New Touch Sano Ramen ニュータッチ佐野らーめん

Yamadai has undertaken the quest to recreate the flavor and noodles of the famous Sano ramen with their New Touch instant ramen series, which is a style of ramen that is very popular in the name-giving city of Sano in the Tochigi prefecture of Japan. One of the main characteristics of Sano style ramen are the bamboo-pressed noodles, which gives them a unique chewy texture and flat shape. The soup is made either with chicken or pork broth (or a mix) and usually a light shoyu tare, but shio tare is also not uncommon.

This bowl of instant ramen has even been recommended by the “Sano Ramen Association” (佐野らーめん会) for its quality and great imitation of the Sano ramen characteristics.

For full disclosure, I received this bowl for free from Instantramenshop.com for testing purposes as part of the 24 local ramen set by Yamadai.

Preparation

Open lid half and take out all sachets.
Open all sachets with freeze dried stuff and pour them back into the bowl.
Add boiling water up to the line in the bowl and place liquid soup concentrate on top of the hot bowl.
Wait 5 minutes, then open the bowl and pour soup concentrate in.
Stir vigorously and then enjoy your Kitakata style instant ramen!

Review

The aroma that wafts through the air after mixing the soup into the hot water immediately reminds me of some light and classic shoyu ramen, which you can get at many small Chinese restaurants in Japan which serve a japanified version of Chinese food and can be found all over the place. The soup has a delicate flavor, not too powerful, and leans a bit into the sweet direction.

The noodles are the clear star of this bowl. A really nice slurp combined with a snappy texture and a good chew. Their thin and flat shape is really good to slurp up the delicate soup.

The chashu and menma are a bit above the average instant fare, still worthy of a special mention here.

Overall, the bowl could do with a bit more added freshness and zing. I would probably add some fresh green onion next time or have some kimchi on the side. Adding some black or white pepper would also have worked well. It’s a good bowl of instant ramen for sure, but it does not leave a lasting impression and lacks that certain “something” to stand out among other good bowls.