We were out doing grocery shopping and thought ‘hey there’s that Red Robin over there – wonder if they have those Red Ramen Burgers.’ Well, after a quick phone call to make sure they did, we swooped in to give them a try.

On the door (click to enlarge) we immediately saw some advertising for it. Kind of funny; the cat is clutching a bottle of ‘That’s Not Your Father’s Ginger Ale’ (I tried the root beer version which gave me a horrible gut ache) and nowhere did I see any mention of ordering this product anywhere.

At the table.

So it’s $12.49 – a little on the high end.

However if it were one of our birthdays, we could have gotten one for free!

Ready.

Ready.

Miles decided to sleep through the whole thing – he was out seconds after this.

Here is the one I got (click to enlarge).

A side shot of the burger (click to enlarge).

Let the investigation begin…

Well, there were some problems with this burger I found from the outset. They didn’t fry the bun long enough as it completely fell apart rather quickly. After about 3 bites, I ended up using a fork and eating it off the little plastic tray. The ‘seasoned bun’ really didn’t seem altogether seasoned at all to me; in fact, it just seemed bland. The burger itself was alright, but the aioli of onion, carrot and cabbage was like coleslaw and was just not right. Neither of us detected the presence of any basil really. Honestly, I wouldn’t bother with this overpriced burger. If I were to make a suggestion, do it like they did originally in Japan – use chashu pork! Maybe some tonkatsu sauce! In fact, I know that a short walk away from the Red Robin we visited in Katsu Burger, and last time we were there they had mentioned offering a ramen burger soon using breaded pork and tonkatsu sauce with a ramen bun.

Kit’s ramen burger (click to enlarge) was a little different. As you can see, the bun definitely seems a little darker.

Here’s a side shot. Hers stayed cohesive and I could definitely hear a lot more crunch to it when she took a bite. She had the same complaints about the aioli as well; she thought it was teriyaki sauce on coleslaw. They offered to serve it with or without jalapenos at the beginning which we both declined at the start. Jalapenos would have definitely overwhelmed all the flavor of the teriyaki, that’s for sure. I think we both agreed – the Red Ramen Burger gets about a 2 out of 5 stars – not extremely fun at all. A better idea is to make your own! Here’s the recipe I came up with using Nongshim Shin Ramyun Black South Korean instant noodles – in fact, you use everything from it and come out with fries and dipping sauce as well! Check it out!

The Ramen Rater’s Shin Ramyun Black Burger

1 Package Nongshim Shin Ramyun Black

ground beef

1 egg

2 slices processed cheese

frozen french fries

cooking spray

ketchup and mayonnaise

The noodle block. This is where our buns come from.

In this recipe, everything in the package is used. I’ve seen so many recipes for ramen burgers where the flavorings are discarded. Why waste?

Step 1: Boil a pot of water. Add the noodle block and cook for 4 minutes. Drain well. Return to pot and crack egg into it – combine with noodles. Split noodle/egg mixture into two bowls. I used one with a rounded bottom for the bun and one with a flat bottom for the lower bun (actually, the top part of a bun is called the ‘crown’ and the bottom the ‘heel!) Press the noodles down a little and then put in the fridge for a couple hours to set.

Here are the crown and heel all done and out of their bowls.

Step 2: Spray pan and cook both sides of your buns until done as you like. A nice crispness is really enjoyable, but burnt isn’t so great so just keep and eye on them and don’t flip too much – they are a little delicate.

Step 3: For the fries – use a little cooking spray on them and sprinkle liberally with the gold Sul-Long-Tang powder packet and cook.

Step 4: Empty the contents of the green package into a little bowl and add some hot water. Let sit for a minute or so which lets the veggies and other bits hydrate. Drain.

Step 5: Add ketchup and mayonnaise – I used a little more mayo than ketchup – and combin3. This will be the fry sauce as well as the sauce for the burger.

Step 6: For the patty, add the entire red packet to the ground beef and combine well. Form into a patty and cook. Put the buns and burger together – add processed cheese and sauce.

Voila! Click image to enlarge). This came out really nice – the burger has a really great flavor from the red packet. I think you could switch it as well – use the red packet on the fried and the gold packet with the beef. Either way, this was really good – I hope you try it and let me know how it goes!