Review: Something's fishy with Kiss-myun Spicy Chicken Ramyeon

I admit I eat 라면 ramyeon (ramen) once in a while. I’ve even made a ramyeon dessert once, but I’ve never reviewed ramyeon before.

When I saw packages of Ottogi Kiss-myun aka Kiss noodles at my local Korean grocery store, I was drawn more by the name than the contents. I asked the grocer if the name were some kind of double-entendre or play on 뽀뽀 bbo-bbo (kiss)?

He assured me that Ottogi is not promising one will become a better kisser after eating this ramyeon. He said it’s a Chinese-style ramyeon with milder spiciness, not Korean heat.

Hans from The Ramen Rater reviewed this ramyeon in April and gave it 3.75 out of 5 stars:

The broth is pretty good stuff — has a nice, spicy jalapeno heat to it and had a good chicken flavor.

The label said it was “Spicy Chicken Flavor.” The yellow-tinged broth and the yellow package color seemed to reinforce the chicken flavor meme, so I brought a five-pack home.

Then I read the small print and was quite surprised to discover the packet of “powder soup” — it makes the broth — had powdered extracts of oyster, mussel and cuttlefish listed before that of chicken. The powder also had extracts of bonito and kelp.

The packet of dehydrated vegetables even had freeze-dried cuttlefish in the ingredients. Where’s the chicken?! There’s not even “chicken of the sea” in there.

Predictably, the broth tasted like slightly spicy seafood but not chicken.