Unhappy with Yamaokaya's Cup Noodles, Ryuji Recreates Its Shoyu Ramen at Home

The product tasted was the "Yamaokaya Shoyu Ramen" cup noodle made by Nissin. Ryuji says they spotted it and bought it while looking for Donbei at a convenience store. It costs in the 360-yen range (367 yen), and Ryuji is surprised that it's pricier than their own cup ramen. Inside are a powdered soup packet and a liquid soup packet, and the toppings are green onion, chashu, and spinach. The noodles are flat, and toasted nori comes in a separate packet. Ryuji says nori is essential to Yamaokaya. The wait time is 5 minutes. Reading the nutrition label, the salt equivalent including the noodles is 7.6 g, and the calorie count is 417 kcal.

Between bites, Ryuji explained what Yamaokaya is. It's a chain with about 185 locations nationwide, but rather than using a central kitchen, every location simmers its own tonkotsu broth. As a result, the taste seems to vary a bit from shop to shop, though Ryuji says it's mostly the same. Ryuji is personally a fan of the special miso and previously released a video recreating the special miso ramen as "Generic Yamaokaya." However, Ryuji notes that the shoyu ramen seems to be the most popular item at the shops, and says they also have shoyu and shio recipes on hand. The staff member on set loves Yamaokaya and stopped by one last month while visiting the outlet mall in Kisarazu.

The moment they took a bite, Ryuji was taken aback—"Was it like this?"—and shouted at Nissin, "This is totally different!" However, Ryuji also made clear that it isn't bad. In the pair's assessment, the noodles are decent, but the soup has turned into ordinary iekei ramen. Ryuji pointed out that a defining feature of Yamaokaya is that, although it's iekei-style, it uses lard rather than chicken oil (chiyu).

The final rating was "B," with the comment "It's not Yamaokaya." Ryuji jokingly summed it up as a result that seems to say: if you want good ramen, come to Yamaokaya. That said, Ryuji finds it sad that people who don't know Yamaokaya might think this is what Yamaokaya tastes like. The noodles might be acceptable in a pinch, but the soup is different. That became the reason for starting the recreation.

The approach for toppings is to cut corners. For spinach, Ryuji uses the frozen kind sold at places like 7-Eleven. For chashu, Ryuji says the closest store-bought option is Top Valu's thick-cut chashu, but also shows a way to make it in the microwave. The noodles are the thick noodles sold at the supermarket chain Life, which Ryuji considers quite similar. The soup ingredients are pork belly, garlic, ginger, lard, and gelatin. Ryuji claims this will make a bowl 500 times better than the cup ramen.

On the chashu, Ryuji notes that Yamaokaya's is actually made from shoulder or arm meat, so strictly speaking this is different. Still, it tastes good, so pork belly it is. About 70 g of pork belly, layered on top of itself, goes into a heatproof container and is coated all over with Ajinomoto, half a tablespoon of soy sauce, and a pinch of sugar. The reason for layering is that microwave chashu shrinks and won't give a clean cross-section. Covered and heated, it came out just right after 1 minute 40 seconds. Since it's thinly sliced, it soaks up the flavor quickly if left to sit. Ryuji adds that if you want thicker chashu, you can use thick-cut pork belly sold for yakiniku. Ryuji also declares that since this is a serious review video, they'll proceed without drinking.

About 100 g of frozen spinach is used, based on the idea that ramen is better with a fairly generous amount on top. It's thawed in the microwave for about a minute and a half, and since it releases a lot of liquid, it's lightly squeezed.

The soup starts with 600 cc of water for two servings. For one serving, just halve the amounts. The pork belly can go in as is, but it's cut into smaller pieces before adding. Ryuji explains that this will become the base of the soup. The garlic is 16 g for two servings (8 g per serving), about one large clove, broken into roughly three pieces. Since it'll be blended later, there's no need to mince it. Ryuji explains that to get Yamaokaya's flavor in such a short time, the blender method is unavoidable.

Just a tiny bit of ginger goes in. Next comes 1 teaspoon of Chuka Aji to bring out a pork flavor. Two-thirds of a teaspoon of Hondashi is added as well, giving a slight seafood note from the bonito stock.

