Ippudos new pollack-flavored pickled mustard greens cup rice recently hit 7-Eleven Japan.
7-Eleven Japanese stores have opened ripe Ippudos mentai (Japanese pickled mustard greens; common addition to fried rice) instant cup rice on Dec. 20. Ippudo is the largest chain of Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen in the world, which also appears to be something unusual for them to sell cup rice. We knew it would be good and waited for the tests.
US$2.09) each 78 yen
Each cup may not be big enough to fill up all stomachs, which is why a graphic on the front recommends eating it with something else namely Ippudos cup ramen, also sold at 7-Eleven for 300 yen. Well played, Ippudo, well played. Sure we had to go down with that recommendation, so we brought two cups in our bag home.
Before cooking, make sure to adjust your timer in a matter of time, because the cup rice should sit in hot water for five minutes and the cup ramen should sit for only three minutes.
LIVE the contents of the attached oil and seasoning packet into the cup rice and mix well.
All instructions were right and they both ready to eat, and our guide was good. We decided to sample the rice first since its new product.
The cooked cup rice was similar to nekomanma, which is a simple bowl of cooked rice with bonito flakes or other toppings. But this Ippudo version wasnt quite quite that simple. Soy-based sauce lends a unique sweet-saltiness to it as it looks good with overall spiciness.
As for every palate, one bite also held the right amount of zingenough to make you feel just on the brink of sweating, but still quite fit for all palates. The grills and pollack roe add some extra special touches to the overall taste.
How was Ippudos recommendation to have ramen on it? To be honest, we were skeptical of anything other than white rice that will make it work for tonkotsu ramen. But it turns out eating them side by side was just a first element. A closer inspection of the packaging also revealed another step
Add some Ippudo cup noodle soup to rice and its twice as delicious! (Please add it after cooking)
We couldnt leave provocative tad like that alone without testing it for ourselves, so we carefully began ladling in small spoonfuls of cup noodle broth into the cup rice.
Mixing different foods seems like a pretty girllike thing, but it turned out to be savoury. The rice rice felt better and slatched, although the corn turned more loose in the extra liquid, the soup added a twist to the dryness of the rice.
All in all, eating two cups of food was a victory in our book. I felt fully satisfied, full and full. Light eaters would probably fine with only cup rice alone, but otherwise we recommend buying one at your local 7-Eleven. Think of it as eating an Ippudo set meal whenever you want in a cold winter.
Ippudo broth is not quite like mixing in the cup rice, but its just one of the hottest vending machine cocktails of the past year.
Reference: 7-Eleven Japan Follow us on Facebook, Twitter!