Nongshim’s Sacheon Chapagetti Instant Noodles are Chinese, but not so Chinese spicy take on the original Chapagetti. These noodles definitely received a spice upgrade, but of the wrong caliber.
Korean Jjajangmyeon is an already altered version of the original Chinese dish with flavors more palatable to Koreans and foods more easily sourced. This, is perfectly acceptable and happens literally every time cultures connect. However, if you name a cup of instant noodles after a place in China, in this case, Sichuan, you’d better have the flavors to back it up.
The reality is, I can’t even taste, smell, or see any new addition of Chinese ingredients in this cup of noodles. I wish instant noodles could talk… Not because they are known to make very interesting conversation, but because maybe they could give me some answers as to, what heck the happened?
Not all is bad though. The spiciness does actually work, but I wish they would have named these something different. I can see nothing wrong with naming them after Cheongyang or some other location in South Korea. Name and ingredient complaints aside, these noodles are absolutely fantastic. I think you’ll enjoy them just as much as I do.
Flavor:
Everything you ever loved about Chapagetti in terms of flavor. It has a sweet, savory, and salty flavor that has been elevated with some extra spice for a kick. Should I dare say that these noodles might be better than the original Chapagetti?
It seems Nongshim provided an upgrade to the dried flakes as well. There’s quite a bit of flakes of: green chili pepper, cabbage, spring onion, and some meat. All of these work well together to form a well-balanced cup of instant noodles that has some added texture over the original.
These noodles could also fool me into thinking they spent some time in a wok. There’s that well-known wok flavor that tastes of heavy doses of oil and fire.
Spiciness:
This type of spice really makes my belly and mouth feel the heat. It gives you that warm-belly sensation for sure. The spice is mostly from Cheongyang gochu (Korean green chili peppers) and not from Sichuan peppers, which is a huge letdown. I was hoping for a flavor that was a bit more Chinese, but the spiciness still works well with this fusion cup of noodles. There is a fair amount of heat. I would consider this at the level of medium spiciness.
Smell:
The Sacheon version of these noodles have the same Chapagetti aroma that you know and love, plus some added bite from the spiciness. If you’re unfamiliar with the smell of the original Chapagetti, it has a sweet and savory smell of black bean paste. The paste has an odor of soy beans that might be familiar to some, if you grew up around soy bean processing plants, like myself. One thing to take note of with this cup of noodles is the type of spice. It really doesn’t smell like Sichuan peppers, but more the aroma of Korean green chili peppers (cheongyang gochu).
Noodles:
The noodles are denser and much thicker than basic ramen noodles. They turned out firm with a cook that was nearly perfect. I think the type of noodles used in this cup work exceptionally well with the “wok-cooked” flavor of the sauce.
Overall:
If you’re a fiend of the spice, like myself, then I think this Sacheon version of Chapagetti might actually be better than the original. These noodles packed more dried flakes into the package, which really gave the flavor and quality a boost. Not only this, but the spice… The spiciness of these noodles added an entirely new dimension to the flavor of Chapagetti. I think I’ll be putting these noodles into my ramen rotation, because I enjoyed them so much. Yum!
So, do you know what I mean by that wok-flavor? I was at a loss of words on how to describe that flavor… Do you think Nongshim should have went with Sichuan peppers instead of Cheongyang peppers? 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.
