Taste-Testing 12 Marutai "Regional Stick Ramen" Varieties: Kumamoto Is No. 1 for All Three, While Iekei and Miso Struggle

Ryuji usually eats with staff member Takao, but this time wanted to bring in someone who knows ramen well, so Mito of Clammbon came as a guest. Ryuji introduced Mito as someone who once served as a special judge for Ramen Walker and who sometimes eats Jiro-style ramen at 5 a.m. The three ate a total of 12 items: eight from Kyushu, three bonus entries, and a product supervised by Hiroshima's Gaba. Each of them held up a rating card for every one.

All items were cooked the same way, using 50 ml less water than specified and pulling the noodles a little early. According to Ryuji, ramen lovers always do this.

The first entry, Hakata tonkotsu, came with noodles thinner than standard Marutai noodles, and the cast felt it seemed "a bit upscale." The powdered soup packet was large, and the seasoning oil appeared to be about twice that of the regular product. Once they ate, comments like "The noodles are excellent" and "The balance of this thinness is amazing" came up.

Mito said it basically tasted like the classic Hakata tonkotsu stick ramen, with added oil and flavor. Mito also said that since they aren't particularly fond of sharp-edged flavors, it suited their taste just right.

Mito explained that compared with Nagahama-style, Kurume has a heavier, "weighty" quality and a slightly thick image. The noodles were regular Marutai noodles, with a cooking time of three minutes. The package describes it as a sweet, rich soup made by adding onion, ginger, soy sauce and more to tonkotsu broth. There was quite a lot of back fat, and everyone was surprised at the strength of the aroma, reacting with surprise that two tonkotsu varieties could differ this much.

Opinions were split. Mito said the flavor didn't have as much impact as the aroma, but it tasted very good. In Mito's experience, Nagahama has a stronger gamey harshness, while Kurume simmers the pork bones thoroughly, which mellows that harshness. Mito called the ability to reproduce that difference impressive, but also said they had imagined something richer. Making it any richer would require a liquid soup, so Mito speculated that Marutai adjusted the richness within the limits of a powder. Since the base is delicious, the conclusion was that it was roughly on par with Hakata.

Saga beef salt is described as a beef-salt soup made by simmering beef bones and adding vegetables such as onion. Mito's image of Saga ramen is a light, mild tonkotsu topped with a raw egg. The powdered soup packet's design also differed from the others, and it included toasted nori.

When the powder dissolved, a strong aroma rose, and Mito recognized it as "hett," or beef tallow. On eating it, comments like "Wow, that's really beefy" and "This is new" came up, and they were surprised anyone had thought to turn it into a product.

Ryuji and Mito gave it high marks. Takao explained that they didn't go as high as S because they weren't used to eating it, citing the lack of a model to compare it against. Mito described the soup as "ramen with beef tallow in consommé." When Takao wondered whether it was entirely invented, Mito replied that it does actually exist, and went on to praise it: "It's actually pretty good, it's well put together." Someone pointed out that it tasted more like consommé than salt, but there was also a comment that it made them want to buy it in bulk. Mito said the rating reflected their fondness for new flavors.

According to the package, it's a light soup based on pork, chicken, sardine, kelp and more, with grilled flying fish (ago) from Nagasaki Prefecture added. Mito associates ago dashi with Yamagata, but it came up that, according to some research, Nagasaki apparently has ago-dashi ramen too. When the powder went in, there was quite a strong flying-fish aroma, and the quality of the oil also looked completely different from the others.

Ratings were divided. One cast member said there was a complex umami within the light seafood flavor, and that it hit right in the sweet spot. Another said it was impressive how the soup's flavor and aroma changed as it cooled, with the umami of shellfish and seafood growing stronger. On the other hand, there was also the opinion that despite having ago dashi as its theme and the aroma to match, it lacked an edge for a regional series entry, leaving them unable to recall "what did that taste like again?" The verdict was that it might be good for everyday eating, but didn't leave an impression.

The discussion began with the point that Miyazaki karamen has become popular lately. Mito explained that it includes egg, ground meat and garlic, and is something like a Miyazaki version of Yokohama's New Tantanmen, though Mito's impression is that the Miyazaki version uses more chili pepper. The seasoning oil was a blend of red chili oil and sesame oil, and the soup was pork extract with several kinds of chili pepper and garlic added. The garlic smell was strong, and Takao, who doesn't handle very spicy food well, was wary.

Once they ate, everyone broke into a heavy sweat, and someone said, "Marutai really went for it." Ratings were high, with comments like "Surprisingly delicious and almost too polished" and "Can you really get this much deep umami from a powder?" They also remarked that eating it in the cold season would warm you up considerably.

Before eating, Ryuji predicted it would be either insanely good or a letdown, saying paitan seemed difficult. According to Mito, Oita's chicken paitan has more of a somewhat light image than a rich one.

While it was cooking, the conversation turned to how impressive it was that Marutai could differentiate the two tonkotsu varieties. According to Ryuji, people in Marutai's development department apparently go out to eat ramen every day. Mito joked that if they could leave their own industry, they'd want to go work there. The soup was pure white, with yellow chicken oil floating on top.

The ratings matched, but views on the yuzu kosho were split. One opinion was that the yuzu kosho accent tightened up something that could easily become heavy, making this the best in terms of current balance. Mito, on the other hand, felt the yuzu kosho wasn't the right call. To Mito it felt like the noodles you finish a chicken hot pot with; if they can bring out this much chicken flavor, they should be able to go further, and Mito wanted a chicken ramen that made the most of the chicken oil, adding that it could be interesting even if it were a bit thick and gloopy. Still, Mito acknowledged that the technical skill, including the level of the aromatic oil, was unquestionably high.

