Ikeda Osaka – Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum
Momofuku Ando’s Instant Ramen Museum is a place of cheap fun for a few hours. I went to the branch in Ikeda Osaka, but there’s also one in Yokohama if you happen to be in the area.
This is more for those that grew up on Japanese branded instant noodles. The image of the Nissin brand, particularly the little kid holding a crate with a small bowl of steaming noodles inside, was the afternoon treat for many asian kids that weren’t able to operate a stove. I bet its the first things most asian kids learn to cook!
What to do at Momofuku
The attraction of the museum is not only the exhibits showing you the history of instant noodles, but rather you get to design and fill your own personal cup.
For around Y200 you get a ‘fresh’ cup noodle from a vending machine. You take this to a table and get to design your own personalized noodle cup. By design i mean draw and colour in with textas.
You then move into a line to get your ingredients added. You get to pick a few different toppings, such as dried corn, prawn, or fish cake.
And this is what you end up with in the end.
Once all of your ingredients are assembled, the cup noodle is sealed up by a machine. The cup noodles need to be eaten within a month. I guess thats because the process is not identical to what happens in a factory in terms of minimizing the amount of time the ingredients and dried noodle are exposed to the elements.
Japan, 〒563-0041 Osaka Prefecture, Ikeda, 満寿美町8−25
I’m definitely looking forward to doing the tour one day when my teenage kids arrive ! Thanks for all the great info!