has a special exemption to export this. It’s convoluted but that’s how you get beef in products from Asia. We’ve also got a flake packet with bok choy, carrot, soy protein, and mushroom.

After draining the noodles and flakes and adding the sauce, I smell soy and something sweet, and also a heavy whiff of pepper. There’s a good amount of sauce, pretty evenly coating the noodles.

Noodles:

I can’t for certain say that these are the same as Nongshim soup noodles but whether they are or not they work great in the context of a stir fry. Nice and firm, perfectly chewy. You don’t want soggy noodles in a stir fry; these are great from that perspective.

• 9/10

Spiciness:

I’m getting a lot of black pepper, which I smelled, and less chili pepper, but it is a harsh amount of black pepper in here and it’s a burn on my tongue more than anything else. Despite the source of the heat being different according to my taste buds, it’s still very much in line with OG Shin Ramyun. There’s quite a bit of a linger to it.

• 6/10

Overall:

When I take a bite of the noodles in the sauce I get a little hint of that sweet umami flavor that I love about Shin Ramyun as a soup. All of that then goes away because of the inordinate amount of pepper in this. Pretty sure it’s black pepper, or it could be white pepper, but it’s got a peppercorn vibe more so than a chili pepper flavor. I don’t love it. I don’t taste anything after that initial slurp. I do that initial slurp, I taste some good things and then a ton of pepper. That’s it, nothing else. No subtlety. It’s just, “Oh you like those flavors? Too bad, here’s pepper.” I’m not in love with it. It’s really a shame. The dried ingredients are great- the bok choy, the mushroom, the soy protein – they all add a nice texture, but I’m really very disappointed in the one-dimensional flavor that this has. I truly expected better from Nongshim. If I’m going to eat a spicy stir fry that’s going to burn my tongue, I’m just going to go for Buldak, not this. Buldak has more nuanced flavors to me than this does. I guess if you’re a fan of that harsh pepper residue then you’re going to enjoy this, but no, I don’t think this works at all for me. Good noodles, good flakes, subpar sauce. In my opinion Nongshim’s claim that this stir fry replicates the flavor of their Shin Ramyun soup is wildly inaccurate.

• 5.5/10

Nongshim Shin Ramyun Stir Fry (Korean Version)

The Verdict:

Let’s move on to the South Korean version which, again, is a little more similar to what you’ll see in other global markets. Also there’s 1390mg of sodium, not too bad.

Inside the pack we’ve got a block of what I think are even thinner noodles than were in the American version; these only take 2 minutes to cook in boiling water. We’ve got a powder seasoning pack, a liquid seasoning pack, and a dried flake pack. It’s largely the same ingredients as in the first one – a blend of soy, mushroom, chili pepper – but this time we’ve got chicken, beef, and pork extract. The flakes are green onion, mushroom, textured soy protein, and this is really cool: spicy fishcake, and it’s in the shape of the Shin logo on the front of the package. That’s a little eye candy for this particular variety. To cook this we’re going to boil the noodles and flakes for 2 minutes. The back says leave 4 tablespoons of water, then stir in the powder and the liquid at the very end.

As I was assembling, I had a little lick off the liquid packet and while it looks like it’s a chili oil, it’s actually kind of a sweet, I want to say like seafood oil, probably shrimp or squid derived if I had to guess, and it’s really pretty good. I’m very hopeful that that adds the extra depth of flavor that I was missing from the American version. At this point I should mention that you could do all this on the stove top and then stir fry this for just a little bit longer to get some of this liquid at the bottom thickened up, but I only had this one pack in my possession, so I wanted to show it all coming together. I don’t think that’s going to affect the flavor too much. The aroma off of this is much less harsh than the last one was, which is a promising sign, and it actually does smell like Shin soup.

Noodles:

Pretty much the same noodle score as last time. I like Nongshim’s noodles in the stir-fry capacity.

• 9/10

Spiciness:

The spice level on this is surprisingly tamer than the American version. Usually it’s the other way around, Korean noodles can get pretty hot, but no, this one’s got a pleasant tingle on my tongue but it’s not like burning hot. It’s still in that medium heat range that you might expect from a Shin product, but not nearly as spicy as its American counterpart.

• 4.5/10

Overall:

This does taste like Shin soup in a stir fry form with just a little bit more sweetness than I would expect from the broth. All the other flavors are here, that kind of meaty beefy mushroom umami quality with a good taste of soy and chili. That sweet oil concoction in there just kind of makes those flavors pop. When you mix sweet and savory and you get kind of the best of both worlds with those flavors, that’s what this is. It’s a very good sweet and spicy sauce. The flakes are the same great quality I expect from Nongshim. They weren’t stingy with the fishcake; there’s quite a few of those pieces in here. They’re really good and have a nice chewy texture to them. The soy protein is nice, and resembles real beef just enough to make it worthwhile. The one mushroom chunk I ate at review time was a little fibrous, but that happens with mushrooms and I love mushrooms so it’s not a total dealbreaker. If you’re going for stir fry flavor and you are expecting it to taste like Shin ramyun soup, then this is the version that you want to get. It is going to bother those of you who don’t like your noodles on the slightly sweeter side. If you’ve had Korean noodles before and that’s one of your chief complaints, stay away from this one. For me, I think this is a nice alternative to the broth version. I would say 7 out of 10 but I really like these little fish cakes; they’re just very cool looking and I love the texture of them, so that’s worth an extra half a point.

• 7.5/10

Final Thoughts

I’ve got to admit I’m a little bit surprised about how this review turned out. I kind of thought both recipes would be a little more similar in flavor. In the American version we have a very one-dimensional peppery flavor that I didn’t find very appealing, perfectly edible but not great. In the Korean version we’ve got something that’s much closer to what Shin Ramyun broth tastes like with an extra sweet seafood oil element to it that I really really appreciated. If you don’t care that it doesn’t taste like Shin broth and you want that extra pepper burn, you might want to try the American one; just keep your expectations in check. If you don’t mind the sweeter side of Korean noodles, the Korean one is the one I’d recommend.