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We cooked Japan’s 2,000-yen mail-order Ramen of the Year, but was it worth it?【Taste test】

Shannon McNaught Dec 24, 2019
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If you’re a die-hard ramen fan, you’ll understand our need to find the truth.

Our Japanese-language writer Shawn was craving some ramen (the default setting for all SoraNews24 staff), so he decided to check online ramen shopping site Takumen.com for its best mail-order Ramen of the Year. That award goes to the ramen from the restaurant Yume wo Katare Tokyo. If you’ve heard that name before, it’s probably because you either really like ramen or you’ve seen the restaurant’s Boston branch in America.

▼ The Ramen of the Year award is advertised on the site’s top page, so it’s not that hard to find.

At the beginning of December, Takumen.com named Yume wo Katare Tokyo’s “Yume no Ramen” as the best-selling mail-order ramen of 2019, and Shawn wasted no time in ordering some so he could eat it before the end of the year.

It only took two days to deliver, but the price may shock you. One pack of Yume no Ramen is 980 yen, but since shipping cost 1,020 yen, Shawn’s single serving came out to 2,000 yen (or US$18.25). However, Shawn wasn’t fazed (more on that later).

The frozen pack revealed three bags: one containing the seasoning (upper-left), one containing the ramen noodles (bottom-left), and last one containing the soup and the chashu pork fillet (right). He also found a list of suggested toppings on the instructions label, which called for minced garlic, bean sprouts, cabbage, and chili peppers, which he bought separately at his neighborhood grocery store (except for the chili peppers, since he wasn’t in the mood for anything spicy).

▼ You’ll need medium pots to prepare this baby.

The actual preparation is fairly simple: simmer the soup for 10 minutes, cook the noodles for 5-7 minutes, add in the seasoning and cook for another 3-5 minutes, and then pour it all into a sizable bowl!

Shawn made one slight miscalculation with his bowl choice, though – even though he prepared a one-liter (34-ounce) bowl, it still wasn’t enough to contain all of the ramen goodness and the toppings. So, he had no choice but to make a topping mountain and figure out how to eat it neatly later.

▼ It is complete! (fanfare)

He was only able to fit on a few toppings with the chashu pork fillet, but this is what the finished product looked like! Shawn didn’t drop anything on the floor, but there was a lot of spillage on the table, so if you’re going to give this a whirl, we recommend using a much larger bowl.

On the bright side, spilling the soup meant it was filled up the perfect amount, and it looked absolutely stunning even though all Shawn did was boil a bunch of pre-packaged ingredients. Time to eat!

The beautifully fatty and sweet soup is a soy sauce/tonkotsu (pork stock) base that wasn’t too strong and absolutely divine. By the way, the sweetness apparently comes from the veggies!

When Shawn tried it with the “flavoring fat” included, though, it was even better. If you want to make the flavor of this soup ten times richer, then definitely try this out. It has a wonderfully guilty pleasure taste, especially when paired with garlic.

As for the noodles? They are thick (or thicc, depending on your spelling preference) and they have an amazingly chewy texture the more you munch. Shawn boiled his noodles for 7 minutes since he likes his noodles a bit on the softer side, but you can make them more al dente by cooking them for less time.

And now for…the chashu pork fillet. You can tell just by looking at it that it’s also thick and thoroughly flavored. It was so soft that when Shawn tried to pick it up, it almost broke apart!

The soft, juicy meat had a deep flavor with the same touch of sweetness that the soup had. Shawn was thoroughly impressed and satisfied with the fact that you can get such high-quality ramen in the mail in today’s day and age.

And now it’s time to find out why Shawn thought 2,000 yen for one serving of this ramen is actually cheap.

Shawn thought this ramen priced at 2,000 yen (including shipping) was cheap because you don’t have to factor in the price of transportation and waiting time.

From where Shawn lives in Japan, it costs about 500 yen using public transportation (round-trip) to purchase one 800-yen bowl of ramen at the actual Yume wo Katare Tokyo restaurant. And even then, he’s sometimes stuck waiting in line for hours. Getting it delivered at home means you can save a tiny bit of money (for some people) and a lot of time.

So, in the end, Shawn’s was more than satisfied with the taste, cooking process, and price of Takumen.com’s Ramen of the Year. Now he just has to decide what to try next. Maybe something on the cuter side, like pink Hello Kitty ramen?

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