My Favorite Ramen, Ever.

At the Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas this past January, I was given a free sample of Otoki’s cheesy ramen. I loved it so much that I came back and sampled all four varieties over the course of the day, some of them twice.

When I got home, I wanted more. But I couldn’t find the varieties they were serving at the show. Instead, on Amazon, I found what was apparently the original Korean version of the flagship (regular cheese) flavor. I got it and made it.

Korean style ramen, such as this brand and Buldak, apparently has thicker, springier noodles than Japanese ramen and often - but not always - has a lot less broth. These noodles have a wonderful, lightly chewy texture and the cheese — even though it was just powder from a packet — was lusciously flavorful and rich. This sent me on a lengthy online quest to see if I could find the other varieties I sampled at the show, which I had never seen in any stores or anywhere on the Internet. Finally, today, I found them on Amazon, although oddly they were not in the Otoki (or Ottogi) Online store. I had to just search for “cheesy ramen”.

There are four “Cheesy” flavors:

• The original (Cheddar) flavor which, even though it claims to be non-spicy, is still kinda spicy, though way less than any Buldak flavor.

• Spicy

• (Stir-Fry) Spicy Chili & Cheddar

• (Stir-Fry) Cheddar & Mascarpone.

As you can see from my screenshot I just ordered the Cheddar & Mascarpone which was my absolute favorite. But they are all great, honestly. I rarely ate ramen prior to this but now I am hooked.