Nissin Cup Noodles Soba Wok Style Classic
Another entry in my “let’s try probably terrible instant ramen from Europe” series, this time I am torturing myself with the Nissin Cup Noodles Soba Wok Style Classic. As always, the name is longer than the noodles in the cup and in this case, it is also quite nonsensical or is at least missing an important bit. The Japanese dish that is imitated here is called “yakisoba”, which literally means fried noodles. The word “soba” itself, can either be understood as buckwheat noodles or as a general term for noodles. However, if used without context, it usually described classic Japanese buckwheat noodles, which is not what you are getting here. I can only imagine the confusion of people, ordering soba in Japan and thinking that they will get something similar to this cup noodle. The additional “wok style” is also completely unnecessary, since there isn’t a thing that is or could be called wok style in Japan. Sure, some yakisoba are made in woks and potentially taste better than the ones made on a griddle or a regular frying pan, but it doesn’t really change anything else. Not sure what the rubes at the Nissin Europe headquarter were thinking, but I guess “sounds good” is sufficient as criteria.
Ok, now that this is out of the way, let’s actually take a look at the product.
Content
After opening the lid and pulling back the plastic wrapper, we are looking at a small ball of tightly curled up fried instant noodles, which are definitely on the thinner side. Fried in tasty palm oil, yum!
There are also some freeze dried cabbage pieces, mostly at the bottom of the cup. The small cubes are supposed to be freeze dried chicken pieces, but I have my doubts.
The sauce comes separate in a wet sachet, which you add at the end.
Preparation
If you look above, you can see the instructions yourself. It is the classic dry instant noodle approach of taking all things out, adding hot water and then pouring the water out of some perforation. Waiting time is 3 minutes. Sauce is added at the end right before you dig in.
Don’t forget to stir well and to mix the cabbage pieces at the bottom into the noodles.
Review
The small ball of puffed up instant noodles and added sauce does indeed look a bit sad and does not evoke a “I can’t wait to dig into this!” feeling right away. However, surprisingly, the smell of the yakisoba sauce is spot on and does indeed remind me of the legendary Bull-Dog sauce, which is often used for yakisoba in Japan. Taste-wise, it did indeed also go into the same direction, maybe with a bit more of a vinegary sourness, but overall hard to complain. They did hit the flavor profile with this one.
The noodles are surprisingly short, probably adjusted to work well with forks, which are even depicted in the preparation graphics. No real possibility to get your slurp going here. The texture of the noodles is quite brittle and not super pleasant, but also not terrible by any means.
The bits and pieces of cabbage actually come through with big bites and offer a bit of a texture change and crunch here and there. The chicken does not come through at all, it might as well not be there at all.
If you have read this far, you can probably guess that I had very low expectations for this instant ramen product. Nissin Europe has consistently disappointed me with their products. To everyone’s surprise I can say that this product actually is not awful. I might even say that I would buy this again if stuck in Europe, because it is leagues ahead of everything else I have tried out of Europe so far.
