Rockin’ Ramen: When Instant Noodles Tangle

By the time these noodles are deep-fried, preserved and packaged, their connection to dough is tenuous at best. But we couldn’t let this issue go by without an homage to that hardiest of survival foods. So, we braved the perils of MSG shock to boldly go where every college student has repeatedly been before. Behold, instant ramen.

The Verdict

Through our sodium-addled haze, it became clear that the red-braised beef noodle and the tonkotsu ramen were battling it out for first place, though we did get one dark horse vote for the acerbic sweet-and-sour ribs noodles. And no surprise here: The absolute worst performer was the dreaded lamb paomo, which we all agreed we wouldn’t eat again even if the Mayans did turn out to be right about 2012.

Click here to see the November issue of the Beijinger in full.

Photos: Jacopo