Natto Yakisoba vs. Takoyaki Flavor Yakisoba Noodles

As I wrote in this article, Japanese food companies have been developing various flavors of instant noodles in recent years.

While many tend to recreate the taste of ramen shops, some create a novel or weird flavor not seen in any other.

Natto Yakisoba vs. Takoyaki Flavor Yakisoba

In fact, I recently tried two different kinds of limited-time instant Yakisoba noodles with weird flavors, Natto (納豆) and Takoyaki (たこやき).

If you could sample these, which would you prefer?

Natto Yakisoba from Peyang 

This Natto Yakisoba instant noodle is from Maruka Foods Peyang (ペヤング), one of the best instant Yakisoba series.

Although the fermented soybean Natto is infamous for its slimy consistency and stinkiness, I like it, so I gave this a try.

The product comes with a packet of dried Natto beans, which I added to the noodles as a finishing touch with the Yakisoba sauce.

And below is the finished dish.

It was somewhat sticky, but the smell was neither intense nor unpleasant.

Nonetheless, after eating this, I found Natto doesn’t go well with Yakisoba noodles. The taste is not bad but not so good.

Takoyaki Flavor Yakisoba from Peyang 

This Takoyaki flavor Yakisoba is also from the Peyang line.

The white one on the right side is the regular Peyang Sauce Yakisoba, by the way.

As you may know, Takoyaki (たこ焼き) is an octopus ball.

It consists of wheat-based batter mixed with dashi stock, combined with bits of octopus meat, and baked.

Unfortunately, the garnish didn’t have actual Takoyaki.

Instead, it included Agedama (揚げ玉) Tempura bits, and the Yakisoba sauce tasted like Takoyaki sauce.

Due to the sauce, these noodles took on a rich sweet taste not brought by regular Yakisoba sauce.

But this was pretty good, and I thought I liked this better.