This post is a review of Nongshim Siwontang Kkotgetang Noodle.
It’s been a while since I wrote a ramyeon review, so here we go.
I love spicy crab stew and jjamppong with flower crab, so this ramyeon caught my eye when it was released in stores.
“Flower crab,” known as “Kkotge” in Korean, is a type of crab that gives a natural sweetness and deep umami flavor when boiled into a soup, resulting in a clean and refreshing broth.
The term “tang” in Korean generally refers to a soup with a generous amount of broth that is also rich and flavorful, which perfectly suits this ramyeon.
This is why I had high hopes for this ramyeon.
I thought it would sell quite well, but I’m not sure if it wasn’t selling or if it’s just a promotional strategy, but they were giving away two other ramyeons when you bought a pack of four.
I bought the main product at full price, and it feels a bit unfair.
Ingredients and Cooking Instructions for Nongshim Siwontang Kkotgetang Noodle
By looking at the ingredients, you can usually get a sense of what the product aims to be, so I decided to take a look.
The noodles are typical fried noodles cooked in palm oil, and the soup powder includes flower crab extract powder.
According to what’s written on the front of the package, it contains 10% flower crab (Korean, based on fresh weight) in the soup packets, which seems like a decent amount.
However, if you look at the other ingredients, you can see that despite the name “Kkotgetang Noodle” (Crab Soup Ramyeon), it’s essentially similar to seafood soup or jjamppong.
The main seafood base powder consists of shrimp base powder, mussel base powder, squid flavor powder, and spicy soup flavor powder.
The rest includes chili and black pepper powders for spiciness, as well as vegetable stock powder.
The cooking instructions are simple: boil 500 ml of water, add all the ingredients, and cook for 4 minutes and 30 seconds.
The sodium content is 1,710 mg, which seems to be one of the highest I’ve seen in a ramyeon.
This means it’s been made tasty.
Flavor and Aroma
Since I was cooking two servings, I used 1 liter of water.
The powder soup had a strong seafood aroma dominated by flower crab, and the flakes noticeably contained a lot of imitation crab meat.
The noodles were similar to Sarimyeon-style noodles.
Flavor-wise, it was closer to seafood soup with noodles added, rather than a smoky-flavored crab jjamppong.
As the name suggests, it had the sweet taste of flower crab in a refreshing seafood broth.
In Korean, we often use the term “siwonhada” (시원하다) to describe this type of soup.
It doesn’t just mean “cool” as in temperature, but rather a satisfying and refreshing quality.
It’s a term used not only for chilled foods but also for warm broths that provide a soothing, clean feeling.
Here’s a bit of my personal perspective:
in the Korean language, the concept of “siwonhada” extends beyond what might be understood by English speakers as simply “cool.”
It consistently applies not only to the process of cooling down from heat to a cold state but also to the feeling when something hot cools to a warm or comfortable level—think of the transition from piping hot to a relaxed, comfortably warm state.
For example, when eating a bowl of soup that was initially very hot but has cooled enough not to burn your mouth, Koreans might still use the word “siwonhada” to express the comforting, relaxed feeling.
It’s about that moment of comfort, refreshment, and satisfaction, even with hot food.
This ramyeon, with its flower crab broth, delivers exactly that kind of refreshing satisfaction.
This ramyeon is also barely spicy, making it suitable for those who prefer a mild kick rather than intense heat.
There are other cup ramyeons like shrimp-based soup noodles and clam-based ones, but I realized there hasn’t been a crab-centered seafood ramyeon until now.
For those who like seafood soup, this could be a good choice.
However, as a soju side dish, I think a ramyeon with meat chunks like a budae jjigae (army stew) style would be a better fit, since seafood-based ramyeons can be a bit tricky in terms of add-ins.
Maybe adding some fish cake would be good? It seems like it would be great as a hangover cure.
It wasn’t mind-blowing, but it was a decent and enjoyable meal.
That’s it for the review!
Bye-bye~