Ryuji Tries Myojo's "Suzuki Stamina Shoyu Mazesoba," Then Makes a Homemade Tribute Mazesoba

The product was sent by ramen researcher Taka. According to Ryuji, Taka's message only said they had gotten hold of an item due out on July 21 and were sending it, with no comment at all on the taste. Ryuji took it to mean that "if Taka is sending it, it must be really delicious," and began tasting.

The package lists 811 kcal and 6.6 g of salt per serving. According to Ryuji, that salt content is about the same as a regular ramen with broth. Suzuki is a shop that calls itself the originator of a new genre called "stamina," and it serves "Sutaman Soba," a hard-hitting shoyu ramen with broth. Ryuji has been to the shop too. This product is a mazesoba, and Ryuji described it as a cup noodle close to yakisoba or aburasoba.

It comes with four packets: toppings containing seasoned ground meat, a liquid sauce, a garlic "stamina furikake," and mayonnaise. The mayonnaise comes in a film pouch that lets you squeeze it out in a thin line, and Ryuji pointed out that it was the same as the one that comes with Myojo's "Ippei-chan," confirming that the product is made by Myojo. The wait time after adding hot water is 4 minutes.

While waiting, Ryuji talked about their cup noodle preferences. Products supervised by Suzuki are generally good and similar in flavor direction, so they basically like them. On the other hand, they hardly ever eat cup yakisoba. About the only exception is "Bubuka," also by Myojo.

Asked whether yakisoba and mazesoba are the same genre, Ryuji answered, "They're the same." By their definition, the only difference is the flavor, sauce versus shoyu, and the method is exactly that of cup yakisoba. Since the noodles are thick like Bubuka's, they also speculated that Myojo might be particularly good at punchy thick-noodle products.

Here there's a digression. Ryuji brought up a post that had gone viral on X. It said that low-calorie meals in Tokyo are expensive, costing around 1,500 yen at places like salad specialty shops, so "I don't want to pay a lot of money for low calories." A-ko, who was with them (also written as "A子" in the subtitles), didn't immediately get the point, and the topic was carried over to the cooking segment later.

When A-ko rushed to drain the water, Ryuji replied that there was no need to hurry, since these noodles don't get soggy easily.

The liquid sauce has a strong garlic-shoyu aroma. The furikake is like fried garlic, and the mayonnaise comes out very thin. Ryuji cited the thin mayonnaise as one of Myojo's strengths, since it keeps the flavor from being uneven.

The two agreed it was "delicious." Ryuji said the chili was quite strong, there was a garlicky kick, and the mayonnaise softened and tied everything together. They don't usually care much for dried garlic chives in toppings, but said they added a nice flavor in this product. A-ko said that the garlic was so strong it might be hard to eat on a lunch break, and that they'd like to pair it with a salted rice ball. Together that would come to about 1,000 kcal. In response, Ryuji expressed the view that cup noodles are more of an indulgence than a meal, so this many calories is totally fine for an occasional treat.

Ryuji previously covered Suzuki's frozen mazesoba in a video and didn't rate it very highly at the time. They said they like these cup noodles more than that. As reasons, they cited the chewy noodles and the punchy flavor that suits summer, and described it as something you can drink with that gives you the feeling of "eating something bad for you." The noodles are fried noodles with shoyu and garlic kneaded in, and the base flavor is shoyu. The two agreed that eating it felt closer to "seriously delicious yakisoba" than to mazesoba.

A-ko rated it highly, saying it tasted like a super-spicy Bubuka and that the thick noodles were very good. Ryuji, noting that they hadn't yet done this kind of mazesoba on their channel, decided to borrow the idea and make one. Ryuji added that recreating cup noodles they've eaten is purely their own hobby, that it doesn't boost view counts, and that they're setting aside whether viewers even want it.

Ryuji explained that all you need are garlic chives, ground pork, garlic, and ginger. In keeping with Suzuki, a generous amount of garlic is used. They used about 15 g of domestic garlic, but said imported garlic is fine too. Half of it is made into roasted garlic. Because the cup noodles' furikake was quite toasty, this gets made first.

Sauté the garlic in about 1 tablespoon of lard, roasting it thoroughly until it's slightly scorched, then take it out. Leave a little lard in the pan, since it will be used for stir-frying later. Cut about 25 g (around 1/4 bunch) of garlic chives. Ryuji remarked that with the amount of chives in the cup noodles, adding things like bean sprouts would probably be impossible.

