So I thought why not do a head to head – same company, should be same noodles right? First off the left is the Demae Ramen, more of the kind that you would find in Japan or Hong Kong and to the right is the United States version. The Demae is a bigger brick of noodles and says it is one serving while the Top Ramen is smaller yet says it is two servings.
Bigger seasoning packet for the Demae than the Top. Also a little more festive I think. Why green is associated with chicken I don’t know, but tan is already taken in the Demae realm by the holy curry flavor…
Well they look practically identical… The Demae looks to have a little more tiny chunkies than the Top though.
Click image to enlarge. I baked a chicken breast and didn’t season it and sliced it in half and put one half in each. I had the Top Ramen and my lady had the Demae Ramen. After a little while we swapped tastes and reflected in them.
Kit thought that the Top Ramen had kind of a curry taste to it. I noticed that the Demae Ramen’s noodles were a little smaller and firmer and the broth a little more complex. I think the Top Ramen is saltier, but after reading the nutrition facts, the Demae looked to have way more sodium.
So for reviews: The Demae first. I give the Demae a 3.0 out of 5.0 stars. It’s chicken flavor. I wasn’t expecting anything great. I think the addition of some seasoned oil would be nice – like sesame chicken perhaps.
The Top Ramen: I’m giving it 2.8 out of 5.0 stars. A little less here because the noodles weren’t as good and mushier. It was fun to review this way and hope we find a pair of different ramens to challenge again sometime – perhaps Top Ramen and Maruchan beef head to head or shrimp I dunno. Get the Demae here and the Top here.
The nissin demae chicken should come with a small pack of sesame oil and it makes a huge difference. I’m surprised yours didnt come with it? I’ve been eating this for the last 15 years of my life
I never tried the Nissin Demae brand, but it looks like they’re gonna be good. 🙂 Anyway, Nissin Top Ramen went down in quality over the years in my opinion. I don’t even buy the regular Maruchan chicken anymore because they don’t taste right to me either. Nissin Top Ramen got rid of a lot of their good flavors like picante beef, creamy chicken, chicken and mushroom (I never tried the one before), Cajun chicken, chicken vegetable and so forth. They also downsized from six packets in one pack to five. I wouldn’t be surprised if that division of Ramen noodles will go under in the future. Maybe Maruchan stole their profits. Who knows?
[…] base and seasoning oil although I found no seasoning oil packet. I thought I’d look at the original review I did way back – ne’ery an oil packet there either(click to […]
[…] #539 & #540: Challenge: Nissin Demae Ramen Chicken Flavor versus Nissin Top Ramen Chicken Flavor… […]