‘Dream ingredient’: would you eat ramen made of this alien-like sea creature?

“The white meat part tastes like lobster and crab,” the post explained. “The yellow glands taste like crab roe … the overall taste is unexpectedly fresh and sweet.”

While the ramen is topped with the isopod shell, it is purely for decorative purposes, they say. The broth itself is simmered from a rich chicken and fish stock, including a variety of katsuobushi – dried, smoked bonito flakes – for an umami note.

The ramen is priced at NT$1,480 (US$48) and is only being sold to the shop’s regular customers, who need to register to sample the dish.

“I thought this was a ramen shop, turns out to be Star Trek’s United Federation of Planets,” joked one follower.

“The first person to eat crabs and shrimp was also a brave person,” commented another.

For Taiwanese food writer Elizabeth Kao – also known as Self-Taught Gourmet – who runs the media platform Taster, the dish is just an example of how food with such a shock factor can bring up more questions.

“It’s Instagram-worthy, but not appetising,” she says. “I hope it’s just a meme that comes and goes in three days.”

She also points out that since the post went viral, internet users have shifted from being stunned to questioning the ethics of serving such a dish.

“People are questioning whether we should eat this creature as it concerns trawl fishing,” she explains, as the animal lives so deep under the surface of the ocean.

“It also makes me wonder why people desire certain types of food – why would you want to eat it? And how far would you go?”

It is not the first time ramen fanatics have been left scratching their heads over unconventional toppings. Below are a few trends that have come and gone over the years.

Full of protein, Restaurant Antcicada’s cricket ramen is just one of the many bug-centric offerings at the eatery in Tokyo, Japan.

Each bowl of broth is made with at least 100 crickets, though only one whole fried cricket goes on top as garnish. This bowl is only sold on Sundays.

Move over Heston Blumenthal – the trend for hot-and-cold ramen came in the form of an entire cone of soft-serve ice cream plunked into a bowl of noodles in Japan.

The dish is said to have originated from an Osaka restaurant called Franken, which served a bowl of “sweet and spicy miso ramen” with a choice of vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

Back in 2019, two ramen restaurants – Menya Musashi and Kanzan Menya in Hong Kong – went viral with their bubble tea tsukemen (dipping ramen), which were limited to 10 servings a day.

The thick dipping sauce that normally accompanies tsukemen was bolstered with tapioca pearls, red tea leaves and soy milk to mimic the famous drink.

Japan’s Dosanko ramen chain developed this brightly coloured “rainbow” ramen to “bring happiness” during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The restaurant’s signature Hokkaido-style miso broth forms the base, on top of which slices of char siu (roast pork) anointed with strips of dyed fondue cheese come together to form a vibrant rainbow.