Cup Noodles Museum: Immerse Into An Innovation Journey!

Since our day at Hong Kong will be spent mostly at Tsim Sha Tsui, I didn’t think twice on adding the Cup Noodles Museum to our itinerary. I was actually surprised that they have a branch here in Hong Kong.

Cup Noodles is a brand of cup instant ramen manufactured by Nissin Foods. To show how cup noodles are made and to display the history of instant ramen, the Cup Noodles Museum is built in three locations.

Compared to the Cup Noodles Museum in Yokohama and Osaka, Cup Noodles Museum Hong Kong is relevantly smaller because it just rents a space in a shopping mall, unlike the other museums, which utilize an entire building. On the other hand, Cup Noodles Museum Hong Kong offers workshops that are only exclusive at this branch only.

To enter the Cup Noodle Museum, guests must attend at least one workshop. The museum is comprised of three attractions themed under “The Innovation Journey of Momofuku Ando” and three experiential workshops. These are the My CUPNOODLES Factory, Demae Iccho Factory and My Granola Factory.

Among the three workshops, we decided to visit My CUPNOODLES Factory. Here, the participants can create their own unique and world-exclusive Cup Noodles. They can design their own cup, choose one of four soup bases that they like and select four toppings from a selection of 12 toppings to create their own unique combination. It felt like we’re in kindergarten again while taking up this workshop.

When I already got a blank cup, I was clueless on what to draw. I don’t know why I didn’t thought of it despite of being aware of the activity. I was busy planning our itinerary that I didn’t got to prepare something to draw. Luckily, there were outlines of the ingredients at the wall so I just copied the sketches of shrimp, corn, lettuce, carrots and egg on my cup. I added my name and the production date. Then, I filled the remaining spaces with lines and doodles to make it look like a real Cup Noodles.

It wasn’t fully DIY though. After the fun drawing activity, we proceeded to the counter and watched the staff fill our cup with a dried noodle block and with our chosen toppings. There was this certain handle that we have to rotate to make it a little interactive. Once the ingredients are inside, the cup was inserted to a sealing machine and to a shrink-wrap machine.

Demae Iccho Factory lets you make Demae Iccho by hand and enjoy the entire process of kneading, spreading, steaming and seasoning the wheat flour and drying it with the flash frying method. This is actually my first chosen workshop because instant noodle-making is new to us. However, we only have a limited time in Hong Kong. This 90-minute activity will consume too much on our one-day tour in the city.

As a way to bolster the granola market in China, Nissin started to distribute their granola products in Hong Kong last 2019. Hence, Nissin’s My Granola Factory is also present in this museum. We didn’t book this workshop so I have no idea what’s going on inside but I bet it was just the same with My CUPNOODLES Factory. Its students will likely draw to their cups, pick, mix and match their favorite granola toppings. They will also be able to dive into the story and manufacturing process of granola.

We came early from our schedule so we still had time to check out the exhibit, read the trivias posted and take pictures at the photo spots. This blog’s cover photo shows the remarkable Cup Noodles Wall, which displays different flavors and packaging all over the globe. Another photo spot is the The Big Cup, which illustrates the reverse thinking approach Momofuku Ando applied when conceptualizing the mass production of Cup Noodles.

Needless to say, Cupnoodles Museum pays tribute to Momofuku Ando, the inventor of Cup Noodles and the founder of Nissin Fooda. A display board opposite the Cup Noodles Wall tells interesting stories of his signature inventions, which are instant noodles, Cup Noodles and Space Ram, as well as the key milestones of Nissin Foods. It further narrates the innovation journey of Momofuku Ando that revolutionized eating customs all over the world.

The tour ends at the museum shop. It offers a series of exclusive souvenirs and a variety of Nissin products for sale, including noodles, snacks, desserts, frozen foods, and fresh salad vegetables, with a wide range of styles available. Every Friday, there is a promotion, where all Nissin products are sold at a special price that you won’t want to miss.

Let’s have a taste of my customized Cup Noodles, shall we? I chose seafood curry flavor for the broth for that unique taste. I haven’t tried this flavor and I didn’t regret choosing it despite of the minimal chiliness. Compared to the commercialized Cup Noodles, this is plenty. The whole cup is full! I’m amazed at how the dehydrated ingredients come back to their original sizes. The fish and shrimp was still flavorful. I wish we can choose more toppings though because I only got to add one vegetable.