Given that we’re coming out of a massive summer heatwave, I thought maybe it was time to review this Nissin Cup Noodle Tropical Seafood flavor. This is a limited-edition Japan-only variety from Nissin that pops back into existence every once in a while, and this particular instance of it is the “BIG” cup, meaning it’s much larger than a standard Cup Noodle size. I snagged this one last year and didn’t get a chance to review it until now, so the next time this comes around, you’ll be able to refer back to this review. This cup takes the massively popular Cup Noodle Seafood flavor and adds some extra flavors like coconut milk and mild chili pepper. Sounds interesting!
Read more: Review: Nissin Cup Noodle Tropical SeafoodNissin says that this is one of its best-selling limited Cup Noodle flavors, and of course the regular Cup Noodle Seafood flavor (one of my favorites from the line) is also considered to be one of, if not the best-selling seafood ramen in the world. Changing up the formula a little bit with some spice and coconut milk makes this an intriguing flavor combination. The fact that this has come back multiple times since it was originally introduced makes me hopeful that its popularity is well-deserved.
I got this from Yamibuy, but you’ll see it pop up from other various online retailers that sell noodles from Japan when it’s in production. If you want to gamble with “best-by” dates (which, if you’ve followed me long enough, you’ll know don’t really concern me all that much, but you do what’s best for you), you might still be able to find these on eBay at the time of this publication.
There was an import label on this cup (shown above) that listed the sodium at a massive 2720mg, and indeed, by my own calculation based on the salt equivalent of 6.9g, that is accurate. Be warned.
Inside, things look fairly similar to the original Seafood flavor, with a “BIG” block of dried noodles, a powdered broth, and lots of dried toppings. The broth contains soy sauce, coconut milk, “spices,” and a ton of extracts of pork, chicken, scallop, shrimp, and nonspecific other “seafood.” The toppings are cabbage, squid, eggs, and green onion. And yes, the inclusion of meat extract in here, which is standard for most Cup Noodle flavors, is accurate according to Nissin’s website, meaning the import label is most likely not accurate.
Noodles:
Typical Cup Noodle quality, which is to say not terribly impressive. But being a “BIG” cup, there’s at least a solid amount of noodles to fill you up.
- 5/10
Spiciness:
Despite the angry orangish-red color of the broth once it’s all cooked up, this is pretty mild, which I kind of expected given the “tropical” vibe Nissin was going for. It’s a very pleasant, easily-tolerable spice, and I think it works well here given the flavor of the broth, which I’ll get to below. Honestly, after a few bites I forgot that this was supposed to be spicy.
- 2/10
Overall:
Many of the things I love about the original Cup Noodle Seafood are here in this broth, but there’s a couple things I sorely miss. The good: the seafood flavor is sweet, light, and umami-forward, with some strong garlic notes and a satisfying amount of salt. The squid and cabbage are standout dried ingredients, providing some great flavor and textural contrast to the noodles, although if you’re on the fence about liking seafood instant ramen in general, the squid chips might be too fishy for your liking. I also found myself enjoying the egg bits in this one well enough, with a little burst of broth flavor in each bite, but that brings me to… The not-as-good: for something that takes its inspiration from the original Seafood cup, I really miss the inclusion of shrimp and imitation crab, especially when the egg pieces are the only other sizable dried element. It’s something that I can easily solve with Ramen Bae, but I feel like I shouldn’t have to in a product like this. I would’ve gladly traded egg for imitation crab in this any day of the week. What’s also a little baffling to me is that I couldn’t really find any hint of added coconut milk flavor in this; I didn’t mind its absence since I liked the broth flavor as-is, but for something that proudly touts the presence of coconut milk in it, I would have expected to be able to taste it. Instead, whatever coconut flavor is in this must have ended up masked by the other elements, at least to my tastebuds. Regardless, I enjoyed the flavor of this despite the missing coconut element, and I found the mild chili element to be a perfect accompaniment to the seafood nature of the broth – I just wish there was more actual seafood in here.
- 7.5/10
