We take a break from daydreaming about Valentine’s Day chocolate as Japan’s newest crazy comfort ramen becomes a reality.

This week, most of Japan’s food-related aspirations have been connected to Valentine’s Day chocolate. And while we here at SoraNews24 have been keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll receive some sweets (or either the serious romantic or platonic “obligation choco” type), another star of our recent culinary daydreams has been chicken nugget French fry instant ramen.

While it might sound like something you’d have to make yourself (likely after a night of heavy drinking), this unusual yet tempting ramen variety is the latest offering from Nissin’s Cup Noodle line. So when the Cup Noodle Potenage Big (as the product is officially called) went on sale February 12, we popped over to the closest convenience store and brought back a pack.

▼ Given the Cup Noodle Potenage’s obvious fast food inspirations, it’s hard to see the red-and-yellow color scheme and not be at least a little reminded of McDonald’s.

We peeled back the lid, and sitting atop the uncooked noodles were breaded chicken nuggets and chunks of peeled potatoes, along with egg and green onion slices, the latter two being standard parts of just about any Cup Noodle flavor.

While the marque ingredients are unusual, Cup Noodle Potenage is made like any other product in the series, so we filled the cup with boiling water and waited three minutes.

When time was up, we removed the cover and found that everything had cooked up nice and fluffy.

The chicken nuggets are small in size, but pack plenty of flavor with their spicy breading, and their meat is moist and tender all the way to the center.

The potato chunks have an enticing aroma, and are soft and delicious.

The noodles themselves are the same as you’ll find in any other cup of Cup Noodles, which means they get the job done just fine. The broth is unique to the Potenage flavor, starting with a soy base and adding a liberal amount of black pepper.

It’s not like all this quality comes at the expense of quantity, either. As part of the Cup Noodle Big series, the Potenage is 22 percent bigger than a standard-sized Cup Noodle pack, and when you consider how much delicious variety it provides, its 205-yen (US$1.85) price tag feels entirely reasonable, especially since this East/West fusion comfort food is much easier to make than our cooked-in-a-rice-cooker Big Mac Value Meal.

Photos ©SoraNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]