Personalized Cup Noodles at Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum

When I was away from home in college, instant ramen is my go-to snack. When I travel abroad outside of North and Southeast Asia, I bring 4 to 6 cups with me, especially on countries where I’m not familiar with their food. When I’m sick and have no appetite, I prefer to eat noodles over rice. Consuming instant ramen has its pros and cons, but sometimes you just can’t resist the umami goodness an instant noodle brings!

It took us 50 minutes to an hour from our hotel in Holiday Inn Osaka Namba to Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum. From Ikeda train station, we walked about 10 minutes going to the building. Finding out the location was easy. Since we exited the station at around 11:00 AM, there were kids and adults who already had cup noodles hanging on their hands and necks, so we just followed the path where they came from.


Upon arriving at the museum, we were handed an English brochure. On the left side was the souvenir shop and on the right side was the entrance to the main exhibitions and attractions. Because my husband and I were too excited, we went straight to the CUPNOODLES Factory first. While the building looked quiet outside, it was loud inside the cup noodles factory (but in a good way).


Creating our customized and original cup noodle was so easy and fun! It felt like we were on a field trip! First, we queued to get our cups in the vending machine. Each cup costs ¥300 and only coins and a maximum of ¥1,000 bill were accepted. There’s a separate machine that exchanges high denomination bills just before the 3 cup vending machines. All cups were sealed to avoid contamination.


Second, we cleaned our hands in an automatic alcohol spray machine. We were asked how many we were in the group and another attendant lead us to a vacant table.


Third, we started drawing! Now this is the part where you can get very creative and design your cup however you want it. I saw some people who really took their time in personalizing their cups. Some were very artistic, while some people like me just grabbed whatever pen colors were available and doodled (Lol!).


Fourth, we went straight to the Cup Noodles Factory counter and handed our cup to one of the staff. They showed us a miniature version of how the noodles were being placed inside the upside down cup.


Fifth, we chose the contents of our cup noodles. At the counter, we can choose 1 flavor and 4 toppings per cup. They have 4 flavors and 12 toppings in total.

The 4 flavors are:

1. CUPNOODLES (which is the original Chicken flavor)
2.  Seafood
3.  Curry
4.  Chili Tomato

(I’d stick to the original chicken flavor and seafood if I were you. And never commit the mistake of combining chili tomato flavor and cheese topping. It tasted awful.)

The 12 toppings are:

1.  Shrimp
2.  Cubic roast pork
3.  Egg
4.  Long green onions
5.  Hiyoko-chan fish sausage
6.  Garlic chip
7.  Green bean
8.  Cheese
9.  Crab-flavored fish sausage
10.  Corn
11.  Kimchi
12.  Pumpkin

Because we were there during spring, a Sakura topping was available instead of the pumpkin.


Sixth, the cup goes on to the sealing process which included adding the lid.


Seventh, the cup noodle was wrapped with plastic. Steps 6 and 7 were facilitated by the staff and are being done using a machine.


Lastly, we placed the cup into an “air package” and blew air into the plastic using a handheld pump. This protected the cup and allowed us to carry our cup noodles. However, we had the plastic protector removed when we packed the noodles inside our luggage.

Watch the entire cup noodle process here:


More photos inside the CUPNOODLE Factory:

The first column with Nissin Cup Noodles Seafood Flavor is the packaging in the Philippines.

Global annual consumption of instant noodles per 100 million serving. Top 10 countries are: (1) China / Hong Kong - 404.3, (2) Indonesia - 132.0, (3) Japan - 55.4, (4) Vietnam - 48.0, (5) USA - 42.1, (6) Republic of Korea - 36.5, (7) Philippines - 34.8, (8) India - 32.6, (9) Thailand - 30.7, (10) Brazil - 22.8. Data estimated by World Instant Noodles Association (WINA) as of May 11, 2016

After getting our personalized cups, we went to the museum’s tasting room for our late lunch. In the tasting room are vending machines with 30 different instant ramen products. There are also vending machines for cold drinks and hot water dispenser for the noodles. The cup noodles varied in sizes, prices, and flavors. Some ramens are only sold outside of Osaka, but visitors can have them here at the museum's dining area. Most of these though aren’t easily available in Philippine supermarkets.

Nissin Cup Noodles for Japan Air Lines (JAL). Notice the same packaging for the instant ramen in front, but different taste. The left side is available in West Japan while the right side is distributed in East Japan.

Devouring the last bit of noodles in our bowls, we then proceeded to the exhibit area. First stop is the CUPNOODLES Theater which runs an animated and entertaining story of how the world’s first cup-type instant noodles was formulated. The central character is of course Momofuku Ando, the father of instant noodles and the founder of Nissin Food Products Co., Ltd.

Momofuku Ando, 1910-2007. Successfully invented the first instant ramen at 61 years old. He lived a fulfilled life for 96 years.

He started with only a small workstation that resembled a typical home kitchen. Because there was food shortage in Japan during post-war era in the late 1950’s, he developed the first instant noodles in a series of trial and error. His instant noodles became so popular locally and even abroad, that he was inspired to create a cup-noodle version so that these can be easily transported and eaten anytime. He also thought of packaging the said noodles with the cups upside down first so that the noodles are positioned directly into the cup’s form. The affordability and efficiency of this cup noodle idea sparked the wealth of Nissin.

On the left is Momofuku Ando's first creation, the original Chikin Ramen. On the right is Nissin's Eco-Cup, which is a reusable cup for instant noodles.

Outside the theatre is The Instant Ramen Tunnel which displays the first packaging of Nissin’s instant noodles – the Chikin Ramen – up to present, what flavors they added aside from the original chicken flavor, and which countries these products were sold to.