Little Cook is owned by the Thai company Namchow. What does that have to do with ramen ratings you might ask? Well, when I first saw this purple elephant called Little Cook Spicy Cha-Chu Shoyu, I thought it was Japanese because of the flavoring. Surprise, surprise when I look into it to find that it is owned by a Thai company.
The portion size was generous for a Thai brand but not quite up to what most Korean noodles offer. It comes with two nifty packages, one with the flavor crystals and the other with space veggies and in this case fish cake.
What about the taste? How well does a Thai company make a Japanese flavored noodle? The answer for me was good because I like a little spicy to my food but as I’ve been to Japan and partaken in real ramen from a restaurant this is far from the real thing. It is OK for what it is and that is nothing to be ashamed about. I’d buy this again but only when there were many other options. Does it taste like real Shoyu, mmmm…..not really. What about the stock, well watery but flavorful, pretty standard.
A few of take-aways from this ramen feast are that the carrots while hard to find were kind of crisp like a real carrot might be. I’m not sure if this just means that I cooked it the right amount of time or if they are designed to come out that way. You might need a magnifying glass to find them though. I also found fish cake but I think it was make by elves. Wee little creatures made this I’m certain. I don’t think I’ve ever had elven ramen so this might be a first. Lastly, there was a lot of left over seasoning. That doesn’t scream high quality to me so I’ll keep my eyes open when reviewing future Little Cook ramen.
