Ramen 🍜 is the food I miss the most from Japan. There was not a single day we didn't eat ramen during our trips there. Nowadays, there are many Japanese restaurants in the Philippines (Ramen Nagi is one) that offer a wide variety of ramen that taste really good and more than enough to satisfy our cravings whenever we're home.
During our latest trip in Japan last January 2020, we decided to hunt for the famous Ichiran ramen so we could bring some home and share it with our families.
Finding the famous Ichiran Ramen
The instant Ichiran ramen isn't widely available and it took us a while to find it. We got a few boxes from Don Quijote (Donki) MEGA (donki.com) in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
(Don Quijote is a shopping center with lots of things to see and buy. Be sure to visit one when you're in Japan. It's a must!)
A box contains five packs of Ichiran ramen. They are available in different quantities/packaging and variant, too, including the No Pork ICHIRAN Ramen, which, in hindsight, I should have hoarded and brought with me here in Saudi Arabia (I can only find ramyun, which is Korean, in stores here).
How much is the Instant Ichiran Ramen?
Unfortunately, I forgot how much they exactly cost in Yen, but it was right around Php 1,200 per box, or Php 240 per packet.
I see posts selling them for Php 1,500 per box in the Philippines.
Business idea: That is some profit if you work in Japan and send several boxes occasionally to the Philippines for a side business!
There's a cooking instruction on the box. They're in Nihon-go but there are illustrations so you're good.
But if you're like me, I had to scan the QR (which directs to this webpage) on the box to watch how it's actually done:
How to cook the instant Ichiran Ramen?
Well, cooking the famous instant ramen is nothing special and is done just similar to how you would prepare any other instant noodles. (I believe any, if not most, adult Filipino is already an expert in cooking instant noodles.)
The video below shows how it's prepared.
The cooking of the noodles itself is very easy but the fancy part is at the end where you add the other ingredients (green onion, pork slices, and egg) which you have to prepare yourself, obviously.
Is the instant Ichiran Ramen worth it?
For over Php 200 per pack (maybe around 300), it's pretty expensive, to be honest, but you're paying for the taste.
I have to mention that the instant Ichiran Ramen doesn't come with extra ingredients (dried vegetables and dried meat) like what you would find in the more famous Nissin cup noodles brand.
The soup is almost similar to eating an authentic restaurant-cooked ramen minus the ambiance (of course) and the toppings that make a ramen so visually appetizing. Again, you're paying only for the taste, not the 'texture', not the 'visuals' of the food.
It's worth a try ONCE and ONE PACKET only for the sake of tasting it if you don't mind spending a few hundreds, and if you haven't tried any ramen before aside from the Nissin brand.
You're better off spending your money, if and once possible, with an actual ramen from a Japanese restaurant that costs almost the same. Or, just buy the original Nissin cup noodles.
For its bareness, it's just up to you to make extra effort in preparing the toppings to make the Instant Ichiran Ramen experience more complete. 🍜
