Nakiryu Dandan Instant Ramen – My Verdict Of This One Michelin Star Instant Noodles

During my recent trip to Tokyo, I bought a whole bunch of famous Japanese instant ramen to try. One of them was the Nakiryu Dandan Instant Ramen. It was really delicious and this is my full review of the instant noodles. This article was last updated on 29 April 2020.

Nakiryu Dandan Instant Ramen

Before I get to the instant ramen, here’s a little background on Nakiryu first.

Located in Otsuka (Tokyo), this small ramen shop is famous for their signature dandan noodles served in spicy broth.

They opened in 2012 and became the second ever ramen shop in the world to earn a Michelin star in 2017.

(The world’s first Michelin-starred ramen shop is Tsuta Ramen, which won the award in 2015).

In May 2017, shortly after getting its Michelin star, Nakiryu collaborated with 7-Eleven and Nissin to create the Nakiryu Dandan Instant Ramen.

Where to Buy

I bought my Nakiryu instant ramen from a 7-Eleven outlet in Shinjuku (Tokyo) for around JPY 300 (about SGD 3.65). It should be available at most convenience stores in Japan. The instant ramen comes in quite a big bowl (440ml) and is sealed with plastic.

If you are living in Singapore, it is possible to get the instant ramen from Airfrov, but it will be quite expensive.

How to Cook Nakiryu Dandan Instant Ramen

Using google translate to decipher the Japanese instructions

I was a little confused over how to cook the instant ramen at first because all the instructions on the side of the bowl were in Japanese.

Also, the various instructions I saw online on websites and youtube were all different or contradicting.

Therefore, I decided to use the Google Translate app to translate the instructions to English (yay technology).

While the app didn’t translate the Japanese words super accurately, it was enough to let me know how to cook the instant ramen the correct way. Below are the instructions!

– Step 1 –

I peeled off the instant ramen lid halfway, and took out the three colourful packets inside. The brown packet contains the soup stock, dehydrated minced meat, and dried scallions. The green packet is the chilli oil. The red packet is the sesame oil.

– Step 2 –

First, I poured the contents of the brown packet into the bowl. After that, I filled the bowl with boiling water up to the line and covered the lid. Please do NOT pour in the other two packets at this point because this will cause the noodles to turn out clumpy.

– Step 3 –

Next, per the instructions, I placed the other two packets on top of the lid to heat them up. (Yes I also think this step is quite interesting).

– Step 4 –

After three minutes, I opened up the lid and stirred the noodles. I poured in the contents of the red packet first and stirred again. Next, I poured in the contents of the green packet and lightly mixed everything together. And my noodles were ready!

My Verdict

For me, the highlight of the Nakiryu Dandan Instant Ramen was definitely the soup. It was rich and creamy, with a distinct sesame flavour, a light tangy flavour, and a perfect tinge of feistiness.

If you do not like salty food, you might find this slightly overwhelming. But for me, it was just nice.

I also really enjoyed eating the noodles which were smooth and had great bite. It went perfectly with the soup!

As for the minced meat, I was impressed by how good it tasted. It did not have a fake spongy taste like what I usually get from normal cup noodles. Instead, it had a nice solid texture like real minced meat, along with a pleasant savoury taste.

My only qualm was that the scallions did taste a little artificial – they were a bit tough and tasted slightly plasticky.

But on the whole, this was definitely a super satisfying bowl of instant ramen. In fact, I have tried the real Nakiryu ramen before and I have to say the instant ramen version does a pretty impressive job of imitating the original taste; though of course the real thing is still better!

Conclusion

It’s hard to look at instant noodles the same way after I’ve tried so many awesome Japanese instant noodles. I thought the Tsuta Instant Ramen was the best instant noodles I had ever tasted, but now that I’ve tried the Nakiryu Dandan Instant Ramen, I think it is awesome too. It’s hard to say which one is better, because they both have different taste profiles. Tsuta is aromatic and lightly savoury, while Nakiryu is creamy and slightly spicy. Therefore, my suggestion is to just buy both, because they are both delicious!

Nakiryu Dandan Instant Ramen
Price: JPY 300, Sold at 7-Eleven Stores in Japan

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