Shin Ramyeon Black: Is it worth double the price?

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There is a lot of controversy over the new Shin Ramyeon Black. Shin Ramyeon is the most popular brand of ramyeon in Korea because the noodles are chewy, let slick and the broth is spicy. It’s my favorite brand as well. Now they came out with a more expensive version of the soup called Shin Ramyeon Black. It is a beef broth based ramyeon and it is priced almost double of the regular brand.

It is the fastest selling ramyeon in Korea’s history. According to the Korea Herald they made over 10 billion won (http://www.koreaherald.com/business/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110627000700) in the first month.

However, they are being sued by different groups and were fined 150 million won for falsifying their nutrion label and for false advertising. They promised that the ramyeon was healthy and that it was the nutritional equivalent of eating a bowl of beef soup.

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Now I bought it because it said Black and because I love the regular ramyeon and gave it a try.

The noodles are pretty much the same. The broth is thicker and there is definitely a couple different things such as garlic, dehydrated beef, and – I think this is why they named it BLACK- black pepper. (So…the extra 700 won or so goes towards the flavor packet.)

Honestly, I didn’t feel it was much different from what the normal ramyeon was. I mean it was still spicy and the noodles were good. It wasn’t terrible; it just wasn’t anything really different.

Now the issue here is that the company falsified the nutritional information and marketed it as “healthy” ramyeon. (Really, healthy ramyeon?). I think if they had just written black on it and charged more, it would have still done well. They didn’t need to lie.

I think someone at the marketing department is going to be looking for work in the morning.

Dan

About the Author

Daniel

Daniel Gray is a Korean adoptee that returned to Korean in 2005 because he wanted to try and find his birth mother and to learn about Korean culture. He started a restaurant review blog in 2007, www.seouleats.com, that became a local and international hit. He and his blog has been featured in the New York Times, Monocle Magazine, The Kimchi Chronicles, Bizarre Foods, Rudy Maxa, Olive Magazine, Euronews and much more. He now is a partner at O’ngo Food Communications (www.ongofood.com), which is a culinary tourism and consulting company that offers Korean cooking classes and restaurant tours to travelers. Their food tours and cooking classes are ranked as one of the top attractions in Seoul according to tripadvisor.