I’m not a great fan of ramen, but I can’t go past the novelty of Ramen Pretz by Glico Japan. More precisely, Glico Pretz Ramen is the flavour of Sano style ramen from the Tochigi Prefecture, which is characterised by a clear and light shōyu soup-base infused with the taste of bamboo. That sounds like my kind of ramen!
And the Ramen Pretz do taste like ramen – there’s the saltiness of the shōyu broth and the faint sweetness of bamboo, while the biscuit stick brought out the flavour of wheat noodles. I may not like actual ramen, but I do like Ramen Pretz.
The character on the box is Sanomaru, the official mascot for the Tochigi Prefecture. Sanomaru is a samurai dog living in the castle town of Sano. He has two swords made of fried potato skewers (small potatoes are skewered, dipped in batter/bread crumbs before being deep fried and served with tangy and sweet sauce) that are famous in the town of Sano. Sanomaru’s bangs are made of noodles. And of course, his hat is an upside-down ramen bowl. The detailing on the bowl’s edge spells out SANO over and over.
The box of Glico Pretz Ramen contained 2 packs each with ~20 pieces. It was a limited edition for the Tochigi Prefecture in Summer 2014, produced in Japan, and purchased in Ōsaka, Japan in 2014.