Nongshim x Jay Fai Shin Ramyun Tom Yum Review | Noodle Journey Episode 200

Since Nongshim Shin Ramyun is what started this channel, I am ending my Shin countdown from the last few episodes with something really special. I’m going to review both of these recent Nongshim x Jay Fai Shin Ramyun Tom Yum flavors that have been made in collaboration with legendary Thai street chef Jay Fai.

Not only is this the 200th episode, the channel also just hit 2500 subscribers last week and is on track to 250,000 views probably within the next couple weeks. Thank you all so much for sticking with me this long. I know that this is a very niche thing, especially with the static “I don’t show my face, no flashy editing” thing. I never thought I’d grow an audience of 25 people, let alone 2500 people, so I appreciate every single one of you.

Now, on to the review. These products need a little bit of a backstory. Nongshim announced back in November of 2023 that they were exploring a new collaboration for the Thailand market with Jay Fai. She is a world-renowned street food chef in Bangkok; some have called her the most famous street food chef in the world. She’s made a name for herself with her recipes like drunken noodles, crab omelette, and both tom yum soup and dry tom yum, which is something she actually invented. For all of her efforts, her restaurant earned a Michelin star in 2018, the only such street food restaurant at that time.

Nongshim came out with these two products as a fusion of Jay Fai’s famous tom yum soup and dried tom yum with Nongshim’s Shin Ramyun. You can watch a short documentary about Jay Fai on the Netflix series Street Food that came out in 2019. Tom yum soup is a fantastic spicy, aromatic, sour, herby soup, probably one of the most famous dishes from Thailand. If you want to buy these for yourself outside of Thailand, you’ll need to check eBay or specialty sites (EDIT: They appear to have made their way to the USA in select Asian markets). There’s no beef, chicken, or pork in these, so they’re actually pretty easy to ship to the US and other places.

Nongshim x Jay Fai Shin Ramyun Tom Yum

The Verdict:

The soup version is the more traditional way to enjoy tom yum. It is a completely different product from the stir fry rather than it being a single product with two cooking methods. The sodium in here is 1760 mg. Inside the pack, we’ve got a block of Nongshim’s shin noodles, a seasoning powder, a tom yum paste, and dried flakes. The powder looks to be the vegan version of Nongshim’s normal Shin seasoning; it’s basically soy, chili pepper, mushroom powder, sugar, and various spices. The vegetable mix is also the same as what’s normally sold with Shin Ramyun: bok choy, textured soy protein, mushroom, carrot, red chili, and onion. The tom yum paste contains chili, lemon, lime, anchovy, lemongrass, ginger, and garlic.

Before adding the paste, I had a taste of the broth, and confirmed it’s just regular Shin Ramyun – the vegan version. The paste packet is pretty small, but it is punchy with very strong ginger and lemon flavors. I’m not really getting any anchovy aroma, but usually when cooked it provides an indistinct umami flavor. The citrus and ginger aspect comes through in the aroma, though authentic tom yum usually uses galangal, which isn’t quite ginger.

Noodles:

Pretty standard Shin Ramyun noodles. Nice and plump, chewy, great soup noodles. The ones I fell in love with before I started this channel.

• 8/10

Spiciness:

The spice level is pretty much on par with regular Shin Ramyun. Yes, there is additional chili pepper in the paste and it has a little extra zest and acid from the citrus and the ginger, but I don’t think it’s any more spicy than regular Shin Ramyun is.

• 6/10

Overall:

Let me get ahead of something here. Inevitably on Reddit, when somebody talks about an instant tom yum product, they always ask, “How does it compare to Mama?” And the answer is always that Mama Shrimp Tom Yum and Creamy Shrimp Tom Yum and even Pork Tom Yum are all the more authentically flavored tom yum varieties in the instant noodle world. Nongshim is not trying to duplicate a tom yum soup here; they are very clear in the marketing that this is Shin Ramyun with tom yum flavor in it. If you’re looking for completely authentic, this is not it. But if you love Shin Ramyun and the sour citrus vibe of tom yum, you will appreciate this. It’s a Shin soup base with a paste packet that turns it super sour and a little extra gingery. And I think that additional flavor is excellent for someone like me who’s been eating Shin Ramyun pretty regularly going on 4 years or so. It’s really nice to have a product that has the comforting flavor of Shin, but changes the formula in just such a way to make it vibrant and new again. Is anybody going to give these noodles a Michelin star? No. But if you accept this for what this is, which is the chili umami deliciousness of Shin Ramyun coupled with a citrus-forward paste, then I think there’s a lot to like from a flavor perspective with this. Even if it doesn’t necessarily scream tom yum broth when you taste it, I think for what this is, the flavor is dynamite. I’m really glad that my friend sent me a couple extra packs of this because I will definitely devour those in the future. There’s not really a whole lot of downsides other than the general lack of a whole lot of flakes in here, which is typical of Nongshim. And the ginger flavor in here might be a bit too strong. Those are pretty minor issues, and I think the extra paste packet is delicious and downright transformative.

• 8.5/10

Nongshim x Jay Fai Shin Ramyun Tom Yum Stir Fry

The Verdict:

I think this is the more interesting of the two products, because Jay Fai is credited as the creator of dry tom yum. Now, of course, when she serves it at her retaurant, it’s a big pile of seafood and herbs and a tom yum sauce, rather than a bowl full of noodles. But this will do in a pinch sicne I won’t be going to Bangkok anytime soon.

The sodium here is a really reasonable 1260 mg for the whole pack. These noodles are thinner than the soup variety and only cook for 3 minutes. The powder and flakes appear to be the global export version of Shin Ramyun Stir Fry. In the powder, we’ve got salt, sugar, soy, yeast, black pepper, chili pepper, and mustard. The paste has lemon, lime, ginger, garlic, anchovy, and lemongrass, but it also has palm oil and rapeseed oil for an oily finish. The flakes are bok choy, textured vegetable protein, mushroom, and little fishcake pieces that look like the Shin logo.

When assembling, that tom yum paste collided with the hot water at the bottom of the bowl, and all that super punchy, strong, citrusy tom yum smell filled the air. It’s not a completely dry noodle, but it’s close.

Noodles:

I’ve spent the last couple videos talking about how much I love Nongshim’s thinner stir fry noodles. Once again, here they’re great. Nice texture, really chewy.

• 9/10

Spiciness:

I would say this is on par with the soup version and Shin Ramyun in general. High level medium heat. It’s lingering on my lips and on the tip of my tongue. Not super hot if you’re used to Buldak, but it will get your attention.

• 6/10

Overall:

It is kind of strange tasting tom yum in this form, but not in a bad way; all the flavor notes are here, but it’s just kind of deconstructed. It’s got the expected shin stir fry flavor of chili pepper, black pepper, sugar, and gochujang, and then it hits you with all that citrusy tom yum goodness. One warning: this is sweeter than normal tom yum because of the sugar content in the Shin Stir Fry powder base. If you don’t like your food on the sweeter side, which is something that tends to happen with some Korean dishes, stick with the soup version. The variety and quality of the flakes is great. I love those fishcake pieces. And despite the warning, I truly don’t mind the additional sweetness present here. I think the flavor is on par with the soup version. They both bring different experiences to the same basic flavor.

• 8.5/10