In case you missed it, BTS has a food brand now—and it’s already available at Walmart. The lineup includes instant noodles under the ARIH label, plus energy drinks and something called “dual biotic” sodas. Don’t ask me what that means, please. I simply can’t go there today. I’m here to talk noodles, and only noodles, capiche?
I always try to approach new celebrity food products with an open mind. Hmm, well. Lemme think about that for a second. Upon reflection, that is a lie. I do not approach celebrity products with an open mind. They have to work extra hard to earn my respect, actually. And with that being said…
I got the chance to taste test two of BTS’s new packaged instant noodles: ARIH Modern Noodle Soy Sauce Butter and ARIH Modern Noodle Gochujang Butter. Due to my unfortunate shellfish allergy (the gods had to protect the shrimp population from me), my colleague Gwynedd Stuart reviewed one flavor as well: ARIH Modern Noodle Vongole.
There are a lot more than just three flavors in BTS’s instant noodle line, but these were the ones we were able to snag. I’ll say this much: Now that I’ve tried them, my biggest complaint is that I wasn’t able to try more flavors. BTS: SEND US MORE FLAVORS. (I’m dying to try Spicy Seaweed!) That’s high praise coming from me, so you can probably already guess how these reviews are about to go. Let’s get into ’em.
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BTS Noodles!
- ARIH Modern Noodle Soy Sauce Butter
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Pros: I wasn’t expecting a ton of ingenuity from BTS’s line of instant noodles, but hey, I also didn’t know that Jin had a mukbang webseries where he basically acts like the Sporked of BTS. I never would have underestimated this brand if I knew that. Anyways, for something simply called “Soy Sauce Butter,” there’s a lot going on here. The sauce is surprisingly peppery and deep, with a little bit of a BBQ sweetness. I don’t think I’ve had instant noodles with a black peppery flavor profile before, but I’m a fan. The noodles are chewy, bouncy, and thicker than I expected, too.
Cons: These are no knife-cut Fly By Jing noodles, I’ll say that. But the sauce is good enough for me. It’s not super umami-heavy and definitely won’t satisfy the heat freaks, but I’d be lying if I could pinpoint something necessarily wrong with this. We’re off to a good start, boys.
—Ariana Losch
BTS Noodles!
- ARIH Modern Noodle Gochujang Butter
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Pros: Now this flavor brings more heat. It’s definitely not super spicy by any means, but the spice builds in intensity and nicely balances the natural sweetness of the gochujang. These are a bit creamier than Soy Sauce Butter, but they carry a similar, rich, lingering butter flavor that seems to be characteristic of the brand. Also, it’s been a while since I’ve had Buldak’s Carbonara flavor, but these remind me of that.
Cons: To be honest, I think the only con here is that both of the ARIH flavors I tried do play it a bit safe. We’re talking about a line-up that has options like K-Super Spicy Seaweed, Black Pepper Tteokbokki, Truffle Bulgogi, among others. I’d be really interested to see how those fare against these more basic options. But on the whole, once again: I don’t have any real complaints with the flavor (or price, which is a little over $3—not too bad for a celebrity brand).
—Ariana Losch
BTS Noodles!
- ARIH Modern Noodle Vongole
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Pros: When I took my first bite I was like, OH GOD TOO CLAMMY. But I was wrong—in a good way. These noodles are just clammy enough. The sauce has a wonderful bright, peppery, briny flavor and there are actually chewy little clams in the mix. I’m not sure where they were (in with the noodle brick? In the powdered sauce packet?) or how they reconstituted so well so quickly, but they really bump this bowl up to the next level. You’ll also find plenty of crunchy garlic cloves in there, too. Yum. If you’re not sold on instant clam noodles, hey, I get it. But if you can handle the clam flavor in a bottle of Clamato, you can handle the clam flavor in this noodle bowl.
Cons: The cooking instructions are a little annoying. You fill the bowl with water to the upper line, but then after the noodles cook, you have to drain the bowl while also saving 2-3 tbs of water. Eyeballing 2-3 tbs of water when noodles are in the bowl isn’t easy! Other than that, this is a really lovely, sophisticated lunch.
—Gwynedd Stuart
Ariana Losch
Gwynedd Stuart
Justine Sterling
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!