Eating Welcia-Exclusive "Raoh Seafood Tonkotsu" and Recreating It with Soy Milk and Bonito Powder

A-ko is the one who brought the product. Intrigued by the comment, A-ko stopped by Welcia before filming and bought it. The package says it is a Welcia exclusive. Looking up its reputation on X, A-ko found that it isn't generating huge buzz, but no one seemed to have anything bad to say about it. It was listed as released around February, but the sales period couldn't be confirmed, so they ask anyone who knows to share it in the comments.

It has 387 kcal, and since it's Raoh, the noodles are non-fried. Ryuji judges the noodles to be medium-thick. The instructions say 5 minutes, but the two decide to eat it at 4 and a half minutes.

While they wait, the conversation turns to Nissin's seafood-based products. Ryuji previously ate a seafood tonkotsu Cup Noodle and found it delicious, so Ryuji thinks Nissin must be good at seafood flavors. A-ko has the same impression. Apparently there was also a post on X saying it was so good the person drank all the soup and wanted a noodle refill. The two also recall that the "Tommy" ramen they previously ate, another Welcia-exclusive product, was good too.

They also talk about how, when they looked for a cup udon featured on the channel at 7-Eleven, it was sold out. Ryuji says it was already popular, so it wasn't just their influence. Some people said that udon "tastes bland," but Ryuji thinks its gentleness is what makes it good.

They loosen the noodles first and then add the liquid soup. Ryuji says that at the liquid-soup stage, it's already quite cloudy and tonkotsu-like. When the finishing powder is mixed in just before eating, the soup thickens.

From the first bite, both react with "So good," and A-ko says, "Viewers, well done on this one." What Ryuji praises is that the niboshi (dried sardine) flavor isn't too assertive. It isn't sweetly seasoned like tsukemen either; it has proper flavor as a ramen soup. A-ko is surprised that this time it isn't overly salty, and asks for another bite of Ryuji's portion. The listed salt equivalent is 5.9 g, and while Ryuji notes that the number is high, as is typical for cup ramen, Ryuji is impressed by how it's made so it doesn't taste salty.

Describing the flavor, Ryuji says it's slightly creamy rather than tonkotsu-like. Ryuji feels it's close to the tonkotsu soup they make with soy milk, and figures early on that a recreation would call for a soy milk soup. The price is 278 yen, which Ryuji calls "so-so." The noodles have a smooth, chewy texture.

On the other hand, Ryuji states clearly that this is not "intense tonkotsu." It doesn't contain concentrated tonkotsu or meat paste. Those who want maximum tonkotsu flavor might find it lacking, but Ryuji's view is that it's a finished, well-rounded flavor. The soup is very delicious, and Ryuji says they understand why people drank it all. Looking at the ingredients, quite a lot of vegetable oil is used. Ryuji again says that their own soy milk tonkotsu soup is closer.

Ryuji's rating is S. It doesn't feel like cup ramen, yet it isn't quite restaurant flavor either. The reason is that its level of polish as a cup ramen is extremely high. Ryuji speculates that it may be the result of pursuing a new cup ramen flavor combining tonkotsu and seafood. Ryuji also finds it interesting that seafood tonkotsu is common for tsukemen, but there aren't many ramen where it's eaten as a soup.

Ryuji reads the ingredient list as relatively simple. Besides vegetable oil, it has soy sauce, pork fat, soybean-derived ingredients, sugar, and so on, with pork extract as the base. Ryuji thinks it could be made as an extension of their own tonkotsu ramen, but says it'll be interesting because they don't have a recipe for ramen with this flavor, and gets started on the recreation. When asked for a rating during cooking, A-ko answers, "An A+ close to S."

The toppings are menma, chashu, and green onion. The green onion they have on hand is a little wilted. According to Ryuji, peeling off one outer layer reveals green onion that looks brand new, so you should eat green onions like this properly. Since the Raoh also had plenty of green onion, they prepare a generous amount of thinly sliced rounds.

The menma belongs to A-ko personally. A-ko says they keep it in the far corner of the top shelf of the office fridge, where it won't stand out. Viewers had previously asked to know which menma A-ko buys. A-ko reveals that they love this extra-thick menma and buy it exclusively.

The chashu is made with about 60 g of thinly sliced pork belly. Ryuji prefaces it by saying that honestly it's not essential, but it's nice to have. The meat isn't spread out slice by slice; it goes into a heat-safe container still stacked. Separating the slices makes them shrink. Even stacked, they shrink a bit, but Ryuji explains with a laugh, "I want to put up a futile resistance." If you can get thick-cut pork belly, that's better.

The seasoning is half a teaspoon of sugar and one and a half teaspoons of soy sauce. Chashu is delicious with just soy sauce, but this time it's deliberately made a little sweet. Ryuji explains that the briny flavor of seafood tonkotsu goes well with sweeter pork. Ryuji covers it with plastic wrap and heats it while saying about 1 minute 40 seconds. The recipe in the description says 2 minutes at 600 W.

