Yup, there’s nothing quite like a bowl of pink Hello Kitty-themed ramen to make your day. 

Sure, we love ramen in all forms and colors, but what happens when Hello Kitty becomes the theme for a ramen product? Well now we know — we get an adorable pink bowl of noodles!

Of course, our beloved feline character is no stranger to being turned into delicious foods, and this time, she’s teamed up with Edo Tamagawaya, a Tokyo-based noodle manufacturer with 80 yeas of history, to come up with a pre-packaged ramen product that you can cook at home. Not surprisingly, Hello Kitty manages to infuse a simple noodle dish with a huge dose of kawaii!

Naturally, we decided we had to try this ourselves and share the experience with you. Here’s how we prepared the “Tokyo Pink Tonkotsu (pork stock) Ramen“:

It’s Hello Kitty, so of course the packaging is adorable, featuring the star herself looking out from a ramen bowl.

The package contains a serving of noodles, powdered broth and Hello Kitty-shaped nori seaweed.

The Hello Kitty-shaped seaweed apparently comes in eight designs. Ours was a Hello Kitty wearing a flower on her head instead of a ribbon. The seaweed originally comes in a square shape, but it’s pre-cut in the Hello Kitty design, and you simply tear at it gently to get the cute Kitty-shaped piece of nori.

And now for the noodles! The noodles here are quite thin, which is typical of tonkotsu pork stock ramen, but what definitely isn’t typical is the pink color. Whoever thought that a pot of cooking noodles could actually look cute?

We then added the powdered broth, which to our delight, created a nice, soft pink color.

And here we have the pink noodles in pink broth! It almost looks like it might be strawberry-flavored, but rest assured, it’s ramen in pork-based broth.

The package doesn’t come with any other condiments or toppings, so you can add whatever to like to complete the ramen. In our case, we added half a boiled egg, a slice of chashu roast pork, chopped Japanese green onions, red pickled ginger and seasoned menma bamboo shoots. We especially thought the red ginger visually enhanced the color of the pink broth and noodles very nicely.

So here’s what our finished ramen looked like. Although we added conventional ramen toppings this time, we couldn’t help but wonder if it may have been more fun to add zany and colorful toppings (without thinking about the taste) like striped marshmallows or Japanese konpeito sugar candies in various colors.

Regardless, we have to say we were quite happy about how cute and fancy our ramen looked. It’s not often, after all, that you can be excited about a bow of noodles being cute.

The only problem we had was that we were so thrilled with our creation that we ended up spending a long time taking pictures and the noodles became a bit too soft and soggy in the process.

And how did it taste? We were surprised at how the ramen really tasted like a typical pork-based tonkotsu ramen — including the garlicky flavor — in stark contrast to its pink, cutesy appearance. We do have to admit, though, our senses couldn’t help but focus more on the visual aspect of the ramen than the taste. But that’s how fun it was to make and eat this ramen, and that in itself was a treat!

▼ The package comes with instructions in English too, so they should make very nice souvenirs!

The Tokyo Pink Tonkotsu Ramen is priced at 362 yen (US$3.25) per package and is available from Edo Tamagawaya’s online shop here. And after making the ramen ourselves, we can definitely say that it’s a great way to brighten your day.

We know Hello Kitty must be particularly busy with her new store opening in Asakusa, but we’re certainly glad she’s still continuing to give us enjoyable (and tasty) products!

Photos ©SoraNews24
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