When I see Nongshim Chacharoni I picture the cha cha dance. The korean cha and jya are very similar and that may have contributed to the title as thee noodles are definitely jjajangmyeon. If you’ve never had them before they’re really strongly flavored black bean noodles. If you traveled around the world much you might have noticed that ethnic food is represented differently in many countries. Chinese food in the United States is vastly different from many countries and jjajangmyeon is the signature Chinese food of Korea.
Nongshim consistently makes quality noodles and this Korean powerhouse rarely disappoints even if the noodles aren’t my type of noodles. In Korean
dramas you often see the characters eating jjajangmyeon after drinking or when it’s cold. Often painted as a cheap meal they are a staple of Korean fast food. True to Nongshim’s reputation they didn’t disappoint as the package is the standard size that they generally deliver. I know I’ll be full after eating these.
The package once opened has a ramen brick and a standard package of dehydrated veggies. The real flavoring for this noodle feast is the pack of thick black bean sauce though. Nongshim doesn’t bother with powdered seasoning for this ramen, oh no, they pulled out all the stops and went for the strong stuff! That’s a lot of flavor glistening in the brilliant shine of my flash.
These are supposed to be a dry noodle so you have to steep them for a while before you drain the water and add the think black sauce. Is it just me or does the water turn slightly darker as the steep. The real deals are supposed to be a wheat flout noodle and so it might make sense that this would be the case.
Some drainage happened and after that I added the black magic.
The final product should be chewy noodle with a rich black sauce. You really can’t go wrong with these but I will admit to adding a bit of chili powder to liven them up a bit. What can I say, I like the heat.
5 out of 10
Consistency – Thick sauce in a dry noodle, no soup
Spiciness – Absolutely none but they aren’t supposed to be so, that’s fine. It might be interesting to see Nongshim make an offering of a spicy version. Hmmmm?
Ingredients – Thick sauce is awesome while the dehydrated veggies are nothing to inspiring.
Noodles – The noodles were chewy, thick and had an overall nice feel when chomping an slurping them.