This caught my eye while I was browsing the shelves of my local convenience store. I’ve never seen it before, but then again, I don’t really frequent 7-Eleven. As a ramen fan, curiosity got the better of me and I had to check it out.
I went to 7-Eleven to buy their veggie-burger, but when I arrived it was already sold out. Not wanting to waste my visit, I scanned the other food in their refrigerated area and that’s when I saw this.
This branch stocked both Shoyu and Spicy Tonkotsu flavors. Because I have an affinity for spicy food, it was obvious which one to buy. I got the bag for P189 then returned to the office for a taste test.
The package is very secure and comes with finger holes for ease of carry. Reading the ingredients, they seem pretty organic as I saw no extremely long and confusing ingredient name.
The package also said that they make these kits fresh daily and they last for a few days on the shelf. My particular bag was due to expire the day after I bought it.
At the back of the package are the instructions. It’s a 3-step process of just combining the ingredients, microwaving it, and serving it up. Theoretically, you can have this ramen cooked at the convenience store itself, provided you have a huge enough bowl to contain it.
Once you open the package, you get individually sealed packages with the ramen ingredients inside.
Up first is the broth. Since it’s refrigerated, it looks like a bag of lard. Ramen broth is mostly fat and that’s a good thing because fat is flavor. It’s definitely a hefty pack and I readied myself for a full stomach afterwards.
Up next is the bag of noodles. It’s a bit smaller than I expected, especially compared to the amount of broth that came with it.
Probably the most disappointing pack included is the meat. Even though I can understand why it would be the smallest serving (capitalism), it still looks absolutely miserable. But after tasting it, I’ll give it a pass. More on the pork later.
And the final contents of the packaging are the Nori strips, dried chives, and mushrooms. I counted 6 strips of Nori and they are added last after heating up the other ingredients.
The package says that one ramen kit serves 2-3 and I can confirm that the ingredients are enough to fill two medium-sized bowls. After hastily portioning them out, I put them in the microwave for 2 minutes on the highest setting.
The smell of the broth started to waft around the area and I got hungrier with each passing second. The microwave beeped to signify that it was done so I removed the bowls and saw what I was rewarded with.
There it was, two bowls of fragrant and mouthwatering ramen after just a few minutes of preparation.
Now let’s get into the taste. The noodles were firm and felt authentic. They’re a huge step up from instant noodles and while they’re not as chewy as I’d like, they’re good enough on the mouth and have a decent bite. It does seem that these noodles were made fresh as advertised.
The meat reminded me of those found in tantanmen. No solid slice of chashu this time, but the pork was still very nice and had a good texture. If only there was more of it, then I wouldn’t be complaining. But given the price of this ramen, it’s forgivable.
The spice was felt right in the broth. Just as its frozen form indicated, it was full of flavor. Thick and creamy are the right words to describe it. I wasn’t expecting such flavor from ramen at this price so I was happily surprised.
The pork broth isn’t as powerful as the ones that cost twice as much, but it is still flavorful enough to pass as tonkotsu in my book. In fact, I think I can enjoy this broth on its own. If 7-Eleven started selling these as stand-alone broth packs, I’d happily partake in these.
Finally, the mushrooms added texture to the dish and the nori is always welcome for the salty and ocean-y taste that it provides. All in all, I enjoyed this ramen and for less than P200, it filled me up and made me sleepy right after the meal. I can definitely see it satisfying people craving for authentic-style ramen that’s cheap(er) and convenient.
This is a good move from 7-Eleven because in light of the pandemic, it’s much safer to enjoy ramen at the safety of your home (or office). This product fills the budget category because most ramen kits cost more than a couple of hundred pesos per pack. And with how easy it is to prepare this meal, it’s a convenient option for everyone looking to sate their ramen cravings.
I’m definitely going to try out their other flavor and maybe make an addendum to this post, but for now, I’m pleasantly surprised with how tasty this ramen kit was.
Thanks for reading! Keep safe and slurp noisily.
-jgzn
Jai Online 