A ramen store in Osaka has followed through on the wishes of a mystery customer who left the shop ¥1 million (US$11,685) and a message “Use this to let children have ramen” on July 27 this year.
Whatever his reasons, the restaurant was able to give 1,540 dishes for free to local children, feeding 70 local junior high school students on the first day and over a thousand more pre-school children and elementary school students over five more days, according to the Mainichi newspaper.
PS – The link is worth clicking just to see the wall of ramen choices which is very cool, although probably unrelated to the actual story.
If you are old like me then you remember back when MTV showed what is called “music videos” (kids, you may need to ask your parents about them). One of the videos featured this guy in a funny hat in a grey room with a sliding floor. This video has basically been taken as-is, dubbed over in Japanese, and is now an ad for Nissin Ramen. I have no idea what they say in the ad, but I’m going to guess that it resembles the Mister Sparkle commercial from the Simpsons episode.
Cupmen are little plastic guys that sit on the lid of your instant ramen cup and change color when the ramen is ready. They also hold the paper lid down so the steam stays in better. They were released this week at a price of 840 yen, about $9. If you can read Japanese, there is more info on the inventors, H Concept, website.
Nissin Ramen is releasing a new instant noodle product with one of the best names ever, MEAT KING. This cup is packed with extra meat, specifically beef, chicken, and pork. This was just released and costs around $2 per cup, depending on the exchange rate. I’m not sure you can buy this in the US, the original press release is all in Japanese. Read about it in English here.
The meat in the image below looks like the pork that you get on a pizza, but I’m honestly not sure. Personally I’d rather either add my own meat or do without it for instant noodles.
I’m a sucker for Sriracha sauce and fresh basil. Also did you know that Hesperia is not a Spanish word as I had originally thought, the town is named for a Greek god.
Put water and star anise in pan and bring to boil. Add noodles from one package of ramen (save the noodles from the other for another use) and cook 3 minutes. Remove the star anise and add seasoning packets from beef and oriental ramen packages. Add the Sriracha sauce, veggies and lime juice to taste. Serves 1.
If you ever find cheap steak on sale, this is a good recipe to use them for. The submitter recommends, “I buy thick cut beef chuck steak when it’s on sale. I then cut it into about 4 large pieces, trim the fat, put em into ziplocks and freeze.” Also if you’ve never had sweet soy sauce, it’s awesome!
Submitted By: Dean-o
Submitted From: Tuscon, AZ
Ingredients
Chuck steak, fat trimmed off
Ginger, fresh
garlic
sweet soy sauce
regular soy sauce
hot pepper flakes
beef broth
assorted vegetables (carrots, bok choy, green onions, etc)
dried shiitake mushrooms (optional)
chopped peanuts (optional)
To make this awesome ramen dish slice some semi-thawed beef across the grain very thin –as much as you think you want at one serving. put it in a ziplock bag. Add fresh ginger (slice with a potato peeler), finely minced garlic, sweet soy sauce, regular soy sauce, and hot red pepper flakes (take from a pizza place). Add some canned beef broth and mix. If you have any, chopped or ground dried shiitakes go good too. I make these in batches and freeze them as a mix with the steak. When you’re ready to eat thaw a bag — put it in a bowl — add a brick of ramen and water to cover. You may also add your favorite chopped veggies (bok choy, carrots, green onions). Zap the whole mix in the microwave or cook in a pot until the ramen and steak are cooked. (If you’ve chopped the steak thin enough it will cook quickly.) Garnish with chopped peanuts if you like. Eat like a king for cheap!
When I eat ramen as soup, I think that it’s really enhanced by adding 1 or 2 simple ingredients. I usually use one of the ingredients listed. Which of them, added by themselves, makes ramen soup taste better?
This guy has my limited review section crushed beyond all hope. He has reviewed (as of Feb 20), four thousand three hundred and eight varieties of ramen. The site is in Japanese, so I can’t make real sense of it, but I’ve gotta give this guy an A for effort. The link below also points to the guy’s Youtube page, although it is also in Japanese, it’s worth watching a couple of his reviews.
i-ramen.net is an amazingly meticulous web site that chronicles one man’s daily consumption of different kinds of instant noodles since 1997. It appears from the way they’re numbered that he is now on his 4,308th bowl. For each new type of instant noodle, he creates a thorough chart that includes a full ingredients list; comments on texture, flavor, quantity, and price; and a starred rating.
I enjoy a good bowl of ramen as much as the next guy, but $110 a bowl? Only if you’re buying. You can buy your $110 a bowl ramen at the Fujimaki Gekijyo restaurant in Tokyo, and according to the story, you will be able to get them at the Los Angeles restaurant they plan to open.
The “Five-Taste Blend Imperial Noodles” offered at Tokyo’s Fujimaki Gekijyo restaurant is ultimately just a bowl of soup and noodles, albeit an expensive one, especially as Japan’s economy slowly recovers from its worst recession since World War Two.
But owner Shoichi Fujimaki said it’s the soup, and the more than 20 ingredients used to make it, that elevated the dish from street food into five-star cuisine, with the price tag to match.
I won’t spoil this by letting you know my favorite, but these are the 5 flavors that I remember from when I was a kid. These days I’m a big fan of all the chili flavors, but I only started seeing those a few years ago.
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