It’s definitely been a while since I reviewed anything by Ottogi that’s for theSouth Korean market. Actually, this one is an export version, but the more recent ones have been for Mexico and so this is more of a South Korean variety. So, what is jjambbong? Wikipedia has this to say about it:
Jjamppong is a Korean spicy noodle soup flavoured with seafood and gochugaru (red pepper powder).[1] A form of jjamppong is also the local Chinese speciality in the Japanese port city of Nagasaki (see Champon). The noodles are made from wheat flour.[2]
It kind of surprises me to see that this is all wikipedia has to say about it. Notice that in the quote it is spelled jjamppong. When Korean characters are translated to western languages, there’s a lot of different ways it seems that they end up spelled. Another one is Champong. So let’s open this pack up and check out Ottogi Jin Jjambbong!
Ottogi Jin jjambbong Spicy Seafood Noodle – South Korea
Here’s the back of the package (click to enlarge). Contains seafood. To prepare, add flake sachet to 550ml water and bring to a boil. Add in noodle block and large liquid sachet and cook 5 minutes. Add in oil. Finally, stir and enjoy!
The noodle block. As has been the trend lately, you can see the noodles are extra wide.
The liquid soup base.
A thick, spicy scented sauce.
The vegetable flake sachet.
Looks like decent sized bits.
An oil sachet.
A deep orange colored oil.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, narutomaki, carved squid, shrimp, spring onion and sweet onion. The noodles are wide and thick – the popular way these days in premium instant ramyun. The broth was just fantastic. It had a kind of grilled seafood flavor to it and a nice bump of spiciness from the oil. What’s more, it was tasty and savory. The included garnish was just a home run. 5.0 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 8801045522555.
Ottogi Jin Jjamppong Spicy Seafood Noodle, 4.59 Ounce Unit (Pack of 4)
Here’s an Ottogi Jin Ramen TV commercial. So I did an interview a few years back for local TV. There was a commercial by another South Korean noodle company where the guy slurps the soup loudly and says ‘aahhh’ pretty loud. During the interview, I did this a lot and think I looked pretty silly. This one totally jumps the shark with the post-slurp grunting!
Oh this looks great! I love their sesame ramyun, and I love jjamppong as a dish, so this I gotta try! Thanks for reviewing this, the presentation looks great!