The ever increasing price of ramyun and cookies has been in the news lately but 110 dollars for one bowl? Some people are willing to pay that in Japan. According to the restaurant’s owner, Shoichi Fujimaki, his ramyun (ramen – don’t want to get caught up in the scandal like Park Jin Young) is made up of more than 20 ingredients and takes three days to make. It has, according to this article, ” elevated the dish from street food into five-star cuisine, with the price tag to match.”
Apparently ramyun has become a gourmet item in North Korea, too. North Koreans (prior to the currency change) were plopping down 2,500 – 3,500 won (about 50-70% of their monthly income) for a cup/bowl of Nongshim ramyon.
It also has a good following in the States. I remember eating it when I was a kid but according to Henry Hong of the Baltimore Citypaper, Baltimorians are Shit Out of Luck:
“Unfortunately for us in the States, ramen shops don’t enjoy the same market saturation as say, sushi bars. Even in cities with large Japanese populations, good ones are hard to come by, and here in Baltimore we are totally SOL. Making ramen from scratch is really difficult (trust me on this), but luckily instant ramen is widely available, inconceivably cheap, and can be truly delicious. For this we have one brilliant individual to thank, the late Momofuku Ando. Born in Japanese-occupied Taiwan, he invented a method of precooking, drying, and then flash-frying noodles that enabled mass production, prolonged storage and rapid preparation. This also put to use a massive influx of cheap U.S. wheat flour, a result of the post-WWII rebuilding effort. Hooray for cultural clusterfucks! The use of powdered synthetic compounds (the much-defamed MSG and its many variants) allowed for an inexpensive powdered base that simulates the savoriness of long-simmered broth. Global adoption ensued.”
Perhaps Henry should look on ebay. This listing is selling packages of them for $1.25 each (plus 2.99 for shipping). Why the seller felt inclined to add “new in package” and then further down “all of our food items come strait from the manufacture and have good dates” is beyond me. This company offers a variety of ramyuns with a free gift in every order and free shipping if you order $75 or more. Apparently even Amazon.com was selling Nongshim ramyon.
Some people – even major Korean movie and television stars - can’t get enough of the stuff and end up stealing it. But the Japanese seem to be the most unbelievable when it comes to their crazy passion for the stuff. A Japanese chef toiled for several years to perfect the ultimate ramyun (ramen) only to have his friend steal the recipe and his fame. In anger, the first chef hired a group of thugs to kidnap the other chef, strip him and take degrading pictures of him, before dropping him off with a stern warning - all in an elaborate extortion attempt. You have to read the story!
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
I would love to have a bowl of Fujimaki’s ramen! Why not!
I also wonder how much the sales would jumped for Samyang Ramyun after they used “SNSD” on the Ad
If I got to eat it in the company of the marketing personnel featured on the ad, yes, I might pay $110 for the bowl of ramen…
The photograph only seems tangentially related to the post’s subject. Are we turning into The Grand Narrative?!?!?!?
@WK, “only tangentially related” isn’t good enough then for my $110
I guess any excuse to see barely legals in short shorts will suffice…
They are a tad young, huh… guess I’d prefer a $99 bowl of udon with their nunas, or a $55 bowl of bibim gulsu with their ommas or maybe even just a quiet $12.50 bowl of olchaengi guksu with the nice haramonis. Yes I will burn in the hell…
Definately udon with their nunas!
You’d hang out w/halmonies? Good gosh!
Definately udon with their unnis!
You’d hang out w/halmonies? Good gosh!
Why do these chicks look sooo anemic and anorexic — or just plain unhealthy and whiney — and what’s up with that awful faux-henna hair coloring and the pasty complexions? Do all K-models live in root cellars? (Give me a tanned girl au naturel any day please!) No wonder Korea is rampant with vitamin-D deficient chicks who’ll probably turn into their right-angled spined osteoporitic halmonis by age 65…
Btw, you can always tell the K-girls: the anorexic wannabes still encased in their residual baby fat.
