The last ramen (Singapore La Mian) was pretty pricey, but what about people who want the best of the more mid-range ramens? JML is definitely one of the best ramens which runs more toward the middle of our ramen price range. Actually their chicken and mushroom flavor is one of my favorite ramens ever. EVER! I’ll tell you all about it below! I also used the pickled vegetables flavor to try out two different cooking methods.
So inside it’s nothing terribly surprising. We have the noodles, dried veg, soup base, and a sauce packet. But these packets come together to create MAGIC honestly. All the JML ramen flavors mentioned in this review have a sauce packet, by the way.
The back of the package says to cook the ramen by boiling 500ml of water separately, then pouring the boiled water in a bowl with the flavoring packets and covering for 3 minutes. I looked at the non-vermicelli nature of the noodles and knew that cooking method would not be for me as I like a softer noodle (but I’ll do that cooking method as well later on). If you like a more al-dente noodle,
the bowl method might be for you.
So for the mushroom and chicken flavor I just did the typical cooking method of boiling 500ml of water in a pot, then adding the noodles and cooking them for 3 minutes, then adding the flavoring. I also threw in some very roughly julienned Chinese celery because I think it’s criminally under-appreciated as a flavor enhancer in broths, and I knew it would not be wasted on this ramen because it’s already so good. I also added some marinated bean curd snacks, which went really well and made a great stand-in for faux meat!
After adding the flavor packets, the broth is rich (but not overpowering) and BUTTERY smooth. It’s like your typical chicken ramen leveled-up. I actually had a really hard time taking pictures of the finished product because I had lost daylight and so had to fiddle with my lamp to get a decent picture to show off all the deliciousness… But meanwhile I just wanted to eat it… So painful!!! 😫
When I ate the pickled vegetable flavor, I tried the cooking directions on the back of the ramen packet. You can see in this flavor, there is the noodles, soup base, sauce packet, and pickled veg packet.
I boiled the 500ml of water in the kettle and poured it over the noodles and flavor packets (minus the pickled veg, which the packet said to put in last). I put the packet contents under the noodles like you see cup/bowl ramens do because it helps the flavor distribute evenly.
Now just cover and wait for 3 minutes, lift the lid, add the pickled veggies, and you’re done! I again added faux meat and it worked just as well as the first time.
The pickled veg one was a bit saltier, but not too much, and it had a bit of spice. It didn’t taste very strongly of pickled vegetables actually. I think most people will find the flavors to be very well-balanced. It was a very warm, homey ramen. Good spicy pickled foods like this always feel like they are feeding my soul…
You’ll also note that the stovetop method resulted in less broth being left over, but that could be rectified by me actually remembering to put a lid on the pot! 😅
Finally, let me tell you something that absolutely fascinated me about this ramen. So, the broth is absolutely stupendous in this ramen line, and I think the noodles have something to do with it. I realized that after cooking the noodles, but before you even put the flavor packets in, you can already taste some flavor in the broth. I believe it comes from the noodles. I tried the noodles by themselves for every flavor I tried (which is all of them except the spicy beef), and they remind me of sausage rolls. If you don’t know sausage rolls, they are popular in the UK around Christmas. They are simple, sausage-filled savory pastries and they are EXCELLENT. I grew up eating them around Christmas, so I LOVE the flavor of these noodles. They remind me of my childhood, and also one of the only foods common in the British aisles which I actually take pride in as a UK citizen.
A tip for this brand: Some of the sauce packets can be a bit thick. One advantage of the stovetop cooking method is you can easily hold the sauce packet over the pot to heat it up and soften it, which makes it easier to squeeze out. I imagine you could do that with the bowl method as well, but it would probably be faster with the stove.
All the flavors of JML that we carry: chicken and mushroom, beef and sour picked cabbage, stew pork flavor, spicy hot beef flavor and stew beef flavor.
-Josie
