Ramen Review #10: Nissin Demae Ramen: XO Seafood Flavour

Today I had the urge to try this ramen flavour. Sometimes I have a craving for a certain flavour and today the the flavour of XO sauce fit my craving perfectly.

According to Wikipedia, XO sauce is a spicy seafood sauce used in Chinese cuisine, mainly Hong Kong and the surrounding area. XO is a sauce itself does not contain XO, extra old cognac, but is made of dried seafoods like shrimp, scallops and fish. It also contains garlic, chili and onions. The ingredients differ from brand to brand, but the flavour is always seafoody and slightly spicy. I suppose this flavour is the most Chinese of all the Nissin ramen flavours.

Inside the package you will find the usual dried ramen, a soup powder packet, a packet of oil and a packet of XO sauce.

The broth has a slight seafood flavour, but is less strong compared to the seafood flavour soup base that comes with Nissin's seafood flavour ramen. It also lacks the strong ginger flavour I love about the seafood flavoured ramen. The oil is just a kind of shortening like substance with no real flavour. I assume it is to make the XO sauce less fatty and give the sauce a longer shelf life. The XO sauce tastes fine to me, but I am sure that the real connoisseurs of XO sauce would say it is cheap trash. To me it tasted seafood, spicy and made the broth just a bit more special.

I made the ramen with some kai laan, a Chinese vegetable that reminds me of broccoli with leaves, and some surimi sticks. While XO is a seafood based sauce it goes well with vegetables, meat and of course seafood. The separate XO sauce packet can also be omitted if you want to have just a plain seafood ramen. Definitely a good staple ramen.