Given the spectacular packaging, we had high hopes for this XO Sauce Flavour ramen. It was easily some of the least messily-packaged ramen—it comes in a plastic bowl with a lid and a mini plastic fork. While cute, the size of the fork is actually impractical for the speed at which we like to consume our noodles. This particular package came with an oil packet and a sizeable flavor packet. While we’re unsure of what exactly “XO Sauce Flavour” is, the powder smelled great. Listed in the ingredients are your standard ramen flavors: garlic, chili, onion and ginger. In this ramen, though, there is no element that is stronger than the rest. Upon finishing our ramen, and discovering how much of the powder was at the bottom of our bowls, we realized that while delicious, it’s probably a bit unnecessary to empty the entire flavor packet into your ramen.

Soy sauce is included in the ingredients for the noodles. At first we didn’t think much of it, but after tasting the ramen, we now know what a beautiful decision soy sauce-infused noodles are. Usually, the noodles in instant ramen are there for texture and substance, but here the soy sauce in the noodles and their surprising heartiness complement the broth. Typically, oil packets in ramen cause an unpleasant whole body sensation, but this oil packet was a subtle addition to the ramen. We’re unsure of the actual composition of the oil but, combined with the beautiful medley of flavors and a truly high quality instant ramen noodle (yes, we believe this to be a thing), we were more than pleased with this ramen experience.

We got our XO Sauce Flavour Instant Noodles for just over a dollar each—a little pricey for instant ramen, but definitely worth the splurge of an extra $.50. Amazon offers it for about $10.00, so we recommend making the trip to one of the many Asian markets and grocery stores on University and Dale—we got ours at Sun Foods.