Costco Pulmuone Tonkotsu Miso Ramen Review

Tonkotsu miso ramen is known for its rich, creamy, and savory flavor. So, when I picked up the Pulmuone Tonkotsu Miso Ramen from Costco, I was eager to experience that same deliciousness. However, I couldn’t help but feel a bit skeptical, can a packaged ramen ever truly compare to the quality of restaurant-style or homemade ramen?

Location in Store

This is located in the refrigerated section at Costco, near the fresh pasta like the Kirkland Signature Spinach and Cheese Ravioli and the soups like the Kirkland Signature Chicken Tortilla Soup. The item number for the ramen is 1603311.

Taste

There isn’t a ton of broth compared to noodles, there are lots of noodles! I was disappointed that the pork belly is very fatty which is expected with pork belly. The pieces of pork belly that aren’t fatty are really good and flavorful though.

The broth is very flavorful with a hint of heat that hits after you take a bite. It’s very savory and rich tasting. The color of the broth is opaque and it tastes almost creamy but there’s no dairy in it.

The texture of the noodles is really nice and not mushy or too hard. They kind of remind me of spaghetti noodles. I think the most disappointing part of this dish is the pork belly but that doesn’t surprise me because most Pulmuone products I’ve noticed have poor quality meat.

The dried veggies add a slight amount of additional flavor. The noodles themselves don’t have much flavor but take on the flavor of the broth. Overall this is probably one of the better Pulmuone meals I’ve had but it has a strong miso flavor rather than Tonkotsu. It’s very, very, very salty too.

Cost

The 1.28 kilogram package costs $18.49 Canadian. The whole package is enough for four and half of the package is enough for two people to have a medium sized bowl each.

Convenience

The package comes with two bags of broth, two bags of pork belly, two bags of ramen noodles and two bags of dried vegetables. The ramen is pretty simple to heat using the stove top method.

There’s also a microwave directions you can choose to use to heat the ramen. Although microwave may be more convenient I’m not

This works as a lunch or dinner and you could add additional vegetables, tofu or egg to it. The best before date is about a month from when I purchased it and it needs to be kept refrigerated.

Nutrition

Calories

A 642 gram serving or one half of the package contains 730 calories, 33 grams of fat, 83 grams of carbohydrates, five grams of fibre, eight grams of sugar, 25 grams of protein and a crazy 2040 milligrams of sodium. That’s so much sodium, basically the daily recommended intake of sodium in one bowl of ramen. The calories, fat and carbs are also pretty decently high.

Ingredients

The ingredients list is pretty extensive with some ingredients I don’t love to see like canola oil, sugars, soy protein, palm oil and beef type flavor. The ramen contains fish, sesame, soy, wheat and barley.

Scoring

Taste: 6/10

Cost: 7/10

Convenience: 8/10

Nutrition: 2/10 (Points for protein).

Overall

Walk on by!

This ramen is okay, it’s not awful but it’s nowhere near as good as grabbing ramen from a restaurant. To be honest I’m finding find a lot of Pulmuone products pretty disappointing. 

FAQ

Have you tried the Costco Pulmuone Tonkotsu Miso Ramen? What did you think of it? Drop a comment below!

Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).