Ryuji also talks about the advantages of this method. You can use it when you want some meat, and anyone can buy thinly sliced pork belly. Because it's thin, it's easy to eat without long simmering. Eating ramen at a shop often costs over 1,000 yen, so the idea is that it's good if you can satisfy your ramen craving at home. Ryuji also says that anything lightly flavored with soy sauce basically counts as chashu in their book.

After heating, the meat has a soy sauce aroma and looks like chashu. Because it was heated stacked, there isn't much shrinkage. A little pink remains, but Ryuji explains that it's fully cooked. Ryuji then adds that if you're worried, you can just heat it longer. The point is that you shouldn't leave everything to others but judge for yourself.

The soup's base is 180 cc of water and 120 cc of unsweetened soy milk. Since the Raoh contained quite a lot of pork extract, they add 1 tablespoon of lard and 2 teaspoons of Chuka Aji. Soy sauce is added to give the soup color, ending up at one and a half teaspoons. Garlic was also in the Raoh, so about 5 g of grated garlic goes in.

Ryuji emphasizes that the Raoh's flavor wasn't cheap-tasting at all. A different cup noodle they ate before tasted cheap, but this time is different. Next, a pinch of sugar and 2 shakes of pepper are added. Ryuji says they don't want to make the flavor too strong.

What Ryuji calls the most important part is the bonito powder. The Raoh's ingredient list included several kinds of dried fish flakes. Ryuji explains that collecting multiple types of fish powder like the real product would be a hassle, so bonito powder is used as a substitute. Quite a large amount goes in, bringing out a strong bonito aroma and flavor. A-ko agrees that the Raoh had a fairly strong bonito flavor. After adding garlic powder and 2 more pinches of sugar, the color gets quite close to the real thing.

The flavor gets quite close, but Ryuji judges that it lacks thickness. One way to get a creamy thickness is to use rice flour, and Ryuji says it might be about time they started using it, but there's none on hand.

Instead, they use wheat flour. Adding flour as-is makes it lumpy, so it's mixed with oil first before adding. Ryuji introduces this as a trick and explains that doing it this way never creates lumps. At first Ryuji was thinking of about 2/3 teaspoon, but it doesn't thicken enough. In the end, about 1 teaspoon was needed. If you want it to dissolve completely, Ryuji says you can take a little soup into a bowl, dissolve the flour there, return it, and heat it thoroughly. As it cooks, the thickness increases, reaching just the right consistency.

Four shakes of Ajinomoto go in, then 2 more, for a total of 6 shakes. About 4 shakes of garlic powder are also added, partly because A-ko likes it. Ryuji admits, "I struggled a little" with this step, and A-ko responds that that's unusual. Given this struggle, Ryuji praises Nissin's product development as amazing, saying the company is always taking on new flavors.

The noodles are medium-thick Chinese noodles sold at 7-Eleven. According to the subtitles, Ryuji says they are the noodles for Hokkaido "Kikusui" miso ramen. A-ko went out of their way to buy them, and since the Raoh noodles were also medium-thick, they're a good fit. Once the water boils, the noodles go in while being loosened. The package says about 2 minutes 30 seconds, but Ryuji likes them firm, so they come out at about 2 minutes. Meanwhile, the bowl is warmed with hot water.

During the wait, they talk about whether the channel has become a place for making things A-ko likes. A-ko says viewers often say harsh things. A-ko mentions there's an account that constantly writes about them, and that they've seen supportive accounts pushing back. Ryuji says that talking alone in daily uploads is realistically tough, so having staff around makes it easier.

The thickened soup is poured into the bowl, topped with noodles, green onion, chashu, and the extra-thick menma. When extra bonito powder is sprinkled on to finish, both exclaim, "It's a ramen shop!"

A-ko tries the soup first and calls it perfect. The chashu has properly become chashu, and it's delicious with the menma too. What the two especially praise is that the salt level, not too salty, closely resembles the Raoh. A-ko describes it as a flavor paying respect to the Raoh Seafood Tonkotsu. It's completely different from the ramen Ryuji usually makes, and Ryuji also admits, "This isn't my flavor." Ryuji says it's fresh and delicious precisely because it's a style they would never make themselves.

Ryuji says it's a given that it's better than the cup noodles, but reflects that soy milk was the right answer for getting this creaminess. The flour gave it plenty of thickness as well. A-ko rates it 120 out of 100 as a homage ramen rather than a recreation. Both say they could drink all the soup. Ryuji says their own ramen is usually quite salty, but this one has no saltiness.

The medium-thick noodles were the best match, they say. Ryuji explains that thin noodles absorb too much soup, while with thick noodles the soup gets overpowered.

Ryuji says it's easy since it doesn't even use a blender. Because some parts were fumbled during filming, Ryuji says the exact amounts will be written in the description, and with that you can make it right away. Ryuji also says that as a quick ramen, it may be the top among their recreation ramens so far. Since a new genre, "creamy seafood tonkotsu," came into view, Ryuji calls this a legendary episode.

Finally, the two say that precisely because they don't know whether it's available at every Welcia nationwide, they want people to first eat the real thing at Welcia once before making it. They wrap up by saying that anyone who finds the cooking process a hassle should go check out Welcia, and end the video with a "thank you for the meal" to Nissin.