Like a lot of my recent noodle purchases, I found this bowl of Nongshim Soon Tofu Noodles at my local Grocery Outlet and grabbed it right away. I’ve tried Nongshim Soon before and found it to be a very good vegan option, delivering some light spice and solid vegetable-forward umami flavor, kind of like a toned-down version of the classic Nongshim Shin. While I’ve found better vegan options from both Nongshim and Samyang, Soon is certainly easy to find and scratches a certain kind of itch. This one, by all appearances, appears to be the standard Soon formula with an added block of tofu in the bowl. Let’s see how it all comes together!
Read more: Review: Nongshim Soon Tofu NoodlesWhile I found this at Grocery Outlet, chances are you’ll have no issue finding it in other grocery stores or Asian markets. As of right now, this appears to only exist in bowl form, which makes sense given the inclusion of the tofu block.
We’ve got 1400mg of sodium in this bowl, which is to be expected from a Korean variety like this. Also 10g of protein if you’re concerned about a vegan noodle bowl being too light on the protein content.
Inside, we’ve got what appear to be Nongshim’s standard bowl wheat noodles, which tend to be thinner and a little less good than their pack noodles. There’s also a powdered soup base, the tofu block, and some dried veggies. The broth looks like it’s got a mix of soy sauce, onion, mushroom, garlic, ginger, and chili powder. The dried vegetable bits are green onion.
Noodles:
If you’ve had some of Nongshim’s other bowl products in the past, these noodles are about the same. They’re on the thinner side and nicely chewy, but they’re inferior to the pack versions simply because they have to be formulated to allow for either steeping or microwaving. I did opt to steep these rather than microwave in order to get maximum firmness out of them, and while they certainly have a slightly cheaper feel than the typical pack noodles, they’re decent enough for a bowl product.
- 7/10
Spiciness:
Like the original Soon flavor, this one has just a light kick of spice, both from mild red chili flakes and black pepper. It’s going to get your attention if you are extremely spice-averse, but for the rest of us, this is a walk in the park.
- 2.5/10
Overall:
It’s honestly been a while since I had the original Soon flavor (I haven’t bought it since I discovered Samyang Vegetasty), but I do believe this is essentially the same broth recipe. It’s got a decent umami flavor that comes across to me as a salty mushroom flavor predominantly, and then there’s a hint of garlic and black pepper rounding it out. It’s pretty tasty and certainly a good recipe, vegan or otherwise. The tofu block is where things get interesting, and how much you’ll end up liking this one versus the original comes down to how much you like soft tofu. At the end of the steep time the block is practically disintegrating (see the last two photos above), and will break up pretty thoroughly with a normal amount of stirring. For me, it’s not my favorite texture, although it does provide a better textural element than not having it at all. But Tofu also has the added bonus of soaking up that broth flavor the more you let it sit, which gives you a nice burst of flavor when you get a chunk. Also of note, the green onion pieces are pretty large and there’s a good amount of them. While I would’ve loved one more firmer textural element in here, like mushrooms or carrots, I have to conclude that the tofu block does add a net positive to the overall Soon experience despite the less-good noodles, and so I’m going to give this bowl a slightly higher score than I gave to the original Soon pack. If you like tofu and want a tasty vegan option, this is a solid choice.
- 7.5/10
