Country of Origin: South Korea
Delicious with moderate danger.
Consumption
I was excited to review these; Nongshims regular Shin Ramyun is a staple in my household so the Black was definitely on my Radar.
This is another broth-based ramen; unlike our previous reviews (where the broth was a deep red semi-translucent color that seemed to signify the colour that your stool is probably going to end up) this ends up as a creamy looking light shade of red. Already looks tasty! Also a big fan of the dehydrated vegetables in this one; garlic, spring onion, mushroom and chili. They hydrated extremely well and added much more variation to the experience.
Flavour was incredible; one of my favourites yet. Still heavy on the garlic tones with what I detected as a hint of tomato (but maybe my palate isn’t great). Josh got more of a beef undertone. Either way, delicious! Minimal mouth sting when consuming the noodles.
As usual the test is the broth; I slurped it all down with much speed and efficiency. Some residual mouth sting. Definite head sweat on completion accompanied by runny nose. I had to use three tissues to clean up. I rate this as a Medium Level Heat. I’ve had much worse but most people need to be aware there is definite heat here. Imagine this is most of Drakes “Views” album; heat, but not really fire.
Heat Level
Taste Level
The Aftermath
8:30pm – Thought I was in the clear but the abdominal pain and gassy gargling was in effect. Nothing stingy, spent about 20 minutes on the bowl.
9.00pm – Still gargling…still a bit of pain…pushing through. We’ll see when I feel I need to hit the bowl again.
10.15pm – Here we go! Back to the bowl, quick release again. Very slight heat around the exit area. Still that slight gastro feel in my abdomen that’s becoming all too familiar. Im feeling like this is almost on par with the Namja Ramyun
Next Day – All fine and dandy! Slept like a baby. No problems since 10.15 last night. The regret doesn’t carry over to the morning with this one.
I think this one is a 6 flamer for me. Not as much sting as the Namja Ramyun but just as much regret.
I have to say, the flavour of these noodles was top notch, if I was rating on flavour alone, these (in my opinion) go toe to toe with the infamous fire noodles. There was definitely chilli involved but it just felt like my mouth had sit in the sun a little long on a summers day instead of someone holding a lit match to my tongue. Around 6:00, my stomach started making some noises, not the kind of noises that make you want to cancel all your plans and pull up shop in the lavatry but there was certainly some termoil that had begun in the lower depths of my bowel. I put it off, I played the chance card and decided I would simply wait it out (I was still 30 minutes from home at this point). Upon getting home, I’m not sure if it was because my body knew how close I was to relief or if the war that was going on in my lower abdomen was taking heavy losses but I have never gotten out of the car and into the bathroom quicker. The storm was more of a tornado than a hurricane, it was detructive but focused and over pretty quickly. Afterwards, I felt beaten, red all over and sore but relieved that it was over, I felt Like Rocky after his bout with Apollo Creed, I was down, but would be back in the ring for fights to come.
This was a solid 7 Flamer for me, I’ll eat it again for the taste but I’ll be eating me some fibre gummies prior.
Gotta say I agree with my fellow reviewers on this one – absolutely delicious broth, moist vegetables and nice textured ramen, definitely in my top 2 for taste. In my opinion it has the taste of a spicy beef stroganoff thanks to the beef stock flavour and creamy texture. Heat-wise you will feel it, but it’s not an overpowering challenge, being more of a nice warmup before the big fight.
Noticed a decided urgency to my toilet run, but nothing unmanageable should you have a commitment interfering with your porcelain prayer time. Sting was on the level of a slightly-too-warm bidet, giving a little shock to the system before settling in for a good hour-long session before you will feel properly purged.
6 flamer for me based on the time before I felt confident leaving the throne.
Overall Porcelain Punishment Level