Vitamin D deficiency is easily avoided by taking D3 supplements and cod liver oil, whose vitamin A content provides a synergic boost to vitamin D absorbtion, plus heart-healthy Omega 3s. Sun-induced wrinkles and age spots, on the other hand, aren’t so easy to get rid of. The contrast between Elle “the body” Macpherson’s Botox-tightened face and weathered, freckled chest is a perfect example. The Oompa Loompa fake bake look is just as unattractive. White Westerners seem to look older than East Asians at any age, but the appearance gap widens past the age of 30 owing to premature skin damage from the sun. Some Korean men’s faces look haggard owing to smoking and drinking, but the women’s faces stay youthful-looking well into their 40s. The bright, clear skin of Korean women is probably their strongest beauty asset and one that Asian neighbors seem to envy, judging by the popularity of Korean day spas among Chinese and Japanese female tourists.
You poke Sonagi and female nutritional advice squirts out…
Korean women are envious of Chinese gal’s bigger eyes… just FYI.
None of the Korean or Chinese girls are envious of Japanese women. Japanese women are… on average and has a whole… overrated.
You need to find something else to do in the evening besides watching internet porn.
Actually, the analogy I was was thinking of when I wrote that was a zit…
My wife and I , at our home here in the Pine Forest, gotta have it… Ramen that is. Korean style. It is without a doubt the food from my time in Korea that I miss the most if I can’t get it! Whodu thunk.. I mean, Kalbi, Bulgogi…these are big contenders…But they are definitely silver and bronze status at best , under the big winner.. Oh, and does any other American who no longer lives in Korea after having done so miss YukGaeJang as much as I do?
Pine Forest,
Isn’t there a Korean expatriate community near you?
#12:
Fer petesake, do you write for infomercials? Obviously you can have too much of a good thing after all. Most Korean girls, overall, are in no danger of becoming sun-drenched surfer chicks, as many of them, like my older sister, would just burn. (On the other hand, my younger sister and I take after my dark-skinned Daegu-born dad, who has never burned a day in his life.) That being said, while your vitamin-enriched cream & emollient regime could probably do the trick, I personally wouldn’t recommend spending several hundred dollars on something that you could get for free.
Also, Korean vampire girls need to be encouraged — if not pushed — to go outside during the daytime and enjoy the sunshine WITHOUT their Darth-Vader Visors™, if not for the mere fact that a lil’ UV would zap their acne problem in the bud. (Yes, Korean girls can have nice complexions, but when they get acne, it is virulent!)
Wangkon,
Yeah, but really good quality, especially for the YukGaeJang, is hard to come by where I live….Ramen? My wife’s can go up against anybody’s… so I don’t really have to go without these days.. ;p
I feel for you man… what would life be without a big steaming bowl of some good yukgaejang from time to time, huh?…
This recipe looks promising…
http://korean-cuisine.blogspot.com/2008/06/yook-gae-jang_27.html
Korean style ramyun and Japanese style ramyun are two different animals.
Korean ramyun is more of a snack or a light meal…while Japanese ramyun is a full meal.
I like them both.
I guess you’ve never had Sapporo Ichiban™. FYI, there’s a difference between “snack” ramyeon noodles and “hand-made” ramyeon noodles. The former is ubiquitous not only in Japan and Korea, but worldwide in your cup-of-soup/Shin-ramyeon varieties. The latter, hand-made ramyeon noodles, are more commonly served in Japan while hand-made jja-jjang-myeon is more common in Korea and China. And then there’s naeng-myeon….
#10: Were you born in the west? I’m surprised you’d say that…I thought the same when I first saw some Asian girls, but it seems like it’s a typical build for some Asian girls (usually Chinese though), and back then dieting wasn’t really an issue. Either that build or the more common rounded and squat.
#24: Fresh naeng-myeon noodles…now that’s a rarity, and what a big difference it is.
The Korean media sure likes to remind us of how expensive things are in Japan, but paying 3500won for a bowl of instant ramen is a far greater ripoff than paying 600 yen for a bowl of handmade ramen served in broth that took at least 10 hours to prepare…and don’t get me started about the pastry. Fact is, food in Korea is not always cheaper than in Japan.
I was in Fukuoka this week and enjoyed the ramen immensely. One restaurant also sold packs to make at home, with packets of liquid (not powder) for the flavoring. I haven’t tried it yet, but hope it’s good. Of course, there’s a ramen place in Hongdae that is quite good, and worth lining up for.
“luckily instant ramen is widely available, inconceivably cheap, and can be truly delicious.”
Wow. Please discount anything this guy says about ramen, he is clearly clueless.
You must log in to post a comment.