Bon Go Jang’s Katsuo Udon is a semi-authentic Japanese udon experience jammed into a small package (no judgement here). This might just be the perfect midnight snack or anytime snack. It’s light and so tasty, you’ll down these noodles in no time. Best of all, it’s only 220 calories! Yeah!
For those of you that might be unfamiliar with the “katsuo” in Katsuo Udon, it is a form of dried fish flakes (katsuo-bushi) made from the skipjack tuna. It’s typically not too fishy tasting, so don’t panic! It has more of a smoked umami flavoring about it. Usually people that are unfamiliar with this dried topping lose it when they see the brownish pink flakes moving eerily when sprinkled on top of a warm dish. Yes, they are fish flakes, but they certainly aren’t alive. They’re just moving because of the heat. Thank goodness you won’t be seeing the flakes move in this cup of instant noodles. They are submerged in the broth, so they can’t do a strange dance for you. As long as I didn’t just get in your head with all the fish talk, you should be able to enjoy Katsuo Udon without a hitch.
Flavor:
Katsuo Udon tastes very similar to authentic Japanese udon. It has that much loved sweet and salty soy sauce flavor found within the broth. There’s not a lot to these noodles really. They are incredibly simple, but they still remain delicious. There are plenty of flakes, which mostly consist of spring onion, but there is also katsuo-bushi (dried fish flakes) and fried crumbles (like fragments of tempura).
Spiciness:
Considering that authentic Japanese udon is not spicy, Katsuo Udon doesn’t break those rules either. These noodles aren’t even a little spicy. They are salty and a little bit sweet, which falls directly in line with the authentic taste.
Smell:
I was surprised that couldn’t detect the aroma of the noodles in this cup. It gets completely masked by the smell of dried fish flakes. These noodles do have katsuo in their name, which is a type of fish known as a skipjack tuna or more commonly, bonito. You should expect to smell just a hint of fishiness mixed with the soy sauce broth.
Noodles:
There’s nothing new or fancy to these noodles offered by Bon Go Jang. This is your basic udon. The udon noodles taste and feel like the udon you would get in a restaurant. The noodles had a perfect cook to them, which left them both springy and chewy. For some reason though, I feel like these noodles might be just a bit thinner than what you would get at a Japanese restaurant serving these noodles. The size might have been cutdown a little to make room in its miniature cup housing.
Overall:
A rather small cup of noodles that makes for a satisfying, low calorie snack. 220 calories for a cup of instant noodles is pretty darn good. That’s about half of the calories found inside your more traditional sized ramen packages. It’s also easy to make for having the noodles in a separate package, which I find convenient. The noodles themselves are fairly authentic tasting and incorporate flavors that would traditionally be found in a bowl of udon. Because of the light flavors, these noodles are rather easy on the stomach. They aren’t spicy and not too heavy. Bon Go Jang Katsuo Udon makes for a marvelous midnight snack.
Have you ever heard of: katsuo, katsuo-bushi, skipjack tuna, or bonito? What time do you typically eat consume your instant noodles? Let me know in the comments!
If you’re interested in hearing more about instant ramen, check out my on-going series, Noodle Story: An Exploration of Korean Instant Noodles, here on Medium.