While they were cooking, A-ko finally understood the earlier point about low-calorie food. The idea was that when there are cheap ingredients like tofu, you don't want to pay thousands of yen for something like a super-slimming soup. A-ko responded, "If it's junk food, I end up thinking it's okay to spend money on it." Ryuji said that low-calorie food can be eaten at home, and that this is the kind of world they'd like it to be.

Since it's mazesoba, the toppings and sauce are stir-fried and mixed together from the start. Ryuji's reasoning is that the cup noodles' toppings were made that way too.

Use 60–70 g of ground pork. The ground meat in the cup noodles was shoyu-flavored, but here there's no need to season it beforehand. Grate the remaining garlic and 5 g of ginger and stir-fry them with the ground pork. The garlic in the cup noodles tasted cooked, with no raw-garlic or raw-ginger quality, so they judged it fine to cook them.

The base seasoning is shoyu. Since no salt is used, use a generous amount: 1.5 tablespoons. Ryuji said that at this point it already smelled like Suzuki. The product apparently contains chicken and pork extract, but here the pork provides its own extract, so it isn't needed. Then add half a teaspoon of sugar and 9 shakes of Ajinomoto. The garlic chives go in last to keep their texture and are tossed to coat. After tasting, Ryuji called it "the taste of genius."

Boil one 130 g portion of thick noodles for 4 minutes. The spices are chili and black pepper, using ichimi for the chili. The cup noodles had a kick too.

On the subject of black pepper, Ryuji talked about the mill they sell. When they serve food at the bar they run during slow times, a customer asked, "Why is this pepper so good?" Ryuji answered that it's just coarsely ground. Ordinary mills can't grind coarsely and end up producing powder, but this mill lets you adjust the grind size, and they had it set on the coarse side then. The customer knew about the product but hadn't bought it, thinking hand-ground pepper would taste better, and asked Ryuji to mention it in a video, which is how it came to be introduced. A-ko also said that if they had to pick from the products in Ryuji's shop, this would be it.

The boiled noodles were tossed with the toppings in the pan. After tasting, Ryuji decided that since Suzuki is salty, thick noodles needed a bit more shoyu, added half a tablespoon, and heated it through. That brings the shoyu to 2 tablespoons total. A-ko said that tossing it in the pan made it look like mazesoba rather than yakisoba.

Squeeze on a thin line of mayonnaise, top with the reserved roasted garlic, and sprinkle generously with ichimi and black pepper. According to Ryuji, coarsely ground chili would really be better, but most homes don't have it, so ichimi is fine. The finished dish was named "Suzuki Mazesoba Tribute: The Ultimate Calorie Bomb Mazesoba."

The two said the thick noodles worked well and the spiciness of the garlic, chili, and pepper was excellent. Ryuji named the use of shoyu as the key point. Holding back on shoyu leaves it lacking punch, they said. Since it's on the salty side, 1.5 tablespoons is fine for most people, but they said anyone who knows Suzuki's flavor should absolutely use 2 tablespoons. They also noted that it isn't heavy even with mayonnaise and that the coarse pepper is delicious, rating it as tasting like something from a restaurant.

On the other hand, Ryuji rephrased it: the concept is similar, but the flavor is completely different, so this is not a recreation but a "tribute mazesoba." The roasted garlic that occasionally gives a delicious crunch was something they learned from Suzuki. A-ko liked it a lot too, and had seconds. Ryuji recommended that you could even make a double batch.

Ryuji also cited convenience as a reason to recommend it. Thick noodles for tsukemen are always available at supermarkets these days, and making it with those turns out very well.

They also shared their belief that recreating mazesoba is well suited to home cooking. Many mazesoba shops don't make a broth, so you can achieve quite high quality at home. On that basis, they rated this dish as delicious enough to serve in a restaurant. A-ko said it was perfect for when you're in the mood for something hearty. Ryuji said this goes better with rice than the cup noodles from earlier, and also recommended mazesoba rice.

The two finished every bite. Ryuji closed by saying they'd really like mazesoba lovers to try it and that it's worth making, reiterated that the recipe was made as a tribute rather than a recreation, and ended with thanks to Suzuki.