I’ve found that a lot of Japanese products that promise spice don’t always deliver on the spice, even though they taste good. Hopefully this Nissin Cup Noodle Spicy variety brings the heat and the flavor in equal amounts. This is the second-to-last item brought back for me from Guam at Don Don Donki, so we’re getting very close to the end of that assortment of noodles. Nissin’s official product description touts this cup as being loaded with the largest amount of roasted chili peppers ever in a Cup Noodle product, plus the sourness of kimchi, flavor of garlic, and richness of miso. Sounds like a fantastic combination!
Read more: Review: Nissin Cup Noodle SpicyI’m not sure how long this flavor has been around, but it’s part of the regular non-limited Cup Noodle stock in Japan. If you’re interested in trying this but not ready to buy internationally just yet, don’t worry, it’ll probably be around for a while. While officially the translated name of this on Nissin Japan’s website is just “Cup Noodles Spicy Noodles,” you may also find it under the name “Spicy Soy Sauce” or, “Spicy Karamen,” (which is the term for the spicy ramen dish that originated in Miyazaki, like this Marutai variety I reviewed a while back) or other similar variations if you’re looking to order it online. You can find it on Amazon, or eBay, or on sites that ship Japanese products globally like Japanese Snacks Republic.
This one’s incredibly salty, even for a Cup Noodle. A salt equivalent of 5.7g means a sodium level of 2244mg. Yowza.
Inside the cup, you can see Nissin’s typical noodles along with a broth powder made from pork fat, soy sauce, kimchi powder, and miso. The dried toppings are red chilis, minced pork “mystery meat,” dehydrated egg, and green onion.
Noodles:
Standard Cup Noodle quality, nothing special.
- 5/10
Spiciness:
Nissin wasn’t kidding about the amount of chili pepper in here. As you can see from the photo above, the broth is absolutely loaded with chili flakes, and the end result is a very angry, spicy red hue. For a spice fan like me, this is a great amount of heat. It’s about on par with Shin Ramyun or some of the less potent Buldak varieties. This has a slight lip tingle with a back-of-the-throat spice, but with a pretty minimal amount of linger. While very far from the spiciest thing I’ve ever eaten, my nose was running by the end of it. Impressively spicy for a Japanese product without getting into gimmicky territory.
- 6/10
Overall:
In a word: terrific. I love the amount of heat in this, but I also love how balanced the spice is with the rest of the ingredients. Strong flavors like garlic and miso are really welcome here because they provide a boldness that can stand toe-to-toe with the spice rather than get lost in all that peppery flavor and heat. The end result is satisfyingly spicy, salty, and savory (try saying that five times fast!). There’s also a tiny hint of sugar balancing out the salt. Truly harmonious. The flavor of the chili itself adds a nice peppery finish to the broth, and the use of pork fat in the broth powder provides some excellent richness in the consistency. Despite its inclusion in the ingredients, I didn’t get any tastes I would describe as kimchi-like, but that’s fine since there’s a lot of other things going on in the flavor profile. As for the toppings, while I don’t typically like the use of dehydrated egg, their flavor here is so mild that they end up just soaking up the broth. And while the eggs are not my favorite topping choice, the mystery meat is; I’ve been a fan of Nissin’s mystery meat since the first time I tried it, and those fatty little seasoned meat chunks are a perfect complement to this broth. (For the uninitiated, “mystery meat” is the colloquial term given to Nissin’s meat flakes made from a combination of pork and vegetable protein. They are found in many Cup Noodle products, including the flagship Original flavor.) If you like Cup Noodle products already and are a fan of all things spicy and savory, you should absolutely purchase this if it’s within your means. While the noodles themselves are never the best, and I question the need for the egg chunks in here, I’m in love with the flavor and spice level of the broth, and highly recommend this one.
- 9/10
