🔥Shin Ramyun 40th anniversary flavour vote: cheese doenjang vs seafood eomuk

Shin Ramyun turns 40 and Nongshim is letting people pick the anniversary flavour, which is basically asking the whole country to start an argument. Edward Lee, the chef a lot of people here know from Culinary Class Wars, made two versions and only one gets made: Cheese & Doenjang or Seafood & Eomuk.

The stories behind them are actually sweet. The cheese and doenjang one is for his family. His daughter grew up in the States, and she and his wife love meat but don't really do spicy, so he wanted something they could all eat together. The seafood and eomuk one comes from a warm memory of a cold Busan winter, with a broth of sagol bone stock, seafood and veg, chilli flakes and fish cake on top of the usual Shin kick. So look, I live in Busan. From about now until March there are eomuk stalls steaming away on every other corner, and a paper cup of that broth on a windy night down by Gwangalli is one of the best things about living here. I'm voting seafood and eomuk and I'm not even pretending to be neutral. To be fair to the other side, cheese in ramyeon is not a crime. Half my students drop a cheese slice on top and swear by it, and doenjang has that lovely nutty depth. But cheese AND doenjang in a spicy Shin base could go really clever or really muddy, and that's a lot of trust to hand over before tasting it. Online voting runs until the 18th on Nongshim's site and Instagram, and there's a tasting vote at a Shin Ramyun Bunsik pop-up in Seongsu. The winner comes out at the end of November as a limited run until early next year. Fish cake gang, I reckon we've got this.