Ryuji stressed that gelatin is indispensable for recreating Yamaokaya. When pork is simmered, it turns into something like nikogori (jellied broth), and Yamaokaya's soup also becomes jiggly when chilled. So the reasoning is that adding gelatin makes the soup more like Yamaokaya's. The amount used is two small packets, or 4 teaspoons. When the staff member asked whether it would be completely different without gelatin, Ryuji replied, "Yeah, it's a different thing."

The pot is simmered with the lid on. Without the lid, the water evaporates and the soup becomes thick and overly concentrated. Once it boils, it's simmered on low heat for about 10 minutes. This softens the meat so it comes out smooth when blended. The scum is not skimmed. Scum is the source of the porky smell, and since that porkiness is what Yamaokaya is all about, you "absolutely must not skim it."

While it simmers, a large sheet of nori is cut to about the same size as Yamaokaya's. Ryuji says they used to love the shoyu and are now a special miso person, but if it were something to eat every day, it would be shoyu. The staff member says they recently had the spicy miso and found it delicious.

After 10 minutes of simmering, the garlic had gone soft and crumbly, and the pork had shrunk, rendered its fat, and become tender. According to Ryuji, Yamaokaya simmers its pork bones for three days. To recreate that in about 15 minutes, it's faster to extract stock and fat from meat rather than bones. This time, 40 g of pork belly per serving went into the soup, and the key to turning it into a tonkotsu soup is the blender.

When the meat, garlic, and ginger were all blitzed together, the soup immediately took on a Yamaokaya-like color. Ryuji explains that blending right away would still work, but simmering for about 10 minutes first gives it more mellowness. The surface is foamy, but the foam gradually subsides.

Here Ryuji preempted the comments section, predicting people will say "If it's this much trouble, I'll just go to Yamaokaya." Ryuji then flatly stated that anyone who can go to Yamaokaya should go to Yamaokaya and not rely on this recipe. This video, they said, is for people who don't have a shop nearby, people who can't be bothered to go, and people who want to eat it a little more cheaply.

The seasoning is 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of soy sauce, 2 pinches of salt, 8 shakes of pepper, and garlic powder. In addition to the fresh garlic, the powder is used to boost the aroma. Once mixed, the soup's color got even closer to Yamaokaya's.

The lard goes into the bowl, not the pot. For a single serving, it's fine to add it directly to the pot, but when dividing two servings, the lard ends up uneven. Lard floats to the top, so the first bowl poured would get more of it. Ryuji explains that this is how ramen shops actually do it, putting the lard in the bowl. About 2 tablespoons of lard go into each bowl, and the bowls are microwaved as is for about 2 minutes. This melts the lard and warms the bowls too. The noodles are boiled for about 2 and a half minutes to keep them slightly firm, then drained.

After plating, Ryuji realized they'd forgotten to add Ajinomoto to the soup. Ryuji covers for it by saying you can just add 10 shakes to each bowl and stir, and that adding it afterward lets you adjust the umami. Ryuji suggests stacking two slices of chashu might be good. The nori can go in the same position as at Yamaokaya or not—either is fine.

After one bite, the staff member reacted with "This is legit Yamaokaya," laughing that it nearly wiped out their memory of the cup noodles. The pork belly chashu was also praised as just right. Next, they wrapped rice in nori and poured soup over rice. Ryuji said the miso is great too, but shoyu really is good. The staff member also noted that the soup has a sense of being drawn from pork, and that its thickness is very Yamaokaya. Both agreed that rice is a must.

On the strength of the flavor, Ryuji said their recreation is on the mild side. Those who like it stronger can add soy sauce and Ajinomoto to make it saltier. Comparing salt content, Ryuji says the cup ramen is probably stronger. Ryuji's take is that ordering "strong flavor" at Yamaokaya likely means more kaeshi tare is added, so adding soy sauce rather than salt gets closer to Yamaokaya's stronger version.

Ryuji also pointed out that the slight graininess in the soup from the blended meat is a characteristic that can be felt at Yamaokaya too. The staff member wondered aloud about buying a blender just for this, and Ryuji encouraged it, saying they shouldn't be that expensive these days. The blender Ryuji uses appears to be a Braun, and having been in use for decades, the lettering on its surface has worn off and is no longer legible.

Finally, Ryuji speculated that Yamaokaya chose shoyu for its cup noodles because shoyu is the classic, signature flavor for the shop. Ryuji is confident in the earlier special miso recreation too, but this shoyu is also delicious, so they're torn about which is better. Ryuji closed the video by encouraging viewers to try making this Generic Yamaokaya shoyu ramen.