For Ryuji, this was the item eaten during the previous headquarters visit: a black mayu (burnt garlic oil) tonkotsu with charred garlic. Mito introduced the ramen of Tamana, Kumamoto. Tamana ramen is a thin, watery-style tonkotsu with finely chopped garlic chips. Mito revealed that they had once written a character song based on Tamana ramen.

When the mayu went in, the smell alone was overwhelming, and on eating, the reactions were "This is a problem" and "Isn't this breaking the regulations?" The ratings were tied, with comments that it went beyond any question of its roots and was delicious in its own right.

Ryuji had met the developer at headquarters and asked why they had gone this far. The developer reportedly answered that they had eaten all kinds of ramen and built this one by working out which elements it should have. Ryuji emphasized that the aroma of the charred garlic was exactly the same as the real thing. The cast compared it to "a limited card in Yu-Gi-Oh!"—"No, a forbidden card"—and recommended that viewers buy it and try it.

This was a black pork (kurobuta) tonkotsu with charred green onion, and the cast laughed wryly at getting another charred item right after Kumamoto. According to Mito, Kumamoto and Kagoshima have a tradition of charring. When they tasted it, it was indeed different from Kumamoto, but there was some hesitation in the ratings.

One cast member said it was spot-on as a Kagoshima tonkotsu, and that it lost on impact only because it had the bad luck of coming right after Kumamoto. Another said the charred green onion aroma was a very nice accent, but they felt so little difference that they couldn't tell where the black pork was; still, since it was delicious as a Marutai product, they gave it an A+.

With the Kyushu entries done, Onomichi back fat shoyu came out as a bonus. It's a soy sauce soup using chicken bone and niboshi (dried sardine) stock, and its seasoning oil packet looked like the largest in the series.

Mito focused on how well the noodles matched. Marutai uses many low-hydration noodles. Mito explained that high-hydration noodles are slick and translucent, while Onomichi-style noodles tend to be lower in hydration, so the pairing should work well. The soup itself also contained back fat.

All three gave the same rating. Takao, the only one who had never eaten it locally, said it was convincing enough to make them think this must be the very essence of Onomichi ramen. Mito explained that beneath the back fat there is always a stock of niboshi or other small fish, with the soy sauce flavor coming through afterward, and praised Marutai for going this far, pointing out that they had reproduced even the little bits of back fat. Ryuji said they liked how the sharp, soy-sauce-forward soup was brought together by the back fat, that the noodles suited it as well, and that it was highly polished.

The Yokohama iekei came with thick noodles. Even before opening it, the cast was braced, saying, "To be honest, I think this might be impossible." According to Mito, among instant iekei noodles there's maybe one, if any, that they'd consider a hit, and they've almost never had a good one. Ryuji also said that it might be different with a concentrated liquid soup, but iekei would be hard with a powder. There was a generous amount of chicken oil.

Low rating cards lined up. One opinion was that they could sort of tell what the soup was going for, and the only thing that felt like iekei was the soup's flavor. As for the noodles, someone pointed out that they had drifted toward Inaniwa-style udon. There was also the view that it was closer to Wakayama ramen, a tonkotsu shoyu, than to iekei, and it was wrapped up with harsh words: "I have no idea why Marutai would even do this" and "This is the one I can't accept."

The last regional item was Hokkaido miso. It's described as a Sapporo-style soup blending two kinds of miso, and unusually for Marutai, it came with a single packet of liquid soup. The noodles were somewhat thin yellow noodles, different from the iekei ones. Someone remarked that it was the iekei that should have gotten the liquid soup.

The reactions were muted. Mito said they could tell the miso wasn't a single type, but among all the miso ramen they had eaten around Sapporo on tour, they had no memory of eating ramen with this kind of red-miso character in Hokkaido. Mito explained that they rated it in the sense of wondering whether it was meant to be original. Ryuji flatly said, "I'll say it plainly: it's not good," adding that for a miso ramen it was thin yet salty, like a miso-shoyu ramen, and lacked richness.

Finally, they ate the Gaba-supervised product, which they said they had hesitated over whether to include. Gaba is a ramen chain found only in Hiroshima, and Ryuji had eaten at one of its shops before and found it delicious. It came with liquid soup and was a single-serving product. The cast was puzzled, saying they didn't know why Marutai had released it.

The noodles were well received as "ridiculously good." As for the soup, however, comments came up that it was completely different from the original, and that the shop's version didn't have this kind of piercing taste. Some also felt the liquid soup was weak.

At the end, the three announced their top three.

• Takao: 3rd Miyazaki karamen, 2nd Oita tori paitan, 1st Kumamoto
• Mito: 3rd Saga beef salt, 2nd Onomichi back fat shoyu, 1st Kumamoto
• Ryuji: 3rd Saga beef salt, 2nd Miyazaki karamen, 1st Kumamoto

Mito said Kumamoto has something that makes you feel you should just buy some for now. Ryuji said the Miyazaki karamen had excellent quality and flavor, enough that they wanted to try adding beaten egg and garlic chives. Ryuji said Kumamoto still delivered a shock even the second time, and wrapped up by saying it showed how high Marutai's technical skill is, so they hoped people would buy it, especially the Kumamoto. Mito said that, as a ramen lover, they also wanted to convey the high quality of Marutai, with its wide variety of flavors.