Nongshim Chapaghetti

I so wanted these to taste wonderful. I have been really impressed with my two previous Nongshim products, and this one sounded so wonderful: "Korean Black spaghetti with roasted black bean sauce". It's actually a poor description of what it is attempting to be. It's intended to be a fusion of East and West, with Western style noodles (or spaghetti), which is where the air-drying comes in, and a Korean black soya bean sauce called chajang or jajang. Put the two names together chajang and spaghetti, and you have "Chapaghetti" - cute, huh? Hmmmm.

There are some fiddly cooking (yes, proper cooking) instructions which is not in line with my idea of an instant noodle (which should be simply pour on boiling water, stir, wait, eat), but I followed them so that I could experience these as Nongshim intended. Fair do, the dried veg does end up quite soft, but so does the noodle. The noodles end up an insipid floury paste, just like UK noodles - so I checked. Sure enough, as part of an aim to be healthier,and more in line with Western expectations and prejudices, the noodles are not dried fried, but air dried. Bum. Rant coming up:

Rant:. Research is coming round to the point where fat as a proportional part of the diet (and where the fat is kept away from sugar)  is healthy for us. We need fat. Fat helps us feel full, and the absence of a reasonable amount of fat in our diet sends the body into a response where it gets alarmed and starts to store the fat it does consume, under the principle that fat must be currently in short supply, so it should be conserved against even leaner times ahead. It also makes flour paste taste nicer. Seriously guys, if you're going to air-dry the noodles, make them taste nicer. Use better quality flour - how about using duram wheat, and a bit of egg? Hey, yes, let's do pasta instead, eh - that actually tastes good, so it doesn't need frying. Air-dried flour paste tastes REALLY FUCKING BLAND AND FLOURY! Either use pasta ingredients, or deep fry your noodles. This is not rocket science.  Rant over.

The sauce is nice, even if it lacked impact, and needed help from a bit of salt. It was moderately savoury with a flavour akin to French onion soup. Not the greatest taste in the world, and not quite what I was expecting, but it did taste reasonably natural and pleasant.

I suppose there was a little bit of unfulfilled expectation in the experience, which coloured my response; this is, after all, a decent quality product, where the makers are making something of an effort, and at 70p for 140g, it's good value; but I came away from this feeling disappointed and unsatisfied. I shall still seek out more Nongshim products, but shall temper my next indulgence with a little a caution.

3/10

Other reviews
*RamenRater (the rated product was made in the American plant where they use pork - the Korean made product uses soya)
*Amazon.com (American made)
*RamenLovers The reviews on this blog are somewhat more worth reading than RamenRater - more thoughtful, considered, informative and insightful. I don't think RamenRater has much of a palate, nor any sense of judgement or good taste. He's a fat guy who eats instant noodles - often shoving in other food at the same time, so the reviews are likely to be skewed anyway.
*KoreanWiz
*RamenButterfly Another quite thoughtful blog worth reading
*OfficalRamenHomepage
*TheRamenReview
*QTRamenReview

Most reviewers disliked it. Some loved it. Each to their own.

Nongshim