‘Dream ingredient’: alien-like isopod ramen dish made with a 14-legged deep-sea creature goes viral in Taiwan

The Ramen Boy noodle bar in Taipei is now serving a limited-edition ramen dish made with giant isopods – a 14-legged deep-sea creature
Online commenters have likened the crustacean to an alien, like the sort seen on ‘Star Trek’, while others have questioned whether they should eat it at all

Food and Drinks

Charmaine Mok

Published: 4:46pm, 24 May 2023

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A noodle shop in Taipei is now serving bowls of ramen topped with a giant isopod – a mysterious deep-sea creature that resembles large pill bugs or woodlice.

In a post on its official Facebook page, The Ramen Boy noodle bar in Taipei’s Zhongshan district introduced the limited-edition dish with excitement, starting off by saying how it had “finally obtained [its] dream ingredient” in reference to the giant isopod.

The 14-legged goliaths are normally found 500 metres (1,640 feet) or more below the ocean’s surface, and the specimens sourced by The Ramen Boy were fished from the waters surrounding Dongsha Islands, southwest of Kaohsiung City.

They are crustaceans that are distantly related to woodlice and can reach more than 30 centimetres (12 inches) from head to tail.

Giant isopods are mysterious deep-sea creatures that resemble large pill bugs or woodlice. Photo: The Ramen Boy

To prepare the giant isopod, the ramen shop opted to steam it after removing the stomach viscera.

“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.

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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.

The giant isopod is steamed, with the white meat and yellow gland separated for serving. Photo: The Ramen Boy

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?”

Netizens have likened the giant isopod to a space alien. Photo: The Ramen Boy

World’s most bizarre ramens

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.

Cricket ramen

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.

Ice cream ramen

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.

Bubble tea ramen

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.

Happy rainbow ramen

Japan’s Dosanko ramen chain developed a brightly coloured “rainbow” ramen. Photo: Dosanko

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.