Hello this is Ninomae Ina'nis, self-proclaimed instant/cup noodle connoisseur of Hololive English and I would like to share my views on this HEATED topic. To start off, I would like to say I am very honored to be asked such question, as not a lot of people appreciate the ART of CUP NOODLES. I believe there are marry aspects to what makes a great cup noodle, so I would like to compare and contrast the following topics to determine which is the better of the two. First of all, the soup. There wasn't anything too special about the two of them, and I daresay they're pretty much the same. Soup in cup noodle is very hard to differentiate from each other unless there is a very distinct difference in ingredients, and I am afraid they taste pretty similar in this category. I would like to say they're a tie on this aspect. However, the soup is very important in conjunction with the latter categories so it is a great place to start off with.Secondly, the noodles. I have to say...after years of appreciating the different noodles across many different types of cup noodles, these two were quite distinct. For one, the noodle in the udon is not something that's special. It is rather normal but pretty smooth and easy to eat. However, the one in the soba does have a quite unique textures (that you would find in...a normal soba noodle) which differentiates itself from the other cup noodles out there. HOWEVER....I have to say that I am a HOT udon, COLD soba type of person and I would have preferred to have eaten the soba noodles cold.... Therefore Udon takes the lead in this category.
Lastly, the TOPPINGS. This is the one BIG thing that differentiates these two together. The ucon has a big deep-fried-tofu(?) (iforgetwhatyoucallthis) and the soba has a big tempura block. The deep-fried tofu over time soaks up the soup and OH MY GOODNESS IT'S DELICIOUS. You do have to be careful about biting into it as (depending on how hot your water is), you might burn your tongue. The tempura.... have to say I was a bit disappointed with it. As I'm not the biggest fan of tempura in soups (I feel like the pakupaku texture of fried tempura while it's hat is best), I didn't have high hopes going into tasting it. I was also very disappointed that the tempura block breaks apart very easily when it's left in the soup for a while which made it quite difficult to enjoy it by itself. After all the tasting, I have to conclude that the udon also takes the win in this category (and this is totally not biased) Before we conclude, I also do have to say that considering that I live overseas, I have yet to see a store sell the tempura soba version in the stores....so it might be a biased opinion depending on whichever one someone has tried more often. IN CONCLUSION, I, Ninomac Ina'nis of Hololive English Myth, self-proclaimed cup noodle connoisseur, have to say that the UDON is SUPERIOR to the soba. Thank you.
