Noodle Journey Supplement Re-Review: Ramen Toppers Chashu Pork, Fish Cake, & Vegetable Mix (2024)

I’m revisiting the Ramen Toppers mix after the company reached out to say they overhauled the recipe and ingredients. The last time I reviewed this product (September 2023), I had issues with tough, underseasoned pork and pale, uneven vegetables; they claim to have addressed all of that with a new marinade, smaller pork pieces, and upgraded veggies. If you watch the video above, you can see a comparison of the old recipe’s contents to the new.

This new recipe is available on Amazon and Etsy for $24.99 at the time of this review. The jar is 5.64 oz. (after dehydration) and contains seasoned pork, narutomaki fish cake, and a vegetable medley of corn, peas, cabbage, carrots, mung beans, and green onion. Rehydration is simple: boil for about 4 minutes, which you can do while cooking your favorite ramen. I’m testing this with the same ramen I used last time (Nissin Demae Black Garlic Oil Tonkotsu) to keep the comparison fair.

Spiciness:
There’s no heat here – no chili pepper is included in this mix.
• 0/10

Overall:
The improvements in this recipe are obvious right away. The pork is the most massive change: bite-sized pieces this time that rehydrated tenderly, with some very tasty soy/ginger/garlic/sesame notes and a lightly seared character. I got much better flavor without the tough chew I ran into before. The narutomaki is sourced from a legit manufacturer and comes thinner and more supple than the old version; it tastes right and adds that classic ramen-shop look. The vegetables are also much improved – the carrots have color and sweetness, the corn and peas hit the proper texture, and nothing throws a weird aftertaste into the broth. I also appreciate that dropping a generous scoop into boiling water releases a noticeably savory, onion-garlic aroma right away, probably from the chashu marinade. From a value and use-case standpoint, this makes sense for office lunches or anyone who can’t easily buy pork belly and fish cake locally; one jar conveniently adds protein and vegetables to a plain noodle soup. I still don’t love peas and corn in ramen, but they’re no longer a distraction, and the overall quality jump won me over completely. This is a strong turnaround and an easy recommendation if the price and ingredient mix appeals to you.
• 10/10

Notes since filming:

My old review of this product is still up for the sake of posterity and comparison, but this new recipe is the one you should pay attention to! Such a great comeback story.

Links to purchase:

https://www.amazon.com/Ramen-Toppers-Dehydrated-Toppings-Noodles/dp/B0BZCKH9S8
https://www.etsy.com/shop/RamenToppers