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Bulalo is a classic Filipino beef shank and marrow soup, typically slow-cooked and eaten with rice. This is the instant cup take on it. Lucky Me! is the Philippines’ flagship instant noodle brand.

Produced in the Philippines.

The deep red and yellow cup of Lucky Me! Bulalo Instant Noodle Soup on a white surface, showing the red Lucky Me! logo with its yellow flame mark at the top, BULALO in bold white block lettering, "Artificial Beef and Bone Marrow Flavor" in yellow, "Instant Oriental Noodle Soup" beneath, a photo of finished noodles with sliced beef, onion, halved marrow bone, and green scallions, and Net Wt. 2.47 oz (70g) in white text at the bottom.

Table of Contents

What’s in the Package

Inside the cup you get a fried wavy wheat noodle brick, a seasoning packet, and a small sachet of dehydrated mini beef-style meatballs.

The contents of the Lucky Me! Bulalo cup with the foil lid partially peeled back, showing the fried wavy wheat noodle brick sitting inside the cup, and below it two small sachets — a clear sachet with tiny dried beef-style meatballs (the signature Lucky Me! beef balls) and a silver foil seasoning packet.

How to Cook Lucky Me! Bulalo Instant Noodle Soup

  1. Peel back the foil lid. Empty both sachet contents into the cup.
  2. Pour in boiling water to the inside fill line. Cover with the foil lid and let stand about 3 minutes.
  3. Stir well before serving.
A small clear glass ramekin of the Lucky Me! Bulalo broth on a white surface, showing a clear pale-amber beef broth with three or four tiny brown dehydrated beef balls floating in it

How Does It Taste

This one surprised me. It smells very beefy out of the cup. More than I expected from an instant this size. The dried beef balls are good. The whole package reads as “beef soup” in the most direct way: beef bouillon flavor, water, and meatballs.

It’s a little bland in the sense that it could use more beef depth. It tastes like simplified pho without the spices. Boiled-down beef, broth, a few bits.

I really liked it. James liked it too. It’s not a knockout flavor-wise, but it’s a gentle, comforting bowl. That’s exactly what makes it work. This is a sick-day noodle, or a mid-afternoon pick-me-up bowl when you don’t want anything complicated.

A top-down view of the finished Lucky Me! Bulalo Instant Noodle Soup in its red paper cup, showing wavy fried wheat noodles in a clear pale-amber beef broth with tiny dehydrated beef balls scattered throughout.

How Does It Compare

Within the Lucky Me! lineup, this Bulalo is the beef-forward option. The Lucky Me! Chicken Mami is the chicken soup counterpart. The Lucky Me! Chicken na Chicken is the brand’s flagship packet. The Pancit Canton Hot Chili and Chilimansi are the dry stir-fry Filipino noodles in the brand’s stable.

Against non-Lucky Me! beef references, this is simpler and cleaner than the Kang Shi Fu Braised Beef. The Kang Shi Fu is salt-heavy and more one-note, while this Bulalo has a gentler, more broth-forward feel. The Maruchan Beef Flavor is the American budget comparison. Maruchan’s beef is MSG-and-bouillon, Lucky Me!’s beef reads more like actual broth.

How to Level Up Lucky Me! Bulalo Instant Noodle Soup

I would add napa cabbage and scallions for freshness. A real bulalo is served with cabbage and corn, so bringing either of those to the cup pushes it toward the dish it’s naming.

Pickled red onion sounds weird for this bowl but would work since the acid cuts the beef richness the way it cuts through pho. A spoonful of kimchi would work for the same reason.

For protein, sliced beef (leftover brisket, steak, or deli roast beef) amplifies the beef direction the broth is gesturing at. A halved soft-boiled egg rounds the bowl out. A squeeze of fresh lime juice at the end brightens everything.

A close-up of the Lucky Me! Bulalo Instant Noodle Soup being lifted from the red paper cup with wooden chopsticks, showing wavy pale wheat noodles with steam rising above them and tiny brown beef balls visible in the broth below.

Final Verdict

The Lucky Me! Bulalo Instant Noodle Soup is a comforting, gentle, beef-forward Filipino cup with just enough meatball depth and clean broth to feel restorative. Not knockout flavor, but exactly what a good instant beef soup should taste like. It’s simple, warm, familiar. James and I both liked it. This would be a good sick-day bowl, and I’d buy it again when I want something uncomplicated.

Tasting Notes

How do I rate my ramen? Check out the Ramen Rating Guide.

Where to buy Lucky Me Bulalo Instant Noodle Soup

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